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The lashunta finally seems to focus on DRACOS, although he remains twitchy.
"Y-yes. I can... see... that now. Thank-you."
He then salutes.
"Private Susreth Susaro, Medic, Second Battalion. I was seeing Swarm creatures everywhere! I think that the Swarm is using some kind of
psychic warfare; you should protect your minds..."
He shakes his head as if trying to clear his ears.
"I can still hear the Swarm whispering to me. They are repeating three words—”Hylax will know”—over and over again..."
Susreth rather forlornly looks at DRACOS and Rico.
"I... don't know what happened to the rest of my squad; can I come with you? We were sent up into the hills to evac some priest of Hylax, but I am fuzzy on how I ended up here..."
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Nestled in the foothills of the Jurdos Mountains, the small town of Lynmari consists of a few dozen buildings constructed adjacent to the headquarters of the Longship Agricultural Alliance
When you approach the outskirts of the town, you hear a single laser blast. As you move toward the sound of the disturbance, you see a handful of townsfolk are gathered in front of a boxy building that looks like a modest food processing plant. A sign above a pair of metal doors reads, “Longship Agricultural Alliance.” The crowd seems upset, their anger and confusion directed toward a human woman in a business suit standing in front of the doors, flanked by two security officers wielding laser rifles. She raises her hands in an attempt to quiet the townsfolk. “Friends, please. I hear and understand your concerns, and so does Longship. Rest assured, we are here to help. Corporate has authorized a private evacuation for the citizens of Lynmari. The ships will be arriving shortly. Please, return to your homes.”
A man steps forward from the crowd, “Private evacuation? The regional governor has told everyone to get to Reos City! Why won’t you let us leave?”
The woman smiles thinly. “Mr. Gorse, the roads between here and Reos are very dangerous. Longship is merely looking out for your safety. Now, please disperse. I won’t ask you a second time.”
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A winding mountain road leads from Lynmari into the Jurdos Mountains along an area known as Clutchstone Ridge. This road twists and turns as it gains altitude, and is coated in places with ice and snow, forcing the PCs to drive their vehicle at less than full speed. Leaving Lynmari, it takes an hour of driving to reach the highest point of Clutchstone Ridge, where the temple of Hylax stands.
At this altitude, the environment has the same effects as a thin atmosphere and the temperature plunges to severe cold. Gusts of strong wind kick up small whorls of snow from the ground, briefly obscuring vision.
At the top of the ridge, small patches of white, barren trees surround crumbling stone pillars and partially intact walls outside of a large structure. The building is constructed of unusual black stone that gives an opalescent sheen as light refracts off its surface. The exterior resembles a large insect’s head, with front doors guarded by stone mandibles and circular windows for eyes. An ovoid, geodesic, crystalline rock about ten feet wide stands at the top of the temple’s central spire. The corpses of several Swarm creatures are scattered across the courtyard.
Another SDF Troop Hardtop, this one lightly dusted with snow, is parked at the end of the road. Two human bodies lie in the rear of the truck, while a third is sprawled near the cabin; each is wearing the insignia of the Second Battalion. Their IDENTs identify the two soldiers in the bed of the truck as recruits Ell Rodmetch and Keitland Pinney. The woman dead on the ground is Sergeant Tani Cebrace.
Susreth is distraught.
"Ell! Keitland! Tani! Oh Gods... all dead..."
He collapses to the ground, and starts sobbing.
More alarmingly, a pair of winged swarm components stand in the courtyard, staring raptly at the giant insectile face of the temple facade. They are chittering faintly. Luckily, they don’t seem to notice you...
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DRACOS smiles wryly.
"So it would seem."
He then moves over to try and comfort Susreth.
"Look, I know that you must feel like trash right now, but there is not point torturing yourself over what might have been. Right now, the important thing is to remain loyal to the living, and focus upon getting the mission done."
He then searches the area.
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Searching the corpses of the fallen SDF troopers, you find an azimuth artillery laser with two fully charged batteries, a bombard shellgun with 10 shells, a diamagnetic storm hammer with one fully charged battery, a series-21 plasma guide sniper rifle with a single battery with 10 charges left, two sets of freebooter armor I, and a suit of thinplate with infrared sensors installed. An industrial backpack in the cabin contains two mk 1 frag grenades. Finally, Sergeant Cebrace wears a holy symbol of Iomedae on a chain around her neck, clutching it in one hand...
The entrance to the temple is a pair of convex metallic doors beneath the giant mandibles. The stone wall around the door is carved in several places with the Shirren words for “diplomacy,” “friendship,” “peace,” and similar words...
DRACOS recognizes those words as Hylax’s many areas of concern.
The doors are shut, and a system of weights and pulleys within the building ensures they remain so against the windy weather.
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DRACOS easily finds the lever (the relief bearing the word 'friendship'), and the doors open!
Wooden rafters made of local white timbers line the black stone walls and ceiling of this temple, producing the illusion of standing within the skeleton of a giant beast. The ceiling rises to a central pinnacle set with an oval crystalline dome, through which rays of green and purple light filter to bathe the chamber’s stone pedestals and benches. A heavy, wooden double door leads deeper into the temple to the northeast, and a metal double door exits southwest.
DRACOS notices three things - two spiked bar traps in the central corridor (which can be disabled with Engineering, or simply walked around), and a set of mk 1 planar runeplates dedicated to Hylax behind one of the pedestals.
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Stepping through the wooden doors leading to the inner sanctum, you hear a low chanting and see dozens of ghostly Swarm creatures whirling throughout the chamber. This phenomenon is centered on an older male shirren, who floats a foot above the floor, his eyes emanating wispy green smoke. He is repeatedly murmuring a phrase in Shirren: “The Connection undone by holy light.”
DRACOS realises that the Shirren's chanting is the cause of the fascination effect you witnessed in the courtyard.
This recessed stone chamber is sparsely decorated, though a cot folded up against the wall and a desk with a computer terminal reveal that it has been recently inhabited. Wooden doors exit to the southwest.
As you enter, the swirling Swarm spirits begin to fade and the shirren’s eyes return to normal as he floats gently to the ground. The priest staggers a bit as he regains his composure and says, “So the SDF got my messages, then? You’ve come to protect the temple against the Swarm?”
Before you can answer his questions, the shirren apologizes for his rudeness and introduces himself.
“My name is Xelonan, priest of the Forever Queen and this temple. Thank you for coming here and helping me. I have been having odd visions of late. I have seen the Swarm campaign across the surface of Suskillon, and as it marches forward, I have seen the landscape transformed. I believe that Hylax is warning me of what is to come, sadly. I have asked for guidance on how to stop this again and again, but to no avail. With your arrival here, my goddess is telling me something, but what?”
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Xelonan shakes his head.
“This temple has stood here since the time of the shirrens’ arrival on Suskillon. It was carved from the rock of Clutchstone Ridge by a group of monks after Hylax appeared to direct them in the creation of a holy artifact. The name and location of that item has been lost, but if you have the gift of telepathy, you can still hear the echoes of that day. I have been the caretaker here for many years, but it was only in the past few days that I have received visions directly from the goddess.
Hylax has been trying to warn me that the Swarm is coming to take this temple, and though she has not said why, I believe it is able to sense the divine impression within the stone from when the sacred artifact was crafted. Many scholars believe the Swarm worshipped Hylax before it became the evil force it is now, and perhaps that dormant connection calls it here. I told SDF command about this danger days ago, hoping they might be able to figure out why. Thanks to the blessing of the Forever Queen, I have been able to amplify her psychic emanations to make any approaching Swarm components docile, but I fear I cannot keep it up forever.
That said, we cannot leave the temple! I fear that if the Swarm is able to take this site, then all will be lost! Hylax has shown me that this place is of great importance..."
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The shirren sighs and says, “If we must. Perhaps it is Hylax’s will.”
At this point in time, you hear a loud metallic 'bang' as the front doors are forced off their hinges, and a large Swarm Component covered in huge plates of green chitin forces its way inside!
DRACOS (-10)
D (-, -, -)
Xelonan (-)
C (-)
Susreth (-)
Rico (-)
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DRACOS hits twice, rocking the creature back.
It charges forward...
...triggering both traps...
...which crushes it.
In the process it explodes in a surprisingly large gout of acid, disgorging three of the smaller all-jaws-and-spiky-legs variety of Component.
Susreth, Understandbly, is rather shaken by this turn of events, and starts firing madly!
He hits one of the lesser Components.
Rico, for his part, starts shooting as well...
...but misses.
DRACOS (-10)
D (-4, -, -)
Xelonan (-)
Susreth (-)
Rico (-)
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This time, DRACOS misses.
The final Component steps up, and starts swinging...
...scoring a nasty hit.
Susreth takes a pot-shot...
...and scorches it slightly, once more.
Rico tries to help, as well...
...but misses, much to his irritation.
"If I get out of this alive, don't tell my drill instructor about this..."
DRACOS (-16)
D (-4)
Xelonan (-)
Susreth (-)
Rico (-)
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Once again, DRACOS misses.
This time, DRACOS misses.
The final Component steps up, and starts swinging...
...scoring a nasty hit.
Susreth takes a pot-shot...
...and scorches it slightly, once more.
Rico tries to help, as well...
...but misses, much to his irritation.
"Screw that; please don't tell him even if I *don't* survive!"
DRACOS (-28)
D (-5)
Xelonan (-)
Susreth (-)
Rico (-)
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In the morning, DRACOS is feeling better, but he is eager to get moving.
"Alright Midnight Squad! Let's get to the Evac point, and blow this popsicle stand..."
He does, however, make a point of ensuring that his two squad mates each get a pair of batteries from the fallen SDF soldiers.
"This way, they can in some small way still contribute to the ongoing fight against the Bugs..."
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Rico nods solemnly, but Susreth looks like he is ready to start crying again...
It takes an hour to drive back down the mountain road from the temple of Hylax to Lynmari. Snow begins to fall as you take the highway south out of Lynmari, beginning the return trip to Reos City.
When you reach the northern outskirts of Reos City, the snow is falling hard. The city is eerily quiet, with no signs of ships flying above. However, a few fires are burning on the metropolis’s western side, their smoke barely visible through the snowfall. Due to the congestion, you have to abandon the vehicle and make your way through the city on foot. When you fully enter the city, your comm units crackle to life.
Commander Najiri contacts you with a one-way transmission:
“Midnight Squad, do you read me? Evacuation ended last night when command had to call back air support from over Reos. Are you just getting to the evacuation zone? Your signal is very weak, but if you’re hearing this, get to the spaceport and find some way off Suskillon. There is a massive Swarm army to the south that is making its way toward you, and the only way you’ll be able to outrun it is in a starship. Save whoever you can and get out of there now! Rendezvous on Utraneus.”
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Huge columns of black smoke rise into the sky, and the smell of burning thasteron-based fuel hangs in the air. Dozens of destroyed ships lie scattered across the spaceport’s various landing pads, their frames broken and melted. Some of the control towers and private hangars still stand, though most have succumbed to the flames.
You also spot a small group of evacuees, battered and bruised, shuffling along the periphery of the spaceport. Leading them is an older human woman, who greets you in a weary and frightened tone.
“My name is Kilora Gishi. I’m on the city council here in Reos. These others and I were headed for the last transport off the planet when a wing of Swarm starships descended on the spaceport and destroyed every vessel in sight. We were blown back by the explosions, and when we came to, the SDF had already left and we couldn’t contact them to let them know we survived. We’ve been searching for an undamaged starship since then, but we haven’t been able to find anything.”
The group of evacuees is small — a total of eight people - but includes some familiar faces - the scientist Zantos Loachwurt from back at Fort Gallant, and the three members of the Newles family. Their morale is very low, and they look to you to rescue them from certain death.
Before you can begin searching the spaceport for transportation off the planet, your comm units chirp with an incoming transmission as a tiny spacecraft flies overhead. Answering the call, you see the face of the thief from Fort Gallant illuminated by the displays in the cockpit of a vessel she “commandeered.”
Anacia smirks. “I saw you all were in a bit of trouble down there. Unfortunately, this ship has room for only three people: me, myself, and I. But I do have a lead on another vessel that never made it out of its hangar here at the spaceport...”
She then texts you some GPS coordinates.
“See you on the flip side, if you survive...”
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Small, nondescript cement buildings mark the entrances to each underground hangar. Normally locked, the door to Private Hangar 7 has been blown off its hinges by the attack on the spaceport, but the interior — a set of metal stairs leading down into the earth — seems unscathed.
Before you head down, Xelonan steps forward from the group of evacuees and says, “You should head on without us for now; who knows what dangers might lurk down there? The survivors and I will hide here at the top of the stairs. If you find a vessel and are ready for us to leave, contact me and we will make our way to you. May the Forever Queen watch over you.”
A set of metal stairs leads down 100 feet to a simple steel door. An obvious security camera looks down toward the door, though since the hangar currently has no power, it isn’t operational.
The door has a simple numeric keypad on the wall next to it controlling the lock, but without power, the door can’t be unlocked even by entering the correct code.