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Ordyt frowns. "May I keep the hammer? It doesn't seem particularly special, and when it gets to hot I can do this..." The oread flips a switch, and as the hammer hums to life it gives off a faint cold mist.
"Refreshing!"
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The Far Station's wide open mess hall is abuzz with activity. Already, you've had to fend off half a dozen eager scientists looking to get your personal impressions of the Breath of Embers and its mysterious technology and even more mysterious denizens. It wasn't until Dr. Taeress showed up to snap at her juniors (and seniors) to give the adventurers some breathing room that the scientists backed off.
Now, the Doctor waves you over to the same seats you took a few couple of days ago - when you were fresh from your successful dogfight against the Inferno Whale. She takes a seat and flashes your group a jaunty grin. "Glad to see you're all looking stellar. Coffees." She points over your shoulders at an aide coming along with a tray of coffees for your group. "If there's one thing a lab caf is good at making, its coffee. And boy do we go through a lot of it." She leans back, waits for you to take your first sips.
"Rather than have you tell the story a hundred times to everyone, I figured it'd be best to get the gist all at once. Sorry for the crowd." She waves to the dozen scientists hovering nearby to hear your tale. "From Sammad's message, you found a lot of trouble, and a lot less 'first contact' than we were hoping to find. How was it?"
Belmarniss removes her helmet and takes one of the cups, adding ice to it as she's more a cold-brew person. She takes a few sniffs and a small smile comes to her face.
"Poshkettle Tea's 'Apostae Black' blend. You've excellent taste, Dr. Taeress."
As the good Doctor asks her question, though, the smile quickly becomes a sour grimace.
"How was it? An annoying little creature with delusions of grandeur made us bow to it and entertain its ridiculous pretensions of godhood, a radioactive fey nearly killed me in a blind rage and gave me a bunch of glow-in-the-dark tumors to go with it, an overzealous heating element tried to char-grill my foot, that hammer's previous owner nearly caved in my skull with it and I got a face full of brandy and broken glass as the final insult to injury...so you'll forgive me if I'm not in the best mood. It looked like really good brandy and I'm mad that I wasted it."
"Doctor Taeress, I would be happy to give you an overview of the mission, but others in the crew are much more qualified to go over the details." Deferring to each of you in turn, Flint continues, "Perhaps Ordyt can describe the tactical considerations of the hostile encounters, Mari and Belmarniss can review the technical challenges we encountered, and Sammad," Flint turns to his fiery friend with a flourish, "well, Ambassador Sammad Al-Fayir likely has quite the lively discussion planned on the proper disposition of this ship--once it has been fully studied, of course."
Mari sips her coffee quietly, then returns the nod from Flint before she addresses Taeress. "I'm glad to write up a full report, plus the relevant data from my exocortex, but the short version is this: that ship is full of some incredible stuff. A lot of it was too damaged or complex for us to analyze in the time we had, but I think the DCI can probably learn something useful. One additional complication is just how a lot of the tech on that ship is literally magical. Bel can give more insight into that aspect than I can. That is, frankly, not my realm of expertise."
Seemingly done, she leans back and takes another sip, before lurching forward again. "Oh! The ship's systems make really dangerous assumptions about the environmental tolerances of its crew and passengers. Don't send anyone aboard without contained thermal suits or protective magic, or the climate control may try to burn them to death."
After Flint and Marisol add their summaries to hers, she nods.
"Correct. While many of the subsystems suffered significant damage, beyond our ability to fix beyond crude spot-repairs, this Breath of Embers is a marvel, a true marriage of engineering and mysticism: many of her systems replace what would usually be technological elements in Pact-World-constructed vessels with magical ones. This design philosophy can be seen, for example in their manufactory device that utilizes a captive assembly ooze to break down and recycle materials, rather than the UPB-based devices we're more familiar with, or the teppanyaki grill in their galley that was powered by little fire elementals...fire elementals that proved to be far too eager to perform their appointed cooking duties when whatever wards keeping them bound to the stove were presumably weakened by the damage to the ship's systems. Combined with what Ms. Welkin has already alerted you to, I'd say it's safe to conclude that the vessel is extraplanar in manufacture, specifically as you've said, the Plane of Fire. Its systems presume that any aboard will already be immune to being burned or may even find such sensations soothing, and the structure of their crew quarters and especially lavatory facilities suggest a lack of familiarity with Material-Plane-evolved biologies. Magic is generally something more readily available than common technologies on other planes, especially as the societies of such dimensions ARE much more ancient and contiguous than our own, and often have accumulated massive amounts of wealth like the kind that was clearly utilized to construct and outfit this vessel in such an ostentatious fashion."
"The ship was very likely stolen from its creators, they may have something to say about its 'disposition' as well." Ordyt glances at Sammad and Flint. "I'm not saying it can't or shouldn't be studied, but I think that's something that should be kept in mind."
Belmarniss frowns and facepalms when she realizes she'd forgotten that very important fact.
"That too, thank you Ordyt."
Sammad chuckles. "Or just send an ifrit, if you've got any to spare."
"If there'd be any spare ifrits anywhere, Sammad, here in the sun's general vicinity is where they would be," Belmarniss replies nonchalantly.
Sammad takes a stern expression as Ordyt speaks. "Ordyt is right. We encountered a warrior, dwarf-like but fiery. He said that he worked for some 'General', before trying to kill us-and almost succeeding." Sammad reaches into his pocket and takes out the collar he found on the bridge. "He wore a collar like this-it vaporized him when we inflicted the final blow, before we could get information. I don't know how it works or who made it, but your facilities should be capable of giving a proper analysis, I think."
Sammad then hands the collar over to Dr. Taeress. "The mysteries of this ship are even greater than you, or we, suspected. It should be approached with the utmost caution, Doctor. For yours, and everyone on this station's, sake."
"Indeed. Said dwarf nearly sent me to meet Iomedae, and we found the ruined collar you see here on the bridge, amongst presumably the remains of its previous wearer, the pilot and alleged ship-jacker of the Breath of Embers. To shackle such a thing to a person to destroy their very remains should they expire...it's disgusting. It wouldn't surprise me if they could be activated remotely as a means of killing people who escape...no sane person would WANT something like this around their neck."
"I have very little to add," says Flint, respecting Sammad's discretion in not mentioning his family connection to the ship, continuing, "other than to emphasize that this appears to be a ship launched before its time, and we might expect someone else to come looking to reclaim their property."
"To that end, Doctor, how are the repairs going to the Radiant Fire? How soon will she be spaceworthy? asks Flint, obviously concerned about his ship.
"In addition, at least one of the ship's former residents is still aboard: that radioactive fey I mentioned earlier, name of Typhix. He's...touchy, but as long as you don't damage the ship's reactors further than they already are, he's probably harmless. He treats them kind of like they're his parents. They may even be so for real, I don't know how fey anatomy works."
The surrounding scientists take notes on their datapads as you each tell your parts, which Dr. Taeress sips at her coffee with a thoughtful frown on her face.
After Sammad speaks, she says "A ship stolen from its original owners, designed to be used by creatures native to the plane of fire, and yet packed with technology and magic unlike any of the designs we've seen trading around the Burning Archipelago..." She taps a finger on the rim of her mug. "And at the same time, the ship emerged from the sun, when a perfectly good portal from the Plane of Fire was sitting right nearby. A stranger chain of circumstances would be tough to think up."
"As well as what might be an Azer, the warrior you described. Did you get a sense for what side our azer was on? The original owners of the ship or the side of the thieves?"
"And the General he mentioned. There's no shortage of military minded groups all over the Pact Worlds and beyond, and as a rule they're a pain to deal with. If this 'General' doesn't want us to have the ship, we'll have some trouble one way or another. Hopefully they don't realize we've got it."
She looks over the slagged collar that Sammad hands over "Hm! It may be destroyed, but its obvious even from the remains that there was a strange design at work here. An insurance policy. Maybe we can work out where it came from using what internals remain unscathed."
"What other technology did you find? As much detail as you have." The scientists lean in eagerly to start categorizing the finds.
"As for your Radiant Fire, Captain, it'll take another couple of days to get her all fixed up. You're more than welcome to stay here in the mean time. In fact-" She raises an eyebrow at the scientists hovering around. "-I think we're not about to let you go until we squeeze you for all you're worth." She winks at Flint, grinning.
"I doubt that we'll have much more to contribute beyond giving you a guided tour," Belmarniss replies. "I don't have any particular place I need to be urgently, however. I'm on a tour of errantry."
She blinks and gets an embarassed look as she realizes she's forgotten something.
"Captain Conners, I don't think I got the chance to appropriately thank you. Not only did you get my family's cargo to its destination unharmed despite the circumstances, you've saved my life at least twice by my count. Would you...do me the honor of allowing me to travel with you further for a time?"
Carefully considering the encounter with the Azer, Flint says, "He seemed to be working with the fire salamander creature in damaging the ship -- specifically an airlock to what we later found out was a luxurious escape pod. He called us Pact-Worlders and spoke of giving an icy death to the traitorous alien thief, so I assume he wasn't on the thief's side."
Continuing, Flint says, "Although the Azer was much more interested in fighting than talking, Sammad managed to wrest a bit more information from him." Turning to Sammad, he adds, "He gave you his name, Koshnar of the 28th, and said he was personally trained by the 'General' as you have already told us."
"If he said anything after that, I didn't hear it, because he 'spoke' to me first with that hammer of his and I didn't wake back up until the end of the battle," Flint concludes with a wry smile.
Drawing the pistol he got from the locker and putting it on the table, he adds, "This is an example of their technology--I assume it is a laser pistol of some kind, but I haven't had occasion to fire it yet."
"Yes, I suffered the same fate as Captain Conners in that fight. It frustrates me that even with the combat training I've taken I still crumple like cheap polymer in serious melee combat."
Dr. Taeress turns the pistol over in her hands before casting a sharp gaze over the hammer. "Now that's fascinating. This is definitely Plane of Fire manufacture. But its not any of the actual manufacturers I recognize." She takes a deep swig of coffee. "Azer are known to be skilled forge-masters, engineers and craftspeople. Maybe this General has their own supply chain..."
"Either way, while this is exotic tech, its also within the realm of what we've seen before from the Plane of Fire." She sighs, visibly disappointed. Her sentiment seems to be echoed by the other scientists. "Nevertheless, maybe detailed scans and analysis would reveal something that isn't obvious from a visual inspection." This pronouncement seems to put a vigor back into the crowd.
"I know you fought hard to get some of these things, but we'd like to study them. Once we're done, if they're not a particularly critical find, you're welcome to keep them."
"What's wrong, Doctor? Study and reverse engineering of these weapons could greatly improve our own blending of magic and technology! Magic permeates this universe and so much understanding of it's been lost to the Gap...even just a laser pistol manufactured in this way could provide new insights into incorporating magic into the manufacturing process."
Dr. Taeress nods appreciatively at Sammad's generosity and adds "Something in private? Sure, no problem. I'll set aside some time later today." But at Ordyt's comment, she gives a lopsided smile "Hey, I know what it's like getting your hands on a new piece of gear. But don't worry, we're not going to break it... probably."
Taeress guzzles the last of her coffee as Belmarniss delivers her own perspectives on the surprisingly dangerous and inhospitable starship. "The most alarming thing we've learned here is definitely those collars. You suspect the ship hijacker was wearing one as well? Whatever organization wants that kind of... "insurance"... Well, it speaks to them being extremely radically minded." She sets her mug down with a disgusted expression. "And dangerous. Very dangerous."
"As for this Typhix," She looks up and a couple of researchers stick their hands up. "Looks like we've got volunteers already to help our capricious fey friend in fixing the ship up. From your description, I'm going to hazar-"
Dr. Taeress cuts off mid-sentence. Her eyes unfocus, her hands go to her temples. "ARRRRGH!" She lets out a groan, one which you notice is echoed by a number of the other scientists. As you look up at the crowd, you see a few individuals - all shirren or lashunta - that look like they're in the same kind of pain as Dr. Taeress.
The crowd erupts into activity as the unaffected members try to help their ailing comrades. Two junior researches jump forwards to try to help Taeress, but she waves both of them off as she grits her jaw.
Sammad jolts as Dr. Taeress and several scientists all yell out in inexplicable pain. He looks to Captain Flint and the others for guidance.
Ordyt surges to his feet, looking around as through for an attack. "I don't--what's happening? What's hurting them?"
As he takes in the victims' identities it slowly dawns on him, and his worried expression deepens. "Is this some sort of psychic assault?"
At the sudden chorus of pained cries, Mari yelps and falls backward out of her chair. Climbing back up off the floor to her feet, Mari checks her coffee mug and is relieved to have not spilled any of it on herself. Turning to Ordyt, she says "What could do something like that?"
Flint and Sammad make the connection both at the same time - the only races affected by whatever is happening are those that are telepathic. You've both heard of the strange psychic phenomenon that plagues the areas immediately near or within the sun's corona. From what you recall, telepathic creatures living near the sun complain of occasional waves of psychic pressure. These waves are an irritation more than a danger and tend to make creatures anxious, irritable and pessimistic.
What you're seeing now is like one of those psychic wave events, but much much more intense.
Flint looks quickly at the nearest viewport aimed at the sun, instinctively trying to see if there is a visual manifestation of the sun’s psychic wave.
Not having any psychic sensitive members on his crew, Flint realizes this could have been happening for a while...He asks Dr. Taeress with concern, ”Have these waves of Psychic energy been strengthening recently, since the ship came out of the sun?”
Beyond what Flint and Sammad recognize, you're not sure of the nature of this new, more potent psychic affliction. However, as Belmarniss amd Flint start towards Dr. Taeress, an agonized yell breaks out from another of the scientists. A lashunta hunches over, nose bleeding onto the floor, then suddenly spins towards the concerned crowd with an autopistol in his hands. He stares at them wide eyed, his face contorted with pain.
"Wh-who-who's doing this?!?" His voice escapes from gritted teeth as he points his pistol at random members of the crowd. "Y-you Hirix?" He points it at a shirren in a lab coat who seems to already be recovering. "F-ff-Amplifffy-ing it!?!"
Sammad springs up now, taking a step toward the scientist. "Sir, it's not your comrade's fault. Please put the gun down before you do something rash."
"Not this strong, I..." begins Flint, then he sees the kerfuffle begin. Moving swiftly, he interposes himself between the lashunta and the shirren, the autopistol aimed directly at his chest from mere feet away.
"Stop this insanity right now, scientist, or my crew and I will stop if for you," Flint growls at the gunman, his scorched duster swirling around his calves with the abrupt end to his movement.
In a few quick strides, Ordyt puts himself behind the armed lashunta. The oread watches, quietly but intently, as his companions attempt to talk him down. If that doesn't work, he's prepared to try and grab the weapon from his hand.
Unsure what exactly to do here, Marisol decides to join Bel in protecting the shirren, ready to throw both of them to the ground if the shooting starts.
Sammad's calming words cause the pain-crazed lashunta to hesitate long enough for Flint, Belmarniss and Marisol to interpose themselves and give Hirix some cover from the misplaced attempt at retribution. Those few seconds are enough time for the psychic wave to abate just enough for the lashunta to realize what he's doing. He drops his pistol and drops to his knees, cradling his head.
For a few moments, the only sounds are the groans of the agonized telepaths. Then Dr. Taeress' voice cuts through them, clipped but firm "It's weakening. It'll pass in less than a minute, judging from past examples. Hold on, folks." The sound of Taeress speaking seems to return some calm to the room, and over the next minute, the shirren and lashunta in the group get back to their feet. The slumped lashunta is the last to get to his feet, and when he does he still looks shaky. With an unsteady voice he requests "I'd like to be put in the brig. That... I don't want that to happen again."
Taeress holds one hand up to her temple and takes a deep breath. "That was no ordinary psychic surge, no one's going to blame you for a one time lapse of judgement. How about you go to your quarters and take a rest, center yourself." The lashunta fellow nods after a moment's hesitation and heads out of the mess hall. Taeress adds "Everyone else, let's take a breather. The Breath of Embers can wait for when we're all feeling back to 100%."
The Doctor turns to the group of you. "Thanks, that could have gone a lot worse. If you hadn't-" Uncharacteristically, she seems at a loss for words. "We haven't had a psychic surge like that before. It felt like... being in an opening airlock with no suit. Being on the precipice of a cliff with the wind at your back." She shakes her head. "It's hard to describe for people who aren't telepaths."
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"I can...kind of imagine, Dr. Taeress...lying on my back, pinned beneath ship wreckage, air leaking out of my suit and staring up at the stars..." Belmarniss says, immediately wobbling a bit as the memory of her near-death experience come unbidden. "Sorry...that was seven years ago...a long time ago by non-drow standards."
”What do you think could have caused such a psychic wave? Would a visual recording of the sun during the wave tell us anything, or perhaps do you have instruments which measure such things?” asks Flint of the good doctor.
At Belmarniss’ rare moment of unguarded self-expression, Flint is momentarily at a loss for words. As many time as he has watched the stars flow past the viewscreen, having such a thing be his last vision before death seemed somehow wrong, though he knew such were the dangers of space exploration.
Ordyt frowns thoughtfully as he watches all the slowly-recovering telepaths. "I don't know anything about telepathy, but I know weapons, and I don't think that was an attack. An attack would have been more focused. Maybe an incidental or environmental effect?"
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Ordyt frowns thoughtfully as he watches all the slowly-recovering telepaths. "I don't know anything about telepathy, but I know weapons, and I don't think that was an attack. An attack would have been more focused. Maybe an incidental or environmental effect?"
"Exactly, Ordyt," Belmarniss replies. "Especially we're just seeing these effects out here on Far Station. We don't know how this has impacted the people in the Burning Archipelago below..."
Sammad looks around the room of scientists, then to the others. "Well, now that *that's* over with, I think we could all use a breather. I should update Quassela anyway, I'm sure she's wondering what's delayed me."
"R-Right." Dr. Taeress visibly steels herself against the lingering headache and continues "For a number of years, we've assumed some kind of natural phenomenon deep within the sun is responsible for the surges. Not harmless, but just a fact of life when living near the sun. But... if they're going to be like that one more often." She squares her jaw, filled with determination to start getting to the bottom of this.
"Alright, you've got the right idea Flint, lets see if there's any evidence the Station's instruments picked up."
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She leads the way through the Station towards the main observation deck, where the few scientists that weren't involved in the Breath of Embers investigation are all crowded around one particular terminal. When you all arrive, they look up towards you with expressions somewhere between excited and alarmed.
"Taeress, you felt it too?" One of them speaks up "That last psychic surge overloaded our instruments. And even disregarding the amplitude, its signature was different." Another one cuts in "We've recorded plenty of data - should have some conclusions for you in... two to eight weeks if we get started right now."
Dr. Taeress eyes some of the displays and then turns back to you all. "Seems like we've got plenty to work on between the Breath of Embers and its technology and the latest surge." She gives you a lopsided grin "No rest for the weary, huh?"
"Your ship's going to be a few days before its ready, but unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to be much of a host during that time. Feel free to make yourselves at home for now. And before you leave, we'll work out wiring you payment for all you've done for us."
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Captain Flint spends the next 3 days exploring, as is his way. Anywhere he is authorized to go on Far Station and the Breath of Embers, he will go, although he spends much time with Typhix in the engineering section of the alien ship, fantasizing about how amazing this ship would be to fly once fully repaired.
The bulk of his time, however, is spend aboard the Radiant Fire, "supervising" repairs (really just encouraging those fixing it) and in his private quarters, resting and enjoying his burgeoning hobby. Given the experiences of the past few days, he has quite a repertoire of images to fuel his imagination.
In three days, there are several new paintings gracing his walls -- a space battle with the Radiant Fire scraping past the inferno whale and launching hot metal its way, a dramatic scene from the fight with the Azer, Flint's dueling blade protruding from its chest, and a vast starfield with the Breath of Embers gliding proudly through the black. In each painting a subtle blossoming flower of dawn is hidden somewhere, in homage to his divine patron.
Sammad first uses the station's communications to reach out to his supervisor, Quassela. The efreet is not pleased at the circumstances, but is intrigued and mollified by his tales: especially his hints of the wonders aboard the Breath of Embers. She decides that he can have the additional time needed to deliver the cargo, which thankfully isn't perishable. Unfortunately, that means giving up 3 days of his annual leave allowance, but he thinks that the sacrifice is necessary in this instance.
In his remaining time, he shadows the teams working on the Breath of Embers, specifically the ones working in the reactor room near Typhix. The mercurial fey vacillates all too quickly from cooperative to territorial, but thanks to Sammad's diplomatic expertise, he is always talked down before real harm is done. One of those scientists is the lashunta who suffered the psychic attack, who Sammad gets to talking to in order to learn more about the mysterious psychic phenomena of the sun. In the process, they begin forming a friendship.
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Ordyt spends much of the next several days in meditative prayer and contemplation of the contradictions of the Burning Mother and its relationship to Sarenrae. He also mades steady progress through the Yoga with Yrannarri vidcast series, though he considers the astrazoan instructor to have an unfair advantage.
He tries not to pester the Institute personnel about 'his' armor and weapons, but the oread's eagerness is transparently obvious. He asks Belmarniss if she would modify the iridshell plate for his taller, stocker frame.
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Belmarniss spends most of the time following their adventures convalescing from the injuries she sustained aboard the Breath of Embers. As curious as she is about the tech they've recovered from the ship, she can't study it if she's dead. She also begins keeping a log of her Tour of Errantry, to keep her fellow Knights posted on what's going on at the Sun. If some mysterious force was planning military actions upon the Burning Archipelago, the Knights of Golarion would definitely want to be aware of it should the Archipelago's people require their aid. When Ordyt asks her to resize the armor they found for him, she frowns a bit.
"I...I don't mean to sound greedy Ordyt, especially since you've been nothing but nice throughout our time as comrades in arms, but the several times I've nearly been killed on that ship made me think I may need to invest in some better armor myself...Could I please utilize the armor instead, especially as you already have the azer's hammer as a weapon?
Belmarniss spends most of the time following their adventures convalescing from the injuries she sustained aboard the Breath of Embers. As curious as she is about the tech they've recovered from the ship, she can't study it if she's dead. She also begins keeping a log of her Tour of Errantry, to keep her fellow Knights posted on what's going on at the Sun. If some mysterious force was planning military actions upon the Burning Archipelago, the Knights of Golarion would definitely want to be aware of it should the Archipelago's people require their aid. When Ordyt asks her to resize the armor they found for him, she frowns a bit.
"I...I don't mean to sound greedy Ordyt, especially since you've been nothing but nice throughout our time as comrades in arms, but the several times I've nearly been killed on that ship made me think I may need to invest in some better armor myself...Could I please utilize the armor instead, especially as you already have the azer's hammer as a weapon?
Marisol busies herself by putting together the report she had offered to Doctor Taeress, complete with audiovisual and telemetry data recorded by her exocortex. Checking it for errors is when she truly realizes how close their little group came to disaster onboard the alien craft, stumbling around and playing with things they didn't understand. Mari briefly considered taking a more cautious approach in the future, but was self-aware enough to know that was a losing game. This was something that, like most problems, could be solved with better tech. So, report finished and sent out, she begins tinkering with her equipment, trying to flesh out an idea she'd been playing around with all the way back on Bretheda.
Those are all things for free time, though. All her working hours (and then some) are spent elbow deep in the guts of the Radiant Fire, undoing the damage caused both by the inferno whale and her rushed patch jobs. Mari also feels quite proud of herself for not chasing the Far Station's engineering crew out with threats of violence when they critique her custom UI. She doesn't even throw a wrench at Flint when he calls her out of a maintenance duct for the fifth time that day to offer more "supervision."
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With your three days off, you're able to recenter yourselves and recuperate from what had ended up being a harrowing experience on the Breath of Embers.
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Flint's "supervision" quickly gets rebuffed by the experienced maintenance techs, who treat him to scowls until he leaves them to his work. However, when they spot his rather striking paintings of the Radiant Fire's strafing run of the Inferno Whale, their attitude flips around to one of admiration for his artistic talents. In fact, they insist on showing off some of his works to their co-workers.
Sammad finds that his skill at mediation proves vital to getting the scientists of Far Station and the fey Typhix to get along. It's only after a long afternoon of negotiation that Typhix finally allows the group of techs access to the power cores to work on them. As for Sammad's discussion with the lashunta scientist, his new friend is only too happy to speak at length about the mysterious psychic phenomena that surround the sun. While some of it is stuff that Sammad has hear before, the new perspective proves valuable.
Ordyt's meditation and exercise proves fruitful, as by the end of the three day period, he's feeling just a little bit closer to the flexibility of his Astrazoan yoga instructor.
Belmarniss takes it far easier than her allies. During her time in Far Station's med bay, she encounters medical staff who are more than happy to provide her treatment for her injuries. By the end of the three days, she's not only feeling back to full fighting fitness, but strangely light on her feet. The kindly medical staff insist that she takes a Mk1 Healing Serum with her "just in case".
Marisol is perhaps the busiest out of anyone in the group, between refitting armors, helping with the repairs on the Radiant Fire, and compiling her report. Her three days are non-stop work, but by the end of them, all her tasks are completed with top quality!
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On the evening of the third day, you're called over the station's intercom to report to Dr. Taeress' office. Once there, you find Taeress in conversation with a heavily augmented Kasatha in a trim white coat. Taeress waves you in.
"Stationmaster Jori, this is the team that helped us with the Breath of Embers. Team, this is my boss, Stationmaster Jori Kimosan Kofa of Clan Embross, House Hadulan." Jori nods and offers a quiet "Mmm. I see."
Taeress continues "Dr. Jori just got back from the Burning Archipelago, and I was telling her about some of our discoveries on the Breath of Embers, as well as discussing recent events." She squares her jaw "Luckily, we haven't had another psychic surge since that one a few days ago. Dr. Jori says it wreaked havoc in the more settled areas. Hovercar crashes, other accidents. We got off pretty light, since most people were just standing around at the time."
Dr. Jori nods solemnly, turning sunken, electronic eyes to gaze at your party. "Chaos. Much economic and medical damage."
Taeress continues "Seems like they're getting back on their feet over there though." She grins "As for you, I'm happy to say your ship is back in working order. We've worked through much of the tech you brought back, and anything you mentioned you wanted to claim is there on the ship waiting for you."
"Now, we have two topics outstanding. One, we owe you for all your help with the Breath of Embers, and two... well, lets talk about that after we get the credits out of the way."
Sammad listens to Dr. Taeress and Stationmaster Jori with a solemn expression. "I'm not surprised things were worse there. From what I've been told, the Archipelago tends to feel the psychic outbursts worse by virtue of its proximity. I should contact my sources in the Cooperative, and see if any other employees were affected..."
At Dr. Taeress' mention of credits, his expression brightens. "Ah, my arena." He turns to the others, whispering in a lower tone, "Let me lead, I think I can get us an excellent arrangement."
”Of course, Ambassador, I have full confidence in your negotiation capabilities,” says Flint, spreading his arms in a deferential gesture.
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Belmarniss feels incredible after the three days, ready to go out and fight injustice. While her magical repertoire hadn't seen much improvement, she felt much tougher than she'd been a few days ago. She imagined it would be more challenging for any fire-dwarfs or radioactive-fey to take her down now!
She dons her new, refitted armor, the lightness she'd felt a moment ago being replaced with the solid, protective weight of heavy armor. Now she REALLY looked like a Star-Knight. She joins the others meeting Dr. Taeress. When she introduces them to Stationmaster Jori, she bows respectfully.
"Honor and blessings of Talavet and your ancestors upon you and your efforts, Doctor," she says. Her brow furrows at the description of the damage the psychic wave they witnessed did down on the Burning Archipelago. "You're...sure this wave wasn't an attack? It could have been an attempt at terrorism or something...Has anyone made any demands or claimed responsibility for it?"
She kind of shrugs when the conversation turns to credits.
"This is more 'your' part of the conversation, boys," she says to Flint and Sammad. "I only need enough creds to survive and maintain my gear."
Ordyt shrugs, "Part of me agrees with Bel, but I won't turn down coin."
Dr. Taeress considers Bel's question for a moment. "Could it have been? Maybe, though no one has stepped forward, no. Though I can't imagine anyone or anything being able to produce such a large scale psychic event on demand. Even at 100% conversion efficiency, it would take a staggering amount of energy to radiate out a psychic disturbance of that strength. The path loss of travel through the plasmatic medium... unless..." You lose her for a few moments to speculation.
"Right." She returns her attention to the task at hand. "Sammad, for this team's aid with the Inferno Whale, we're prepared to offer 2000 credits. As for the exploration of the Breath of Embers, it looks like you'll be holding onto a number of the pieces of equipment retrieved from the ship."
Mari nods at Taeress's response. "The inverse square law alone would account for a great deal of the attenuation, and the increased power nearer the source would simply kill people outright. But if large scale power is what you need, well..." she trails off, gesturing at a nearby viewscreen showing a live feed of the Sun.
Sammad listens to Dr. Taeress's offer and ponders for a moment, then smiles broadly. "2000 split 5 ways...I'd normally haggle, but considering the additional items you're letting us claim I think that's fair value. Plus this whole escapade got me 3 days of leave, and extra time to catch up with an old friend," he says, turning to Belmarniss and offering a quick grin.
He then turns back to Dr. Taeress. "Now, what's the other thing you wish to discuss, Dr. Taeress?"
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Mari nods at Taeress's response. "The inverse square law alone would account for a great deal of the attenuation, and the increased power nearer the source would simply kill people outright. But if large scale power is what you need, well..." she trails off, gesturing at a nearby viewscreen showing a live feed of the Sun.
"Not to mention there's a distinct possibility magic could have been involved, which adds an entirely new set of variables to factor in!" Belmarniss adds, wheels clearly turning in her head.
When Sammad grins at her, she raises an eyebrow, and gives a small, curious smile back.
After handing out a plain credstick with the agreed-upon amount, Dr. Taeress turns to her second topic. She produces the bracelet Marisol recovered from the Breath of Embers. "Of all the objects recovered from our deep sun ship, this one was by far the strangest and most exciting. First, there was a lingering psychic imprint attached to the bracelet. One that was strong enough for Marisol to see clearly and to still leave a clear impression on the two colleagues of mine who were to study it. Their impressions were far vaguer than Marisol's reported experience, but they both agreed that they sensed an earnest warning accompanying the bracelet."
"More to the point, both caught a glimpse of an alien offering the bracelet. What they saw doesn't match any of the recorded alien species currently known." She raises an eyebrow, smile growing on her face "This could be the evidence we were waiting for. Disregarding the owners of the ship, it undeniably emerged from deep within the sun. That means it could have interacted with an as-yet-unmet deep sun culture! And this may be one of their artifacts!"
"The technology used in its construction bears no similarity to existing tech or magitech from the Pact Worlds or the Plane of Fire, as far as we understand it. It's something wholly different. Something new!" Dr. Taeress brims with excitement.
"By experimentation, all we've been able to deduce so far is that it has a dampening effect on telepathy while worn. But I suspect its true purpose has got to be something more than that! As a result, we'd like to take it to the DCI headquarters for closer study."
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Belmarniss tries to resist rolling her eyes. She was still skeptical of the DCI's claims, but the things she'd seen this week were more than enough indication that SOMETHING was going on and needed to be investigated further, but she keeps her mouth shut, not wanting to embarrass herself again. She wasn't on Apostae, where condescending sarcasm was the preferred tone, anymore.
"Are you...extending an invitation, Dr. Taeress?"
"More the opposite. I'm hoping to hitch a ride." She gives a lopsided grin. "You have a delivery to somewhere in the Burning Archipelago, don't you? Dr. Jori's ship continued on towards Castrovel, and we won't be getting another shuttle stopping by here en-route to the Burning Archipelago for at least three days - even if we disregard any schedule disruptions due to the psychic surge."
"If you're interested in continuing to the DCI, we'd be glad to have you as well. You have first hand experience with the bracelet, as well as that azer, both of which would make you a popular group for interviews." She raises an eyebrow "No obligation though."
Sammad flashes a small grin. "I'd be happy to have you along. Once I deliver the cargo to the Cooperative's headquarters, I was going to meet with the DCI anyway."
It not being her ship, Mari doesn't say anything, but she does look at Flint with an expectant expression.