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"Cursed dark, you just don't know when to quit," Ordyt snarls at the spellcaster, bulling past her to get at the commander. "Guide my hand, Sarenrae!"
Finding her plasma saber inoperable, the Commander tosses it aside with a snarl and dashes to the south as she grips her rifle in both hands. She sends a beam up through Marisol and Ordyt, catching both in the crackling energy. She whispers something into her comms and you see a visible nod from the spellcaster.
Thanks to the earlier word from Sammad, Ordyt is just barely upright.
|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (63 dmg)
Bel (40 dmg)
Commander Jalusann (68 dmg)
Sammad (3 dmg, 2 HPdmg)
Marisol (13 dmg)
Flint (0|0|0, prone, stable)
??? Ifrit spellcaster (17 dmg)
The sight of the malfunctioning saber draws a smug grin from Mari, that doesn't fade even when another wave of plasma washes over her. Catching sight of the exchange between the commander and her caster, she suddenly pivots and fires a point-blank shot at the minion, heedless of the danger from the whip.
Ordyt lunges to catch the commander with his hammer before she can get the shot off, but the muscles in his arm are still twitching from the electric jolt and the blow doesn't land cleanly.
The Commander ducks under the opportunistic swing trying to hake her head off. When Mari goes in to fire at point blank range, the spellcaster gives a panicked flail with her whip. Marisol is easily able to dodge the attack and deliver an accurate shot to the spellcaster's core.
She staggers back unsteadily, badly injured by the final puncture wound, but doesn't fall.
|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (63 dmg)
Bel (40 dmg)
Commander Jalusann (68 dmg)
Sammad (3 dmg, 2 HPdmg)
Marisol (13 dmg)
Flint (0|0|0, prone, stable)
??? Ifrit spellcaster (26 dmg)
Sammad comes rushing up from behind the Commander, staying a couple paces away.
Pointing his pistol at her, he snarls, "I've had ENOUGH of you hurting my friends!"
He then fires at her, but in his anger, the shot goes wide!
|||| INIT ||||
Ordyt (0|0|1, prone, dying)
Bel (40 dmg)
Commander Jalusann (68 dmg)
Sammad (3 dmg, 2 HPdmg)
Marisol (13 dmg)
Flint (0|0|0, prone, stable)
??? Ifrit spellcaster (26 dmg)
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Already tottering, Ordyt barely notices when his knees give out, as he turns sorrowful eyes towards his companions. "I'm...sor..." he manages, before toppling forward face-first on the floor.
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Bel attempts another axe throw at the Commander...
-----
|||| INIT ||||
Sammad (3 dmg, 2 HPdmg)
Marisol (13 dmg)
Flint (0|0|0, prone, stable)
Ordyt (0|0|0, prone, stable)
Bel (40 dmg)
??? Ifrit spellcaster (26 dmg)
Commander Jalusann (68 dmg)
Mari returns her exocortex's focus to the Commander and, with a quick glance at the burned ceiling, raises her rifle again. "You're done," she says flatly, and pulls the trigger.
"ORDYT!" Sammad cries out as his comrade collapses.
As the Commander moves away and misses with her shot at Bel and Marisol, he instead rushes to the oread and draws a healing serum from inside his coat. He presses it into Ordyt's exposed neck and depresses the plunger, watching as his comrade's wounds begin to close up.
Sammad cracks a smile as the Commander misses her shot. He looks to Bel and Marisol and calls out, "Take her down while she's fumbling, then!"
He catches a glimpse of Ordyt's broken but still breathing form, and then his smile breaks.
The plasma beam lances through Mari and Bel, scorching and electrocuting in equal measure. Bel collapses into the grease, third degree burns leaving her a gasp away from death. Not wasting even a moment of this opportunity, the Commander retreats through the door to the room. From the way she's limping away, you can reason that she must be very seriously injured. Sammad and Mari also hear the sounds of another pair of boots, fading as they get further away from the Control room.
|||| INIT ||||
Sammad (3 dmg, 2 HPdmg)
Marisol (20 dmg)
Flint (0|0|0, prone, stable)
Ordyt (0|0|0, prone, stable)
Bel (0|0|0, prone, dying)
??? Ifrit spellcaster (26 dmg)
Commander Jalusann (77 dmg, get 'em)
When Bel falls, Mari looks backwards, only to shout as the commander flees the room. Mari nearly takes a step out of the room after her, but turns around and rushes to Bel's side. She presses a bandage down onto one of the drow's many wounds.
"Sammad, I need a hand here!" she says, her tone verging on panic.
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"Coming, Marisol!" Sammad doesn't even spare a glance in the Commander's direction, rushing to Bel's side opposite the sylph. He looks over Bel's wounds, and tries his best to supplement Mari's efforts.
Working together, Sammad and Marisol begin wrapping the worst wounds and doing what they can to alleviate the burns. Though it looks very touch and go for a few moments, they manage to stabilize Bel.
Off in the direction of the control room's entrance you don't hear any movement beyond the fading echoes of the spellcaster's running.
|||| INIT ||||
Sammad (3 dmg, 2 HPdmg)
Marisol (20 dmg)
Flint (0|0|0, prone, stable)
Ordyt (0|0|0, prone, stable)
Bel (0|0|0, prone, stable)
"I think we should seal the door and call for help," Mari says, breathing hard. "I'm just about at my limit, and I don't feel like chasing after those two into whatever trap they've left us."
Sammad looks up from his work and nods. "Very wise. Then we can treat the others more thoroughly too." He stands and looks to the door. "Bel is stable, so let's get that door locked down now. Do you know how to do that?"
"I'll give it a try," Mari says, standing up and heading for the door. Once there, she untangles the datajack from her hair and tries to lock the door down from the inside.
Mari manages to get safely to the door and finds it easy to operate using the touch pad next to it. She notes that there's a switch to lock the door on this side, so she gives that a toggle. Once she has her datajack plugged in and she spends some time investigating, she's able to deduce that there are three ways to undo the lock: an administrative override from the main computer, manually unlocking it from the inside, and use of a special code from the outside. The main computer can also kill power to the door, which would make it inoperable for the duration.
While Mari is working, there's no sounds from the other side of the door. It appears that the Commander is leaving you alone for now...
Combat Over!
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Sammad exhales in relief as Mari locks the door, then moves over to Bel, Ordyt, and Flint in turn, delivering each a dose from his stash of healing serums.
He cracks a smile at his handiwork, then waits for his comrades to rouse themselves.
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Groaning and slowly pushing up onto his elbows, Ordyt looks around and pants from the effort of even that much movement. "Oh Goddess...I feel like I just got fed through one of the ore-sifters back home." Fighting nausea, the oread warpriest slowly takes a headcount. "I don't see either of our foes dead on the ground, so I take it they escaped? Damn it all."
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Belmarniss groans too and pushes herself up.
"I haven't been in this much pain since that my final exam at Eclipse," she says. Then she hears Ordyt's assessment of the situation and gives another groan. "And I haven't been this defeated since the NDA I was forced to sign when I woke up after that disaster."
She flops onto her back and pushes herself up against the console.
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The soft glow of sunlight drew him in, and the warmth of a mother's embrace welcomed him, but it was all too brief as darkness descended once more. Light leaked in through the skin of his eyelids, red and artificial. Flint became conscious of a hard floor beneath him, as well as a myriad of injuries savaging his body. With a groan, he forced his body to move and tried to see what was going on.
As his eyes opened, the first thing he saw was the commander's sword lying on the ground where it had fallen, and he had hope that his crew had come through when he was unable to continue the fight. As he focused further, he saw Sammad's concerned face and managed, "Did we win?"--a harsh croak from a dry throat as he struggled to sit.
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Mari shuts off the door's power from the main computer. While she's at it, she tries to see if she can pull a similar trick with the rest of the facility.
Maybe I can turn this place against them.
Without taking her eyes off of the screen, she replies to Flint. "We lived, and we kicked them out of their base. That's a win to me."
With a weak smile, Flint responds, "Good news, Mari. Hopefully the data they stole is here." With a grunt, Flint levers himself onto the nearby bed and carefully lays down.
"I'll just be right over here for a while, resting...Let me know if they come back," he adds, gingerly finding a semi-comfortable position on the bed and letting his body relax, hoping he can heal properly from this latest set of wounds.
Mari heads over to the main computer, but finds it completely locked down. The rugged machine (which took a few beams of plasma across it during the fight and appears unscathed) presents not even a log-in screen to start from. Thankfully, there's a port from which Mari can connect her datajack to attempt to hack the machine.
For those of you not busy hacking, the control room is blessedly quiet beyond the hum of the computer equipment. On the desk next to the computer system you see a few personal effects (most likely belonging to the Brass Dragons' technomancer/hacker) including a bobble-headed depiction of Strawberry Machine Cake's guitarist, Mimimetal - a human woman with dark skin, black hair in pompoms, a black haori over her pink-and-black knee length dress, and a rose-pink guitar.
To the north-east corner of the room, you see that the nook where the technomancer was hiding has a locker underneath the bed. To the west side of the room is what appears to be a small bedroom that belongs to the Commander. The quarters are cramped but comfortable with many quality amenities. A small desk of what appears to be real wood sits to the west. An assortment of metal-bound books sits atop it in a neat row. Her desk has a number of elegantly inscribed drawers, each one sporting an adage or phrase in ignan.
In addition to the historical volumes, you find a relatively new tome. Stylistically illustrated, it is titled The Burning Ascendance of the Malikah. Part holy text and part military history, this biographic work tells the story of a half-divine efreeti's rise from rags to glory on the Plane of Fire. The pages of this book are well worn, suggesting that the Commander might've read it often.
The six historical volumes are likely of interest to a collector
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Mari scoffs at the attempt to lock her out of the computer, connecting her datajack to it.
Pushing to his feet with another groan, Ordyt helps Bel and Flint up and then starts rummaging through the various nicknacks in the space. "Some of this looks decently valuable. I think that young technomancer woman was the one with the gods-awful music taste. Give me a Cori Olis acoustic album over this dreck any day."
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"I'd probably have tolerated it more if it wasn't at such a painful volume. Using music like that's legally considered TORTURE and a WAR CRIME! No WONDER these @55holes were so keen on working as the Collective's goons!"
She pulls herself up, making angry noises as she struggles until Ordyt helps her.
"Thanks."
She leans on the terminal, watching Marisol work, seeing she had the situation well in hand.
"Spirit of Golarion, I hope they didn't purge the data they stole and we nearly got ourselves killed for nothing but avenging a wounded mephit."
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Mari's eyes drift a bit out of focus while she's working on the main computer terminal, but she smiles a bit at her teammates' complaints about the music and its volume. "The two of you sound so old," she teases.
Mari attempts to access the Brass Dragons Mainframe. Her first attempt at hacking in hits some serious difficulties. Not only does the underlying system seem iron clad against outside intrusion, but her attempt earns her a swift retaliation as a fast acting virus enters her exocortex and wreaks havoc for a few milliseconds before she's able to isolate, capture, and suppress it. It looks like the Brass Dragons Mainframe is going to take all her considerable skills to get into.
Thankfully the datapad proves easier. On the datapad you find personal files belonging to one "Charrel", including an eclectic mix of personal research into biotechnology and hybrid tech, as well as a truly enormous collection of music. The datapad is well equipped to be used as a specialty hacking kit.
Although the datapad has plenty of information about Charrel's hobbies and interests, it lacks almost any reference to the Brass Dragons. The only note you find that appears even slightly related appears to have been left by Charrel for herself.
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"The two of you sound so old,"
"I'm not even thirty!" Ordyt objects a little defensively. "We're just...maybe a bit out of fashion in the Diaspora."
"Always glad to have your help, Bel, even if you are an old," Mari says, cracking her knuckles and getting back to work.
Working together, Bel and Mari manage to hack their way in through a complex security layer. They work fast enough this time to evade the viral response, and they're able to get to the user interface. The mainframe's many screens flicker unsteadily before showing the desktop.
It doesn't take long after that for Mari to cycle the doors in the facility closed and then cut power to them. You're also able to start taking a look through the system for what information and data you're able to recover.
The mainframe is an impressive machine, serving as the hub for a large private network of observational equipment. One program allows you to look at current security footage from all around Corona, Asanatown, and Dawnshore. Another has a few dozen tapped audio feeds from the Asanatown Councilmembers' personal comm devices. Multiple apps have been designed to filter through news sources and public communications, looking for references to psychic surge-induced unrest. Microphones have been set up to monitor public spaces across Corona and Asanatown, as well as each room inside the Eos Club and its basement.
Records on the computers show notes and information gathered regarding the DCI, the Sunrise Collective, a few different Corona gangs including the Bloodshots and the Sirocco, and other lashunta-centric militant groups around the Burning Archipelago. Unfortunately, there's no sign of the DCI's stolen data.
Once the experts have hacked through the security, Flint moves gingerly over to see what information might be found. He is stunned by the sophistication of the surveillance setup. Noticing the gap in the data, Flint suggests, ”It looks like their recent activity is hidden under another layer of security. Is there another approach we can use to try and get that information—maybe see if there is a record on their personal communication devices, or some backups or removable storage hidden here?”
Peering over Flint's shoulder at the data scrolling across the screen, Ordyt frowns and nods. "I think you're right, Captain. None of this is actionable...maybe the more valuable intel was wiped or hidden?"
He starts going through the various nicknacks the group has discovered, looking for clues. "It's possible one of them wrote down a password, somewhere, or at least a reference to one. Check everything--could be the guitar brand, 'Malikah', anything!"
As Sammad peeks over Bel and Mari's shoulders during their investigating, his eyes widen as he begins to grasp the full scale of the Brass Dragon's surveillance network. "Astonishing...they've crafted a truly impressive web. Mari, could you manage to log the location of their receivers so we can disable them?"
"Our industrial thrash enthusiast had a note hidden in her datapad that might be helpful," Mari says, throwing said note up on one of the screens. "Not quite sure how to use it, though. Maybe play it on that guitar you found?"
At Sammad's request, Mari shrugs noncommittally. "It's a good idea, and I'll give it a shot, but can't guarantee any results."
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Belmarniss gives a small whistle at the surveillance network.
"I think we were right: The Brass Dragons DID have an ulterior motive in being the Collective's muscle. It gave them the access to bug the entire damn Archipelago! I haven't seen a surveillance operation this extensive since I went to 'Take-Your-Daughter-To-Work' day with my mom back on Apostae."
She takes a look at the musical notation Marisol shows them.
"Hmm...B-E-B-E-B-A-B-D-A-G-D-F-G-A-D-C," she recites. "Anyone familiar with this tune?"