SOL-653 offers responses to each of you in turn, starting with Ordyt "The Core lies within Noma. The Core is Noma. SOL-653 does not carry official record of Visitor-Sophont-Collective #2 location and activities. Speaker Conjecture Routine: Mobiles of this Visitor last seen moving in same direction as Core signal. Core may be possible destination."
To Bel the little bot adds "SOL-653 does not carry official record of experimental activity. Life data synthesis: Experiments iterate upon design of city and design of sophont and non-sophont life forms within. Constant improvement." When the conversation turns to the reclaimers, in boops for a bit before sending "Reclaimers salvage the broken and completed experiments. The reclaimed become polyfluid. Noma reshapes polyfluid into the unbroken and new experiments. Speaker SOL-653 has been broken, however, it is still capable of completing its purpose and must not be reclaimed until life data has been assimilated."
When you mention navigating to the Core, the bot adds "Systems retain Core proximity detection capability. Currently, the Core is very distant. Proximity detection can determine if Speaker is closer or further away from Core than previous check."
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Belmarniss nods.
"I get it, conflicting directives: they don't recognize that you can still function, they just see 'broken' and that they have to perform their function, and they're not equipped to listen to reason...or listen at all. Does this sort of thing happen often, or is this largely due to the fact that a "visitor-sophont-collective" has been going around breaking anything in their way, so the normal cycle of experiments and reclaiming has been thrown off?"
She then looks up and notices Ordyt and Marisol in the process of loading polyfluid aboard the Breath.
"You should probably have asked before just taking those," she calls up to them.
SOL-653 stops for a moment as it processes Bel's question. "Speaker Conjecture Routine: Experiment in this sector aborted early. Visitor-Sophont-Collective #2 may be responsible due to extensive damage to active experiment." It boops and beeps in a slightly confused sounding way. "No observations to reference."
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You head out of the Manufactory and into the nearby plaza. The entire plaza is scattered with debris, suggesting that numerous small robots were destroyed here. The plaza itself is a large open space with no obvious purpose. At its exact center sits a large, dark, irregular column of iridescent metal.
As you come close, an abstract muddle of colors shimmers along the column's surface and then peels off in the form of a hologram. The shape of the hologram is at first highly amorphous, but the closer you get, the more clear of a form it takes. Once you're only a few feet away, the hologram looks almost exactly like Belmarniss. Strange whistles and hums emit from the column in almost musical fashion.
Holo-Bel raises a hand in greeting "କ୍ଳାନ୍ତ ଭ୍ରମଣକାରୀଙ୍କୁ ନମସ୍କାର" Its speech at first appears to be a strange and incomprehensible amalgamation of each language that Bel knows. But in moments, it manages to switch to a coherent common. "Welcome Visitor. Noma recognizes exterior life-form as Visitor-Sophont-Collective #3."
”Belmarniss, you are welcome to continue taking the lead here if you don’t mind talking to yourself, or Sammad you can be our ambassador,” suggests Flint. After another quiet message to Sunspy to make sure he is getting all this, he speaks to the hologram, saying, ”We accept this designation, and designate you as Noma. Please interface with one of our communication specialists,” gesturing to Bel and Sammad.
"You should probably have asked before just taking those," she calls up to them.
Ordyt just grins and shakes his head ruefully. "When we see the Core, I will. In the meantime the Breath is all banged up and this might help us patch her up, if we get the time."
+ + + + +
As the plaza's hologram-Bel materializes Ordyt is astonished and delighted. "Incredible!" He clears his throat. "Sorry, I'm Ordyt and I have what might be a silly question: who was Visitor-Sophont-Collective #1? I think we know who the fire-beings are but if there's a third group mixed up in this, that seems like a good thing to know."
"Let's...let's never ask that again," Mari says, stunned.
"...well that was going to be my first question. Glad we...got that out of the way." Sammad scratches the back of his head sheepishly.
”Okay, that was unpleasant,” understated Flint, asking, ”Do we dare ask it about the second visitor?”
The column is unresponsive after your first question. The more technically savvy members of your party may recognize that it no longer has power, as though its been disconnected from whatever it was once connected to.
Flint looks at the map on his datapad, already considering their next move if the power can’t be restored to the plinth. ”The hex inward from here (6,5) looks interesting, if we can’t get the power restored. Shall we try that next?” suggests Flint.
"Oh goddess, I hope I didn't cause that..." Ordyt gives the others a stricken look and hunches his shoulders guiltily. "That sounds good, cap. Lead on."
SOL-653 boops for a moment before it responds to Bel "No. It will be reclaimed soon." It doesn't offer any clarification beyond that.
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Sector (6,5):
You cross one of the dry grey canals as you head on to the north. Small pools of polyfluid sit in various sections of the canals and based on the residue you get the sense that once there was far more polyfluid flowing through them.
You spend some time exploring the shimmering blue building filling most of this sector. The structure and the lighting within and around it have been built to look almost organic, like a massive elongated ribcage with membranes between the ribs. Inside, you see an enormous amount of liquid water as well as various robotic "plants" and "animals". It looks eerily close to a reef, but the individual robots moving about inside have strange and exotic designs particularly suited to moving hydrodynamically about.
SOL-653 beeps once and announces "Speaker is now closer to the Core."
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Belmarniss' eyes widen behind her shades at the contents of the building.
"This isn't a marvel of engineering, but beautiful too! I wonder what the Xenowardens would say if they got a look at this...Sunspy, are you getting all this?!"
The drone beep-beeps softly in assent.
"Taeress and Nib are going to be SO awed by all this when they see the recordings. I am too! It's like I'm living both my childhood dreams of exploring distant stars and my adult dreams of defending the innocent from evil at the same time...the enemy'd destroy all of Noma's beauty out of their need to dominate and control, and we gained the means, the chance, to come here and stop them."
”Yes, Belmarniss, it is for such as these we fight, that hidden wonders may thrive in our universe,” says Flint in hushed awe.
After a few moments spent in silent wonder, Flint suggests, ”Let’s keep going this direction, since we are getting closer to the core.”
Sector (5,4):
Continuing on, you arrive in a sector that seemed, from afar, to be constructed of blocky iridescent skyscrapers. Up close however, you find that the tall buildings are instead massive hollow structures with holes set in their sides. Huge robots shaped like flat discs skitter along the outside surface of the structures and then - all at once - drop into place to cover a selection of the holes. A wind rises up from the center of each structure and blows out of the uncovered holes. A very low, resonant sound emits from each, creating a beautiful harmony for only one second before the wind stops and the flat plate robots start scurrying to their next configuration.
SOL-653 whirrs and then comments "Speaker is now closer to the Core"
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Sector (4,3):
This sector appears to contain tall fractal, bismuth-like structures, attended by hundreds of small, ambulatory robots. However, as soon as you start walking, you find that your feet sink into the ground underfoot. It takes a few minutes to make sense of what is going on, but eventually you recognize that the structures are all extremely intricate and massive holograms. The robots "interacting" with them on the other hand are not. Each robot is painstakingly hovering exactly in position to seem to be standing or clinging to the holograms.
SOL-653 bloops and says "Speaker is now closer to the Core"
"What do you think is the point of...this?" Mari asks, gesturing toward the robots play-acting with holograms. "Is it an art installation?"
"I have no idea," responds Flint, "but I could hazard a guess..."
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Belmarniss is awestruck again and again as SOL-653 guides them through the strangely beautiful structures of Noma, continually checking to make sure Sunspy is getting everything.
At Mari and Flint's question, she looks up.
"653 mentioned 'experiments' and 'continuous improvement' earlier...perhaps that's what we're seeing here. Androids may have a similar aesthetic sense to organic humanoid cultures, but a machine 'species' that evolved completely independently would think in a very different way than we do, so maybe these are science experiments operating on a level of detail our meat-brains don't quite have the capacity to understand without intense cybernetic augmentation. Come to think of it, these machines DO resemble Aballon's anacites."
She turns to SOL-653.
"Speaker? Do 'the First Ones' mean anything to you?"
Despite his general knowledge of Aballonian culture, Flint is mostly at a loss. The anacites of Aballon, the creatures these Noma robots seem closest in nature to, often participate in obscure tasks at the direction and guidance of a higher AI. It could be that this "pretend play" is some kind of advanced experiment designed by an AI.
SOL-653 ponders Belmarniss' question for a while before commenting "Speaker does not have record of such a term. Query: Visitor-Sophont-Collective #3 mentions mobiles of similar appearance to Noma mobiles. What is 'Aballon's anacites'?"
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Belmarniss pulls up a hologram of the planet Aballon on her datatome and shows it to SOL-653.
"Anacites are a robotic species that dwell on the first planet in this star system; Aballon. They believe they were created by a mysterious group of precursors they call 'The First Ones,' who have long since disappeared, and anacite society generally split into two competing philosophies: Those Who Wait, who believe the First Ones are going to return to Aballon someday, so they need to upgrade themselves and stockpile resources to prepare for that day, and Those Who Become, who believe they must rise to take on the mantle of the First Ones and seed new worlds with robotic lifeforms as their creators did. The similarities between your models and those of anacites I've encountered in the past made me wonder if you're 'cousins,' so to speak. Branches of the same technological evolutionary tree."
SOL-653 watches the model with rapt focus. Once Bel's explanation is done, it speaks quickly "This information is very important, critical new data for Noma. Request: This Speaker cannot overwrite it's full data core with this additional data, however, Visitor-Sophont-Collective #3 can bring this knowledge to the Core in its stead."
Ordyt brightens at SOL-653's request. "Bel, you're brilliant! We'd be happy to help, SOL!"
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Belmarniss kneels in front of SOL-653.
"I swear, on my honor as a Knight of Golarion, we will escort you to the Core safely and share whatever information we can with Noma, and we hope that Noma will be able to share its knowledge with the Burning Archipelago above, and the planets beyond."
She makes the sign of the sword before standing and taking point as they make their way to the next hex.
Looking ahead to his left, Flint sees the enormous building with the pyramid on top (hex 4,2) and says as he gestures towards it, "We have been getting closer to the core with every move. Let us see if our luck continues to hold this way."
To SOL-653, he says, "I suspect we could learn much from each other. We have an entire institute of scientists researching cultures within the sun, and they will be overjoyed to share their data of the many worlds outside the sun as they learn about the wonders here in Noma."
Looking more closely at the drone, Flint adds, "Before we continue on, though, I seem to recall you were damaged in the fight with the reclaimers. Perhaps we could help repair you first, in case we run into any more hostile life forms." Looking at Belmarniss and Mari hopefully, he tries to reassure the drone that their intentions are honorable.
SOL-653 firmly states "No. That is not needed." to Flint's offer to repair the little bot.
Following Flint's suggestion, you continue on toward the massive pyramid.
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Sector (4,2):
As you approach the staggeringly enormous ziggurat-like structure, you start to notice that it isn't quite as solid as it looked from far away. In fact, as you get close, you find that it is made of a dense latticework of enormous identical rods, interlaced and braced against one another. Inside the lattice, a smaller interior structure vibrates with a steady hum. Every few seconds, another rod emerges from a circular aperture on the structure and a small army of robots scurry out to carry the new rod up to place it against the every-expanding latticework.
Any of you trained in Engineering recognize that the rods are made of some kind of impure polyfluid. The total amount of impure polyfluid stored here must be many tens or hundreds of thousands of bulk worth. But its impurity likely means it is only useful for creating simple structures.
Ordyt is far too busy trying to count the robots to pay attention to his surroundings.
"Why the rush? Mari wonders, looking up at the operation. "They're in such a hurry to build something so big that they won't even ensure it's pure."
Distracted as you are be the sights and sounds of the sector, you don't initially recognize anything unusual. Only about a minute later does Mari notice a change in the ambient temperature readout on her armor. The ambient temperature outside your armor seems to be ratcheting up fast. Looking around for the cause of the temperature increase, she looks up and spots an odd violet-colored outline in the air above the sector. Glancing around the latticework that obscures her view of the 'sky', Mari is able to tell that the violet outline extends in a large hexagonal ring above this sector and no other. It definitely wasn't there when you were coming in.
As you watch, the ring grows brighter and better defined.
The bounds of the violet ring seems to match up with the borders of this sector. Your best guess is that everything in this sector is going to be exposed to a lethal dose of stellar plasma in a few minutes.
And you're awfully far from the border!
"Something the matter, Mari? You look...disturbed," says Flint, picking up on his engineer's unease.
"SOL-653, are we closer or further away from the core?" he asks.
Indeed, as Bel correlates the rising temperatures with the violet light extending in a ring above the sector, the temperature continues to rise, now accelerating. If you're going to get out of here before frying alive, you're going to have to go fast.
----
Distance to edge of sector: 2400 ft
Minute: 2
Party Up!
Ordyt looks up at the structure with sudden horror, but he knows better than to question Bel or Mari on technical matters. He takes off with the others, trying to plot a course through the tangle of rods while also making sure that no one falls behind.
Flint's armor is level 2...
Flint attempts to overcome his slower speed (25 feet) by running as fast as he can and leaping over obstacles or cutting corners tighter than most can at speed...
At Bel's exclamation, Sammad starts running. He calls out to Atra's crew first, "Don't worry about covering our backs, just move! Can one of you chart us a course out of here?"
As he sees Flint try to acrobatically move alongside the group, Sammad calls out with noticeable concern, "Don't fall behind, Captain!"
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You run for it, SOL-653 in hand and Sunspy trailing after you. Although Ordyt is quick on his feet, Bel and Flint hold the group back, as does hitting several dense lattice sections that force you to double back. Flint's athletic skills let him cut some corners but not enough to make an appreciable difference. You only manage to travel 800 ft in the first minute of running.
The warm up keeps accelerating as you watch your readouts: 171 F, 172 F, 173 F... The heat within your suits is rapidly growing unbearable despite your environmental protections. You look up at the violet ring and see it extending down like a veil around the borders of the sector. From the way it seems to be containing the weakening bubble to this sector, it seems likely to be some kind of force field. If it reaches the ground before you reach the boundary of the sector, you'll be trapped in here.
Assuming you don't burn alive before then.
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Distance to edge of sector: 1600 ft
Conditions: Extreme Heat, Low Radiation
Minute: 3
Party Up!
Flint grabs Belmarniss' arm and helps her sprint toward the exit, prioritizing her safety over his own. Trying to help her speed up, he does his best to get her out of the heat before it overwhelms them.
Bel leads the group through the stacked structures by keeping their ordered, geometric mindset in mind. You're able to make good progress, and the edge of the sector comes into sight. As you run however, the heat grows exponentially and you begin to burn within your suits. Skin blisters and your vision grows cloudy. The bubble overhead appears to break open, shafts of plasma briefly bursting through to touch the towers of impure polyfluid rods before retracting.
Polyfluid slag drips in massive globs, impacting the path ahead of you. It looks like this last stretch is going to be extra hazardous to navigate unless you're smart about it.
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Distance to edge of sector: 600 ft
Conditions: Beyond Extreme Heat, Medium Radiation
Minute: 4
Party Up!
You can attempt any skills you like again this minute.
As the heat and radiation make their skin start to blister, Flint bellows, "Run faster, crew of the Breath of Embers, or I swear I will cut you down before the plasma gets you!"
Panting and trying to ignore the itching, burning sensation all over his body as the radiation starts to cook him alive, Ordyt tries to glimpse a path through the lattice that would let a group this size clear the final stretch before that awful violet force-field cuts them off.