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He is taken aback by Bel's fire, but reasserts himself to respond "If you think all that is true, you don't understand the Legion at all. Though the Legion can be extreme when facing their enemies, they have always treated us fairly and respected our desires. Designation Khaim spoke to us, sought to understand us. We were never put under duress or anything else that you claim. Any who wear the collars within the Legion do so of their own volition, because they are willing to accept death rather than allow secrets to fall into the hands of the enemy." Rehljaer gestures emphatically "We have more knowledge and freedom now than any time we were under the gaze of the Traditionalists. The only ones who have betrayed the Anassanoi people are the Protectors, who would sacrifice any number of our kin in their mad attempt to keep hold of the old ways and their place within them."
"But I see that it was hopeless to try to get you to see beyond the story the Protectors have fed you. You cannot imagine that you were wrong. Or maybe you don't want to imagine it." The anassanoi billows with desperation and fear. He clutches his pistol more tightly. "We can't let you tear our dream apart."
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Belmarniss looks Rehljaer in the eye.
"I think you've got some doubts, no matter how small. Otherwise you'd have pulled that trigger by now. Whether it's doubt in the Legion's beneficence or simply in your ability to take us in a fight, I don't care. But if you wish to stand aside, and live, we will let you. No one, Legion or Traditionalist, has to know you encountered us."
”You heard her,” growls Flint, ”Stand aside and do not interfere. We are not mindless killers, but we WILL do what is needed to save our people and yours!”
The anassanoi exchange glances, fear slowly winning out over their principles and loyalty. Rehljaer is the last to break off his determined stare and only after a few quiet thoughts are relayed through the group. One by one, the anassanoi take steps back as Rehljaer sends to you "We- we cannot stop you. It is true. Yet you mean to doom us..." Rehljaer falls back further from the elevators. "These will take you up, but not all the way to the top without several changes of elevator. Above, the Commissar repurposes the dead. The Commissar is... not among the noblest of the Legion's agents."
Rehljaer will say no more, though you get the sense that little love is lost between himself and this Commissar, based on the emotions rolling off the anassanoi.
"Pistols on the ground. You can pick 'em up when we're gone."
Ordyt slowly lowers his rifle and moves towards the elevator. Before the doors close he casts his thoughts towards the anassanoi, This Commissar--an efreet? Or some other firekin?
Sammad lets out a sigh as the anassanoi finally seem to surrender. "Well, at least nobody had to get hurt. I'll call that a win."
As Ordyt moves to secure their weapons, he turns to Bel and Flint. "Thank you...for handling that. I was about to get very cross with them. After getting beaten to within an inch of my life by an efreet after she firebombed a bar full of innocents, I find it so hard to be objective about the Legion, you know?" He seems to pointedly direct that last statement towards Designation Rehljaer with a scowl.
The anassanoi comply with Ordyt's request, but stand near their pistols in case you change your minds. Upon his question, Rehljaer is silent, but one of the other anassanoi send "He has referred to himself as an efreeti, though he does not do his work with them."
The elevator opens at Ordyt's approach. You find that the controls allow for descent or ascent about ten floors in either direction, but no further. It seems Rehljaer's statement about the elevators was right. There's no indication about what's on each floor, but it seems likely that the Commissar, and the next set of elevators, is at the top of the current range.
”Right, up we go,” says Flint, moving towards the elevator.
He keeps an eye on the traitorous Anassanoi as they go, saying quietly into his comms for the rest of the team and their Taeress communication hub once they are in the elevator, ”We’re in. The Legion have brainwashed some Anassanoi with promises of extrasolar travel, but we didn’t have to kill them to get by…yet.”
Once everyone is in the elevator Ordyt punches the button for the top floor, never taking his gaze off the anassanoi until the doors have closed.
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Sammad lets out a sigh as the anassanoi finally seem to surrender. "Well, at least nobody had to get hurt. I'll call that a win."
As Ordyt moves to secure their weapons, he turns to Bel and Flint. "Thank you...for handling that. I was about to get very cross with them. After getting beaten to within an inch of my life by an efreet after she firebombed a bar full of innocents, I find it so hard to be objective about the Legion, you know?" He seems to pointedly direct that last statement towards Designation Rehljaer with a scowl.
"Oh, I'm f*cking furious," Belmarniss replies. "I've no patience for collaborators. But they had the common sense to not start a fight, and as a Star-Knight it would be unchivalrous of me to strike one who makes that choice, enemy or no."
The connection to Taeress and the Breath of Embers is patchy, but when Flint relays the situation, you all hear "Good news. We'll let the crew here know that there are still more anassanoi above that need to be rescued, or handled carefully at least. Uh, the rebels are on their way into the base of the Spire right now."
At a tap from Ordyt, the anti-grav elevator zips upwards through a transparent tube, flashing past floor after floor at a solid clip. Through the transparent sides you can see more floors with storage and supplies, as well as more anassanoi and ifrits working to organize, store and retrieve them. You sweep past a few floors that appear to have been converted into troop quarters, though they don't appear to be occupied when you get your glance into them. You also zip through a few open, unoccupied floors, which give you a view of the city outside the Spire. Despite the Spire being largely opaque from the outside, it appears this opacity is mostly one-way, as the view out is fairly clear.
The elevator slows swiftly and the doors open. Stone slabs line the walls of the semicircular room you're greeted by, each slab dimly glowing with magical light. Corpses - anassanoi, azers, ifrits, and others - lie on the slabs or on the floor under or next to them. Several more corpses are instead standing, flanking slabs that they must have until recently been resting atop. They turn sluggishly to look at you as the doors of the elevator open. From around the corner you hear a voice "Just as foreseen, new bodies arrive."
---
|||| INIT ||||
Mari
Sammad
Flint
Ordyt
Bel
Commissar Yushiev
9x Zombies
Having only a snap-second to decide on a course of action, Ordyt decides to focus on the Commissar and surges forward. Skidding past the efreet and the zombies alike, he reverses direction and drives his blessed bayonet into the genie's leg.
"Hells," Mari breathes, blasting the closest zombie with a beam of supercooled energy from her zero rifle.
”I’ve got your back, Ordyt,” says Flint as he activates his haste circuit in an attempt to keep up with the speedy warrior. Smoothly gliding into the room, Flint sets up a flank with Ordyt and slashes with his Solar Scimitar at the commissar.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari
Sammad
Bel
Flint
Ordyt
Commissar Yushiev
8x Zombies
"It's an illusion--check for invisible foes," suggests Flint quickly into the comms.
The zombies shamble forward, three of them moving toward the elevators to attack the party members who still haven't exited, and the remainder moving to surround Flint and Ordyt. Two of them already next to Flint heave themselves at him, but he fends them both off.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari
Sammad x2
Bel x2
Flint
Ordyt (2 negative levels)
Commissar Yushiev
8x Zombies
With the benefit of the haste circuit, Flint takes a guarded step to the north and attacks the zombie next to Ordyt, adding, "I'll hold off the zombies..."
Flint cleaves clean through two of the zombies.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari
Sammad x2
Bel x2
Flint
Ordyt (2 negative levels)
Commissar Yushiev
6x Zombies
As the beam of black energy lances through him Ordyt lets out a choked sound, staggering as he feels a piece of his very soul burned away. Stumbling and turning to face his ambusher, the oread sends a psychic bolt searing through his enemy's mind.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari
Sammad x2
Bel
Flint
Ordyt (2 negative levels)
Commissar Yushiev (21 dmg)
4x Zombies
Sammad snarls at the zombies. "Dammit, we've come too far to fall to some restless dead! Take them down, comrades! And their maker, too!"
He delivers a shot to the nearest zombie as he cries out.
He then pivots and sights down on the zombie closest to Flint. "Focus on the real threat, Captain! We can handle these things!"
With that, he fires off a pair of shots at the shambling horror.
Next to Flint, one of the zombies slams into him with its fists , but doesn't have enough weight behind the blow to knock him down. The other two zombies nearby shuffle towards him. At the elevators, the remaining zombie shambles toward Sammad, boxing him in.
The Commissar rises up to an elevation of 10 feet, his head almost touching the ceiling, then reaches out with one clawed hand while casting a spell.
Flint feels an invisible, vice-like grip around his throat, threatening to choke the life out of him. Flint powers through the attack, suffering only minor bruising.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari x2
Sammad
Bel
Flint (13 dmg)
Ordyt (2 negative levels)
Commissar Yushiev (21 dmg)
4x Zombies
Flint spins and looks at the Commissar as the spell fails to maintain a deadly hold. Taking a guarded step away from the zombies, he breaks into a stellar rush and leaps at the Commissar, slashing at him with his solar scimitar!
"I am...with you, Captain!" Following Flint's example, Ordyt activates his jetpack to propel him towards the hovering efreet, striking high while Captain Conners strikes low.
Bel's swift electric slash fries the close-by zombie, leaving it to crumple to the ground. Meanwhile, Flint's jumping slash catches the Commissar off guard. His solar scimitar bites into the efreeti's leg.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari x2
Sammad
Bel
Flint (13 dmg)
Ordyt (2 negative levels)
Commissar Yushiev (54 dmg)
3x Zombies
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-
The Commissar loses his concentration on his strangulation spell, and instead shifts to weaving a spell to warp time around the two heroes on the ground below him.
Ordyt powers through the magic and emerges unaffected, while Flint finds the slowing magic clashes with the haste from his magitech circuit, negating each other.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari x2
Sammad x2
Bel
Flint (13 dmg)
Ordyt (2 negative levels)
Commissar Yushiev (54 dmg)
3x Zombies
With Bel cutting an opening through the zombie horde, Mari's able to get out and get line of sight on the Commissar. She takes careful aim and fires twice, but even with the aid of the exocortex on the second shot, she only manages to send breaching slugs into the wall beyond.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari
Sammad x2
Bel
Flint (13 dmg)
Ordyt (2 negative levels)
Commissar Yushiev (54 dmg)
3x Zombies
Flint activates his jetpack and flies up away from the zombies, moving around the Commissar and engaging him at his current flight level from behind in an attempt to forestall any retreat.
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With a frustrated growl Ordyt activates his jumpjets again, determined to bring this Comissar down.
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Mari and Sammad line up to the south and send a slug and cold beam at the Commissar respectively. Mari's shot blows a chunk out of the efreeti's leg, while Sammad's shot misses.
With the Commissar looking seriously injured, his earlier confidence is all gone. He snarls "Death will come for you..." and surrounds a hand with dark energy. He reaches out to touch Flint, but misses by a hair, the dark energy dissipating harmlessly.
|||| INIT ||||
Mari
Sammad x2
Bel
Flint (13 dmg)
Ordyt (17 dmg, 2 negative levels)
Commissar Yushiev (134 dmg)
2x Zombies
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Thanking the gods for the narrow miss from the deadly foe, Flint responds simply, "You first" as he slashes with his solar scimitar!
The Commissar doesn't have a second chance to deliver his magic. Flint's solar scimitar delivers two clean cuts into the Commissar's chest, releasing a spray of boiling blood. The Commissar only manages to clutch at his new wound once before floating down to the ground, dead.
Combat Over!
The remaining zombies in the room prove easy to dispatch once their master is gone, simply standing idly rather than attempting to defend themselves. Before long you're alone in the room. Looking at the elevators in the room, the western set appears to be able to rise up further through the Spire - though again not all the way to the top.
Looking around the room, other than the beds and medical equipment, there's a small desk jammed in the north-east corner, fluids bubbling in beakers atop it.
Lowering to the floor, Flint switches off his jetpack and searches the Commissar’s body. He also diseangsges the haste circuit if it is not already shut off by the spell that affected it earlier, so as to conserve whatever few rounds it might have left of power for the day.
With a satisfied grunt Ordyt turns and puts a round through the head of the two closest zombies, then turns back to check if Captain Conners found anything useful--like a datapad or keycard.
Searching the body, you find the efreeti was wearing a d-suit III armor that holds a mk1 thermal capacitor and had an elite semi-auto pistol holstered. Tucked into a pocket in his robe is a mk 3 grenade scrambler (currently active), a pouch of resonant onyx shards (worth 5000 credits), a copper access card, and an unlocked datapad. You find the datapad doesn't have a wider connection and was instead used as a note-taking device for the Commissar's macabre "repurposing" experiments - reusing the recovered bodies of anyone who had died in the conflict.
”We should check that desk, too,” suggests Flint, ”But I hope this access card will get us the next few levels.”
No booby traps built into the desk, but Bel identifies that one of the drawers is stuffed to the brim with valuable magical reagents for use in necromantic rituals (with a total value of 25,000 credits and weighing 5 bulk). In another drawer she finds an advanced medkit, a subdermal extractor and four mk2 healing serums.
Seeing the volume of the valuable items, Flint says, ”Let’s put the bulky items in our null space container and distribute the healing serums. Anyone need the armor or other items? If not we can put them in there too and head to the next set of elevators.”
Having swept the room, you pile into the next set of elevators and use the Commissar's access card to send them flying upward. As the elevators move, every so often a clear floor lets you see out into the city once more. The flashes of a view you get looking out reveal that the battle of the Spire is well underway. Anassanoi rebel forces have converged upon the Spire's base, but from the fires, scorch marks, and fallen bodies, it was not without some resistance from the Spire's defenders. After the same time, you see silvery beads zipping through the sky around the tower, chasing, or being chased by, a massive dragon with red and gold scales. At least for now, they seem to be keeping it distracted and away from the fighting below, but the dragon doesn't appear to be very injured.