You have received a summons from Venture-Captain Kunoris Vex. He seeks your presence aboard the artificial planetoid known as Salvation's End. The shuttlecraft that awaits you has seating for several agents.
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A human with a curious-looking contraption on his head boards the vessel and waits for his companions. Looks like I arrived earlier than the usual. I'm usually late for these kinds of circumstances.
He taps the contraption on his head and it suddenly lights up, emitting a soft humming sound. "We're a bit early today M.I.C.H., tune-up some classical music while we wait, please."
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A ... couch moves inside the shuttle. On it, an elven woman in white toga lying lavishly.
Some vapors floats around her, coming from a hooka installed on the couch and the little sip she takes from it. The couch itself is well maintained, even if numerous cables, wires and circuits seem to come and go through it.
In a half asleep voice, she says May the Dreams be kind to us, May the Stars guide us in our next journey. I listen to the Stars, I look at the Voices and Here I am.
I'm Gil-Oloth, Dreamer of the Stars. I hope this mission will not be too tiring. I don't like when they are...
Never has the chance to work with Vex, but I've read only good things about him despite being a drow.
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A stern looking, sharp faced woman enters the shuttle. She is dressed in a weathered leather jacket over a black band t-shirt, with dark purple second skin armour revealing densely packed leg muscles. Across her organic face are the tell tale blue glowing circuits of an android, eleboratly decorated into patterns like tattoos. Her recently dyed red hair stands in a long mohawk, with the sides buzzed tight revealing more tattoo like circuitry. She has packed for the trip lightly, with only a baton and a few other items around her waist on a duty belt, and a pawn shop laser rifle slung over her back.
"Salvation's End?" she confirms before dropping into an open seat.
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A female android arrives wearing very functional-looking body armour and webbing whilst carting too many weapons - including a squad machine gun with a sticker that reads 'Happiness is belt-fed'. She also wears a '72 hour' backpack with neatly arrayed pouches clearly containing various tools, extra link ammunition, grenades, and a clearly labelled medical pouch.
She checks the safety on her weapon and just regards the room with her artificial eyes. She is clearly an android, and due to the simpleness of the design, probably an earlier model. "Shelldrake" she smiles as she introduces herself, though not entirely convincingly. Clearly requires a firmware update.
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Ashtif says from the pilot seat, "No, I think we're waiting on one more person..."
Just as he says this, a dapper and well-composed Brenneri walks into the room. The Brenneri bows slightly, his dense moustache whiskers twitching. "Hello. I'm Junior Ambassador Calvon." Colvin walks over and stands near Ashtif, making an odd image with this otter-like alien towering over the halfling.
The journey to Salvation's End is uneventful. When your craft arrives at the artificial moon, it is directed to a landing pad, portions of which, like many of the structures around it, is still undergoing construction. A friendly landing tech gives you directions to the only meeting room in the newly-build lodge that is operational.
The hallway outside the meeting room is dimly lit and crowded with crates. A well-dressed drow waits in front of the door, greeting the new arrivals.
“Starfinders! I’m so glad you’ve arrived. I am Venture-Captain Kunoris Vex,” he says, approaching. The drow offers an outstretched hand, but is forced to jump back quickly as a pair of rapidly chattering ysoki dash in front of him, waving their arms excitedly and pointing at readings on their holographic displays as they run down the hall.
Vex smiles. “As you can see, there’s a lot going on here, and I want you to get right down to work.” Vex gestures to a nearby doorway, leading into a conference room with insta-plastic tables and chairs arranged haphazardly about. The holographic display unit’s core sits atop the table, ready for a technician to install it.
“Sorry for the mess. I’m sure you understand we’re right in the middle of setting everything up.” The drow politely pulls out the chairs for others to sit.
Once everyone is seated, he pulls out a pocket computer and projects an image onto a nearby wall. The readout shows a series of images of a long, massive hallway lined with gigantic doors spaced far apart.
“As you can see, this moon contains a large number of vaults. We recently gained access to one of them,” Vex begins. “The monitor outside of this vault doorway currently displays the words ‘Duskmire Accord.’ We’ve found no records in our research here or from the databases on Absalom Station about the term ‘Duskmire,’ but we assume it is the name of a place. Our scans from the hallway reveal a powerful energy source somewhere within the vault, although its construction or some manner of shielding prevents any meaningful readings."
"It appears that if we want to learn anything more, we need to send in a team.” He cocks his head, raises an eyebrow, and looks meaningfully toward the group.
The drow turns off the projector and smiles broadly as he leans forward. “I’d like you to go into this vault and see what you can find. Identify the source of these energy readings, and learn anything else you can about the interior of the vault."
"There may be inhabitants," he notes, "But we don’t know whether they’re likely to be peaceful. As always, be ready for anything!”
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Kat leans back in her chair.
"So we're going into a vault that's been locked away for ages, possibly some kind of experiment... she says with a hand wave to Gil-Oloth "...with no intel, or any idea of what we're getting into other than some massive power source."
She pauses and a smile crosses her face. "Wouldn't have it any other way, when can we start"
Venture-Captain, at my last stop here, there was some people still stuck in the past, do you think it's the same thing here? Or is it another experiment in a secured environment?
“I could only hazard a guess.” Vex responds. "Everything we learn about Salvation's End seems to raise more questions." Vex notes. “The vault has been active for several months at this point. I was hoping extended scans and scrying might eventually pierce the disruption, but to little avail.”
Brookwillow quietly pipes up. Is there any sign of life within this 'vault'?"
“As I mentioned, there is either shielding built into the device or an unknown type of active disruption that stymies our efforts.” notes Vex. “I’d like you to investigate both, and take readings from the power source if you can.”
The drow glances back at the readout of the images of the door-lined hallway projected on the wall. “As for whether or not this vault is occupied. We don’t have enough information to say. At least some of the vaults are occupied. As Gil-Oloth noted, the first vault we opened was occupied by a group of dwarves who believed they were deep underground on Golarion, of all places, and that they were undergoing some kind of task for the vanished god Torag. They seemed to have had their memories altered somehow. Whether that was a fluke or a pattern remains to be seen.”
"So we're going into a vault that's been locked away for ages, possibly some kind of experiment... she says with a hand wave to Gil-Oloth "...with no intel, or any idea of what we're getting into other than some massive power source."
She pauses and a smile crosses her face. "Wouldn't have it any other way, when can we start"
“Your enthusiasm is appreciated, Kat5e.” Vex replies with a smirk, before his face takes on a more serious tone. “I’ll have a vehicle deliver you to the access tunnel shortly. Until then, are there any other questions?”
Ashtif shakes his head. "No more questions, but it seems like a great opportunity to explore something new. Let's go!"
"It’s sure to be an intriguing experience, and I have
to say I’m rather jealous." admits Vex. "‘Don’t get promoted,’ is what my friends always said. Now I see why!”He ends the projection on the wall and begins to stow the pocket computer. "We know this is an artificial moon that contains a sophisticated artificial gravity generator and a number of sealed-off vaults. It seems as though there is some manner of intelligence controlling this entire station, but we haven’t managed
to contact it to determine its purpose.” Vex sighs. "Since no one else has gone in yet, I really don’t have much more advice for you than to travel down and see where it leads."
Your personal comms each now show that Venture-Captain Vex has authorized you to have access to the lodge's storerooms from which to purchase equipment.
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Mobius straps in his autotarget rifle and laser rifle then checks to see if his grenades are complete. "So we go in there, find out what's in those vaults, hopefully not kill any of it, and report back to you? Sounds good to me."
He goes over to the ghoran, places his hand on its shoulders and pats it. "Good aim there Brook."
"Well, I think I'm all set. Lead us to the entrance Captain Vex"
The party is taken via ground transport to the main hallway of Salvation’s End and dropped off at the now-accessible door to the vault doorway, which displays the words 'Duskmire Accord".
Proceeding down a passageway you enter an airlock. After a brief blast from what appears to be a decontamination laser grid, you are able to pass into the vault. Once inside, the doors close behind you.
As soon as you enter, a holographic projection of a horizontal blue line appears in the air above a circular disk, which is about a 2-foot-wide flat, metal disk embedded in the floor. The line begins moving in a waveform pattern like that of an oscilloscope.
“Greetings, ERROR: NULL RECORD,” a polite, cool voice speaks, in Common. “Welcome to Duskmire! You are understandably confused by your sudden arrival, but rest assured that there is all you need here to survive should you choose to do so. You can enter the temple and be released when you have achieved dominance over the other two resident powers within the Duskmire area. Please accept this simple map as a gift to guide your way. Happy conquest!”
A map printed on a simple plastic sheet materializes on the projector.
Once the projection finishes speaking, it falls silent.
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Ashtif looks around, then glances at the map, trying to figure out where they are on it.
"Okay, the waterfall is over that way, and there's that river ..." He points toward where he thinks you are located. "So ... I vote we head up to the top of this cliff, by the waterfall, to get a survey of the area, before we head to this temple. What do you guys think?"
From within, the vault, or “Duskmire” as the body-less voice had referred to it, looks internally sealed and acts as a giant terrarium. The air is humid and warm, but seemingly fresh. The light levels appear dim throughout.
Quick investigation reveals that the light emanates from the ceiling, walls, and even some of the vegetation.
Many large, fungal specimens appear to thrive within the vault, but other trees, bushes, and grasses that are more typically found above ground also seem to be quite successful here.
Mists and fog that shroud the cavern floor loom over the cavern floor, where water appearing to originate from somewhere within teh northern cavern wall forms a river bisecting Duskmire before collecting in a lake to the south that drains away in a series of tiny submerged fissures. Through patches of mist can be seen areas of trackless marsh, while other terrain of hills and plains can also be seen. The entire cavern appears to be approximately 22 miles across and 15 miles wide, and the vault’s ceiling is 10 miles high. A quick comparison of the features before you to the map provided upon entry makes evident that the map is not to scale.
You see no apparent signs of animals or insects in the Duskmire.
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As Gil-Oloth looks around her from her couch, she says.
Strange, most of the light seems to come from... elsewhere and look! The plant seems to have been genetically modified to survive this environment.
But, what's amazed me, is that this Vault must hold sufficiently deep amounts of soil, peat, and rocks throughout the cavern for the vegetation to grow as it does! What a feat!
After a while as her couch moves to follow her comrade she hears some sound.
Hear! I've heard the sound of raucous laughter and loud singing far to the southeast and down below. Do we continue towards the Temple, or towards the sound to the south or down below?
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"I'm curious about what was also said as we entered, about our "sudden arrival" She finger quotes. "Were people brought here against their will, or without their knowing? Could this vault be some kind of test, as Gil-Oloth's previous experience here was an experiment?"
When Moblus takes off towards the voices, Kat hefts her rifle in one hand. "I guess we're going to find out" She says to the rest of the group.
As you begin to head down towards the cavern floor, in the direction of the distant laughter, the sounds come to an eventual end. Following what appear to, perhaps, be a series of trails, you eventually arrive at an area of mostly flat terrains with what now are clearly sets of trails throughout. The ground appears to be made up of several feet of peat, piled vegetation that becomes matted down and decays into a rich soil.
Despite the lack of actual sunlight, a variety of pale grasses and scrubby bushes cover the landscape throughout the area. A slight haze clings to the air continuously, suggesting that the the air here circulates slowly in this low-lying part of the cavern.
The trails lead to a ramshackle set of buildings, apparently made for human-sized creatures However, sections of many of the buildings have been demolished.
The ground in this village is covered in mud splatters, half-eaten food, and other garbage. The buildings here are relatively squat and list to the sides, formed from stacked bricks of peat. Some of the buildings have fallen over, while others have been bashed into misshapen lumps.
A thick, lavender smoke hangs heavy a few inches above the ground.
The ghoran readily identifies the various sets of feet as each belonging to a yeti.
Five yetis lie about the encampment in an apparent semi-conscious state.
"Good job locating them, Brook. You think they're hostile creatures?", whispers Mobius as he crouches to avoid being detected.
Brookwillow knows that yeti are unaffected by the cold and have rather unsanitary claws among the threats that they can bring to bear.
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Brookwillow whispers into his comm unit, "I don't think I'm in favor of killing them at all! And besides, I'm not so sure we would be up to the job. Let's observe, and see what happens. One thing is for sure, they seem to be rather serene and docile at the moment. Meanwhile, can anyone get a handle on what that strange smoke is, and where it's coming from?"