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Killim looks around, I never thought prison was so opulaent, maybe I should give it a go
He regards the creature, unsure of its nature.
He replies telepathically, What is the nature of your research? Why would think univited guests were coming? Perhaps we can be of assistance, we are quite skilled Perhaps there could be a sharing of information?
The creature regards Killk with apprehension.
Philosopher Worm
They are often plagued by sycophantic trox and shirren followers. Philosopher worms are children of the Forever Queen, the mortal manifestations of great Hylax created by her hand.
“My senses go far beyond your own sensory organs. I can feel the very waves of reality. My research concerns the Pact Worlds, of which you are part, so if you are skillful enough, your reality waves should prove interesting. You may examine my works on the walls of the room, if you are interested. Do you believe you can glimpse the truth of the universe?”
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Killik opens his mouth parts wide in a very disturing smile. Secrets of the universe itself, oh yes, I have probed many of those secrets in my time, leaning about the intricacies of thought, emotion and desire. We shape the world around us with our desires, and by doing so try to construct ou own truths. Sadly, sometimes these truths lead to inaccuracies or even violence and cruelty, then they have to be corrected.
Killik turns to examine the works on the walls.
"If the truths lead to inaccuracies, then were they truths to begin with?"
The walls are cluttered with glyphs and diagrams that look like some strange quilt of knowledge. Some things you recognize from different stages of your education, others are completely foreign as if found on some remote vast planet.
“I am thinking. I am learning. I am exploring. I am making sense of the chaos of the universe. Ultimately, I hope to use my observations on the waves of reality in order to decipher a portion of the meaning of life. Accomplishing even a small portion of my goal will help me gain the favor of the Forever Queen. Not all inhabitants of the prison are here for crimes. Some of us reside here by choice. The solitude of such a location, paired with some of the best security in the Pact Worlds, is difficult to turn down. I have come here seeking isolation, free of my burdensome followers, that I might expand my mind to its fullest potential. Why do you venture here?”
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Killik is taken aback, You choose to remain here, alone, with only your own thoughts. No communication with others, always alone, trapped in your own mind, a prison of your own making.
He takes a step back and his face flushes a strange purple colour. Oh my he gurgles out loud.
Recovering he looks again at the designs covering the walls. We are here to deal with a potential security issue. Have you noticed anything unusual down here in the last few days?
"I have not and you are a potential security issue. Let me put this simply, I believe that each of you can aid me in my task. There are many things I have found that send ripples. Show me something that is a culmination of your life and I will not send for the guards."
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If not, Life Science Check:
Valgard gets his computer out, and then uses Augmented Reality to show the Philosopher Worm his library, filled with actual books that he has accumulated from around the galaxy and the computer system that orders everything so he know exactly where everything is, to make sense of the chaos of the large room.
"Oh great Philosopher Worm, we are explorers, intrepid in our pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the worlds we visit, and the galaxy as a whole." Valgard says telepathically.
"I have made it my life's work to collect books and artefacts from around the galaxy to help me make sense of the chaos around us, and spend my time within the Pact Worlds to understand our own planets and how they have shaped who we are today.", Valgard continues.
"Is this what you require from us oh Great One?"
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Killik rumbles back telepathically, We are not a threat to the secuity of this complex, we are here to protect it. However, let me show you what I have seen.
At that point he steps forward and raises both hands to the sides of his head. See he murmurs as he establishes a mindlink with the Philosopher Worm. See how we are all as one, how we intercoonect with one another, from one mind to the next to the next, how we draw strength from each other, how we comes to know and understand one another as Family.
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kAPP steps forward "You seem rather logical so I will speak plain..." He finds a table with bits of the worms personal effects, he begins arranging them in a logical order, "We are simply passing through, not looking to disturb anyone here. To right a wrong and expose a false truth which will go along to help yourself and the society as a whole. Will you allow us to pass?"
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"I'm not a philosopher. I believe in practical, real things. Things I can build, take apart, inspect, maintain, improve. If you want to know what I'm all about, it's that.
As he says that he digs up various 3D holographic field reports for emergency repairs made to starships, jury-rigging to enhance them above official specs when needed, and the sort of dents they've made in the enemy.
Uko is excited by the possibilities that each of you proposed. It admits that while it prefers isolation, conversation with you has proved a fruitful endeavor. "You may pass through my quarters," it says in your minds and gifts you a magic item called a sophic filter.
Stepping out of Uko’s sanctum, you enter a hallway connecting to the rest of the Adamantine Prison. Just across the hallway is a stairwell leading down to the maintenance tunnels marked on Royo’s notes. These hallways are all 10 feet wide and composed of black adamantine alloys, giving the halls a dark and brooding feel. Maintenance junctions are spaced roughly every 200 feet, with multiple tunnels branching off each junction. The hallways between junctions each have a heavy metal door at either end, but are otherwise identical, giving the entire tunnel system a mazelike feel. Fortunately, you have a map to navigate these tunnels.
After roughly 15 minutes of walking, you find the maintenance drone terminal marked on your map. The hallway runs west to east, with the entrance to the hallway through the west door. Like all the other hallways, this hallway is 10 feet wide and 200 feet long and has a door at either end. When you reach the center of the hallway, a small lens flickers to life in the ceiling and a holographram of a ysoki appears in the middle of the hallway. The ysoki has stark-white fur, wears a gray business suit, and speaks with a mischievous grin while audibly snacking on a similarly holographic apple.
“Whoa, slow down there, pals! Breathe, just breathe. I’m willing to bet that you are a pesky group of Starfinders, poking around where you don’t belong. I’m Datch, by the way. We might have met before. If you’ve run into any of my little tricks in the past, congratulations on surviving! Unfortunately, this is the end of the road for you. This next little trap is a doozy. Good luck and don’t lose your head—or any other body parts!”
At the end of her words the hologram disappears and 10 laser apertures open in the ceiling, spaced 20 feet apart down the length of the hallway. Then a wall of randomly arranged vertical and horizontal lasers forms at the east end of the hallway and rapidly travels to the west end, slicing apart anything in its path.
When you expect the wall of lasers to appear again it doesn't.
"Gotcha!" the hologram appears again. "All in good time Starfinders," the female ysoki promises and diappears again.
You easily opened the eastern door. The hallway dead-ends in a circular room with a small terminal at in its center. When you access the terminal, you see an inventory of active maintenance drones in nearby areas of the Lorespire Complex. To allow technicians to repair drones stuck in difficult to reach locations, the terminal connects to a series of rapid-transit corridors. When a drone signals for assistance, doorways in these corridors open and close to guide technicians to the drone by the most efficient route. You realize that all you need to do to is select the drone closest to their goal and activate its call for assistance. After accessing the maintenance-drone system, you travel to the location of the nearest maintenance drone.
Exiting from a self-sealing aperture, you emerge inside of an old-looking, one-room log cabin. The cabin has no furniture and only one door on the southern wall. Two windows, one on the eastern wall and one on the western, look outside the cabin. A maintenance drone, shaped like a metal sphere with a dozen dangling arms, hovers in the center of the cabin.
"Greetings Starfinders!" the drone greets you cheerfully as the last of you enter the cabin from the aperture and it closes. "What can I-" the drone begins but the rest of its words are drowned out by a cacophony of noise.
A mortar round crashes a mere foot away from the cabin wall, generating a vast booming sound. A forest burns to the south and east. A score of humanoids dressed in the motley gear commonly associated with raiders or pirates array themselves in a defensive circle around the cabin. With screeches and bellows, the raiders fire their weapons at unseen foes somewhere in the burning forest. Mortar fire continues to rain down around the cabin, and a burst of bullets emerges from the forest, striking a raider directly in the head. With a shower of sparks, the raider falls to the ground and its outward appearance suddenly fades to reveal a damaged combat drone beneath the holographic shell.
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When Datch stands down the laser trap, kAPP pulls Murco aside and provides some quick maintenance to his burnt components. "Damn Datch and his tricks. This will be the last time he gets one over on us..."
After navigating drone station and the events in/outside the log cabin, kAPP moves to the eastern window and ducks just under it to gain some cover while he surveys the chaos.
"Of course Starfinder!" the drone responds cheerfully, "This cabin is the objective in the Elite setting of Training Room Gamma! The objective is to rescue the diplomat!" At that the area around the drone shimmers and the image of a scrawny human male is overlayed.
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Killik peeks out of the window to see what is going on.
It seems we are in the middle of some sort of training exercie. Do they appear to be using live rounds? That could be troublesome. Given these are fellwo family members, I mean Starfinder agents, if you can I recommend setting your weapons to stun in case we need to engage them. I may be able to scare the attackers away once they get close to the cabin which might give us the cover we need to escape. Or perhaps kAPP you could render all of us invisible so we can simply sneak our way out of here. Ask the drone where the exit into the rest of the Prison is?