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Already thinking to do that given his rather ineffectual actions so far, Flint merely says, ”Agreed,” as he channels healing power from his photonic power source (Glow of Life for 33 hp back).
With the elemental out of the way, Flint has a straight shot at the Blue Efreeti and he engages his jetpack to do a Jet Charge Stellar Rush at the foe!
(+2 if Sammad helps)
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The elemental bursts into a sorry cascade of ash and embers as Ordyt snuffs it out. Meanwhile Flint surges past and lands a slash upon the blue efreeti, who clearly wasn't expecting to be so quickly engaged.
|||| INIT ||||
Bel (63SP 50HP, displaced)
Ordyt (73SP 73HP, reflective armor, 2thp FF)
Flint (0SP 80HP)
Dmyr (hasted, invisible)
Blue Efreeti (54 dmg)
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Mari's able to largely protect herself, and Flint dodges the worst of it, but Ordyt eats the full blast . Simultaneously, the wall of flame radiates heat toward your team, but thanks to your resistances only Ordyt is slightly singed .
The blue efreeti lashes out with her own serrated blade, scoring deep gouges through Flint's armor . After her attacks, she rolls through the wall of flame and out of sight.
|||| INIT ||||
Bel (63SP 50HP, displaced) x2
Ordyt (42SP 73HP, reflective armor, 2thp FF)
Flint (0SP 25HP)
Dmyr (hasted, invisible)
Blue Efreeti (69 dmg)
"Nothing for it then," Gritting his teeth Ordyt plunges through the wall of fire at an angle intended to cut off the other efreet. Cybernetic legs pumping, the warpriest gets in front of the retreating efreet and calls for Flint to join him!
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Belmarniss activates her force pack and rises into the air.
Then she loops around the elevator to try and flank Dmyr, wherever he is.
She grabs a shard of her junksword and holds it before her. As she recites an incantation, it begins spinning and rotating in different directions, sparks beginning to fly out of it as the chant rises in volume and urgency, until she says the final magic word and there's a blinding flash followed by a near-deafening thunderclap, the shard disintegrating into a wave of electricity rolling in the general direction of Dmyr like a tsunami of lightning! She didn't need to pinpoint his location for this spell; it was like a fireball, it only needed to be addressed "To whom it may concern."
Plunging through the wall (or over it if it doesn’t reach all the way to the ceiling), Flint engages the blue Efreeti again. Vexed that it moved away before and avoided any parting attacks, he slashes at it once more with his holy scimitar as his eyes glow brightly despite his wounds.
Dmyr, now left to fight you alone, is caught unprepared for a lightning bolt to the back. Mari circles around the corner and follows by nailing him with a slug from her rifle. He follows up however with another massive fire blast, encompassing everyone other than Bel.
Flint eats the full burst, only his hardiness against flame keeping him upright. Ordyt dodges some of it and is less badly hurt. Both Sammad and Mari end up partially burned.
|||| INIT ||||
Bel (63SP 50HP, displaced)
Ordyt (21SP 73HP, reflective armor, 2thp FF)
Flint (0SP 5HP)
Dmyr (37 dmg, hasted, invisible)
Meeting Flint's eyes with a small nod, Ordyt twirls the pike in his hands. "Two down, one to go. I'll mark him for you, Captain."
Plunging back through the fire-wall, Ordyt closes in with the invisible genie officer and literally leaps into the attack, putting all of his weigh behind a devastating stab at Dmyr's face!
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Nodding grimly, the nearly-dead Captain Flint rallies. Drifting up and back over the wall of fire, he sees Ordyt’s spectacular blow find flesh, then activates his own Stellar Rush to charge in and try to strike at the same spot!
Dmyr pulls the cryopike free but is left moving too slow to counterattack, giving you all another opening to attack! He looks badly injured, but not yet out of the fight.
|||| INIT ||||
Bel (63SP 50HP, displaced)
Ordyt (21SP 73HP, reflective armor, 2thp FF)
Flint (0SP 5HP)
Dmyr (160 dmg, hasted, invisible)
"You have failed your Malikah." Seeing his cryopike prove less effective than it might otherwise, Ordyt swaps back to his estoc-bayonet and steps in close to continue savaging Dmyr.
Still barely clinging to consciousness, Flint slashes twice at the target of Ordyt’s attack, hoping to finish off the invisible foe!
While Flint and Bel's guesses as to Dmyr's exact position yield no success, Ordyt has a clear view. With a single strong stab, he impales the commander in the gut. Blood spilling from his wound, Dmyr staggers forward, coughing out "I would have liked... to see her rise... in person." before he falls to his knees.
The cloak behind him ripples and he goes rigid in a heartbeat, toppling over.
Combat Over!
Catching Dmyr as he topples, Ordyt struggles to think of something to say as he churns with disgust, disappointment, and regret at how some of the Legion appear to earnestly believe that their path is, somehow, righteous. Ultimately, he says nothing and lowers the expired efreet to the ground.
Unclipping the cloak, he holds it out to Flint. "Let them know we've got all the cloaks, Captain--and ask them to update us about any defenses they have in place for us when we get down there."
"I definitely need some way to see invisible creatures, as the cloak appeared not to work at all," says Flint, irritated by his handicap in the battle.
To Ordyt, he says, "Thanks," as he accepts the cloak. Taking off the one he has expended, he folds all three up in a semblance of neatness and *thinks* towards the mysterious voice while holding all three, "It was a close thing, but we were able to defeat all those who stole your cloaks, and we now have them in our possession. We will come to you as soon as we are able."
Aloud, he adds, "Let's take what we can from our defeated foes--hopefully there will be an elevator control rod and some healing magic among their equipment." He then falls to one knee as the adrenaline and photonic attunement of battle passes and he feels every one of his nearly-mortal wounds.
The wall of flame fades over the next minute, during which time you're able to begin taking some rest. Afterward you strip off Dmyr's cloak, hearing an eager chuckle from the mysterious voice on the other end of Flint's mental connection. "Excellent excellent. Come. Bring the cloaks down to us. If you can defeat Dmyr you will easily handle the single efreeti guard here, hehe!"
On Dmyr, you find an assortment of high tech gear, but most critically you find a rune-engraved golden rod that Bel can tell is made of horacalcum. You don't find any healing items, but there are two side rooms from this chamber you haven't yet investigated. Both are locked, but with a very old-fashioned lock with a physical key.
auto-injector module
mk2 thermal capacitor
white force field
devastating hailstorm-class zero pistol
ultrathin curveblade
old-fashioned brass key
microserrated longsword
tactical magnetar rifle
d-suit III
mk1 thermal capacitor
Sitting heavily against a nearby convenient wall, Flint says, ”A light breeze could knock me over right now. Does anyone want to try this key on the doors to the side room?”
Flint drinks one of his few remaining med serums and rests for a few minutes.
"Captain you've gotta get some of these biosythetic nanites, they're pretty great!"
You check the two side doors, opening them with Dmyr's old brass key. To the northeast, you find an austere office. It contains a large glass-topped desk with a computer panel atop its surface. Along the wall is a comfortable looking cough. The integrated computer panel turns on at a touch, but you find it well secured against unauthorized access.
To the southwest, the room here appears to have been used for briefings of the upper echelons of the Legion. A meeting table sized for large creatures is surrounded by four chairs. The walls here glow with an artistic display of coruscating plasma. The workstation here is unsecured but contains no saved information, merely serving as a dummy terminal for the display of trivid holograms above the table.
The system buzzes as it detects tampering, but doesn't seem to have locked you out or otherwise triggered another kind of countermeasure. Or at least, it hasn't yet.
”Mari, would you help Belmarniss with that computer—it sounds like a tough security system,” asks Flint.
"I recommend a laughing skull virus," Ordyt calls from where the briefing room.
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"Looks like we've made a discovery worthy of a promotion back home," Belmarniss says once she and Mari finally get the computer open. "Communications, distribution of forces, all the way down to the activity of individual squads. AND it's connected to a network that routes communications through the Plane of Fire and back out to the Material Plane with lossless communication. Too much to sift through quickly, but if we could somehow get it to our allies in the Archipelago, this information could turn the tide!"
”Fantastic news, Belmarniss! Can you and Mari set up a link to the our scientists back on the Torrent of Embers? If they can parse the data and send it back through the communications array while we are otherwise occupied, that could save us a lot of time. Any news on reinforcement arrival time here?” he adds, hoping he has enough time to do some upgrades and/or healing before the next major battle.
Establishing a link with the Torrent takes a few minutes, but soon you have your crew back on the ship sifting through the data with gusto. Meanwhile you analyze the fleet data available and determine that no reinforcements are incoming from the Archipelago. However, a call was made for reinforcement from the Plane of Fire, and it seems those forces are en route and should arrive several hours from now. It seems your window to deal with the Wishing Engine and General Khaim is narrowing.
One odd thing also catches your attention: The garrisoned ships that were defending the Crucible all reported power failures, seemingly not long after you entered. The communications between the Commander and the ships speak of a strange spectral figure seen on several of the ships just prior to the loss of power. It seems those ships are currently stranded out there still, orbiting the Crucible.
"...a 'spectral figure'?" Ordyt gives a baffled look at his companions. "Does that ring a bell for any of you? Anything capable of disabling multiple Legion warships is very very dangerous, could complicate our exit strategy."
”Perhaps we are getting a psychic assist from the ancient librarian in the dark sphere we visited on the way here,” says Flint hopefully.
”If we are done up here, let’s get down to the forge and prepare for our last push. I don’t suppose we could whip up an invisibility detector for me quickly? Our foes seem to have a penchant for that particular technique,” he adds.
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With prizes and information in hand, you descend down the elevator back to the primary floor you've been exploring. You meet a battered Ilor and allies in the elevator chamber, who grins upon seeing you "Looks like you bloodied them pretty well. While you were up there, another squad of soldiers tries to rush our ship. Unluckily for them, Uzmat's got a mean tail slap." He looks to Uzmat, his sole surviving anassanoi recruit, and Hazl "I hope you just cut the head off. Not sure how much more of this my team can take."
"We're nearly there--their command pod up top has been cleared, but the Wishing Engine down below is still intact, and it won't be unguarded. We take out the Wishing Engine, we stop the Legion."
Flint pulls out his second to last serum and says, ”I’ll hold one back, just in case. Let’s just switch out the force fields and keep moving. I don’t want our reserves to be too taxed keeping the reinforcements off of us.”
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With Flint's wounds abating just a little more, Ilor slaps you all on your backs and says "Then we're on the final stretch still. You'll be able to take them, I'm sure. And we'll make sure you have a way out afterward. Let's all get back to the Archipelago in one piece."
You head for the elevator, insert the horacalcum control rod, and press the panel to descend. The elevator starts smoothly and evenly, similar to how it went as you ascended, but as it continues the elevator begins to vibrate. You feel a strange sensation building within you, like you're just barely not able to remember something. Something important. The sense grows only more strong as you get deeper and it's joined by a deep weight that feels like it sits at the base of your chest.
You know the bottom tip of the Crucible lies right at the bottom of the black bubble, oriented directly toward the center of the sun. When you approached initially, you saw that spike at the bottom visually elongated out of sight, its space and time both warped by its proximity to the sun's core. That's what you're now descending into.
Before you get to contemplate these sensations for long, the elevator shudders to a stop and the doors slide open. The chamber beyond is surprisingly ordinary. This round room is cold and illuminated by blue light from panels in the walls. To the northwest is a bank of bizarre machinery. In front of that equipment, on the floor, sits a cubic device with strange runic patterns almost like circuitry. It pulses with green light, an occasional dark bubble emerging from an opening atop it. This green energy flows into the machinery, the dark bubbles breaking into tinier motes of foam before spreading out and disappearing into the machinery as well. To the south is an ornate and macabre area best described as a kitchen, and to the east perfectly square pool filled with a shining, opaque liquid. Closed doors stand in the curved wall to the northeast, southeast, and southwest.
Crouched next to the cubic device is a pale, spindly woman in a long flowing robe. Her hair shimmers like the night sky and is dotted with stars. Her skin is cracked and uneven, giving her a weathered appearance. She smiles as you appear. "The cloaks? You have the cloaks?" She has a different voice than Flint had been hearing in his head.
”I thought there were three of you—where are your sisters?” responds Flint, buying a few moments to assess this creature and form an initial impression—how likely is at least this sister to break her word and turn on him and his friends?
Ordyt levels his estoc in the hag's direction in an unspoken warning against approaching--sharing his captain's wariness, he scans the room for cameras or unseen threats.
"Indisposed. Perhaps it would surprise you, but we do not have much fondness for one another." She smirks, glancing at the doors leading to side-chambers from this room. "Still, I will honor your agreement with us as well as Old Nanite would have. In fact, since you've been so kind as to keep the cloaks intact, I'll even offer you the same protection the efreeti demanded from us. You'll need it if you mean to challenge them down below."
Flint finds it hard to get a read on the hag, except that she really wants the cloaks. Similarly Ordyt can't quite tell her intention, and while he does spot cameras covering the room from the upper corners, he doesn't spot any threats or other dangers.
”Fair enough,” says Flint carefully, ”I have no say in the internal dealings between you and your sisters. Give me your word that you and your sisters will not harm me, my companions, or the people of the archipelago. Give us this protection you offer, and I will give you all three cloaks—your own, and the two to give to your sisters.”
"Of course none of you will be harmed. But the cloaks come before any magical presents for good little boys." She croons. "After all, you came here to give them to us without expectation of any additional reward, didn't you?" She offers her open hand to be given the cloaks. Flint gets the impression that she's happy to agree to much if it means getting the cloaks, but that she's also quite cagey. He can't otherwise get a good read on her.
Flint reaches into his null space module and pulls out one of the cloaks, saying to his friends, ”Let’s at least give her one cloak to get started—it was stolen from her and it should be returned.”. He moves to go hand it to her unless someone objects (or has more insight into the situation than he does).
”A show of good faith,” begins Flint, ”And your sisters—are they nearby so we can return their cloaks to them? Perhaps it would aid in their recovery from whatever has indisposed them?”
As Flint offers the single cloak Ordyt nods in agreement, but the lack of a violent welcome party makes him nervous.
"Where's the Wishing Engine?"