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Harrac helps Karyn adjust Iteration-177 so they're not completely slumped against the wall. He holds body parts as needed for Rei as she gets to work.
He doesn't let his guard drop, however, keeping a constant eye out for what could have done this. He catches Talc's eye and mumbles, "be ready for a trap."
Iteration-177 smiles ruefully as you start to gather their body parts. "I was following up on the Scoured Stars incident; it’s quite the talk of the Pact Worlds, after all. Alas, I ran afoul of the ghosts of the past. I'm sure you’ve noticed, but the spiritual damage to this place is great. It turns out I’m not as capable of withstanding the onslaught as I had hoped."
Rei can feel a sense of awe and nervousness coming from the spirit bound to her, directed towards this enigmatic android.
"My construction is very specific," Iteration-177 says to Rei. "You don't have the equipment to repair me here. We can address that concern after taking care of the haunting of Xaharee. Besides, I prefer to stay here where I'm in relatively less danger. I'll be okay. I've been through worse."
The android turns back to the rest of you. "The spiritual activity here in Xaharee is no accident. The mentrasi in the nearby city discovered an imminent seismic cataclysm and took desperate measures to survive it. I’ve uncovered a ritual the Xaharee leaders used to bind their spirits to this city, specifically the menhir in the center of downtown park. I believe they misinterpreted the ritual and thought it would bind their life essence here, including their physical bodies. Instead it ripped the spirits of every living thing from the city and bound it to the menhir, the focal point of the ritual.
"Think of the menhir as a spiritual anchor; I believe that by disrupting the menhir we can free the trapped spirits. I want you to go to the city center, find the menhir, and destroy it. Be warned, it will put up quite a fight once it realizes you’re there to destroy it. I would rest and prepare before heading back into the city to face it. Take some of my weapons with you." Iteration-177 looks meaningfully toward a null-space chamber lying on a nearby rock.
Within the chamber are four mk 2 serums of healing, an inubrix sentinel spear, and a ghost killer gelid hail pistol.
Inubrix-alloy weapons and ammunition ignore hardness of 10 or less. If a critical hit effect from an inubrix weapon requires a saving throw, the save DC increases by 2. This increase also applies to the injection DC +2 critical hit effect, provided the weapon doing the injecting—such as the dart of a needler pistol—is made of inubrix. A melee weapon made of inubrix alloy can also pass slightly into other solid objects, giving the wielder extra leverage for disarm attempts; this advantage grants a melee weapon made of inubrix alloy the disarm special property.
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"You want us to destroy something? I am sure Harrac and Talc will be pleased. That seems to be what they excel at."
Karyn went over to the weapons that Iteration-177 indicated and hefted the hail pistol. She snapped it to the sticky pad on her left thigh, then tossed the spear to Harrac. "Here, big guy. Can you use this?"
After resting, you make your way back to Xaharee's downtown district. The ghostly presence in the city seems to have heightened. Ghostly wails becomes louder until they reach a constant wind-like howl in the city center. Stones and debris around the city vibrate and crack with increased frequency.
The center of the downtown area features a raised pedestal with the remains of a fountain in the center. Debris surrounds the fountain from the hurried installation of a seven-foot-tall stone menhir. At the base of the fountain, a small placard sprays sparks and generates random chirping noises due to malfunctioning holographic projection technology. Various tools used in both stone working and magical rituals litter the area.
Glowing spirits fly about the menhir, and it thrums with power. It seems to know you are here to destroy it, and it seems ready to defend itself! A powerful spirit springs forth from the stone and shrieks in fury!
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Karyn stared at the menhir, looking for weaknesses in the ancient stone. Surely there must be a place where Harrac could...
"There! Strike the stone just below that rune that looks like a star being devoured by an imp. There's a fracture line!"
Once she was sure the others knew where the weakness was, she fired her new ghost-killing pistol at the spirit.
The spirit dodges Karyn's attack, but the biohacker's analysis of the menhir provides guidance. Rei intones mystic words to weaken the menhir before Harrac hurls his spear into the stone, further damaging it.
The spirit howls as it rushes towards you at an extreme speed, passing through each of you to corrupt your physical forms! A moment later, the menhir focuses its energies and manifests a haunted earth elemental, which rises up out of the ground and tries to clobber Harrac!
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Harrac takes a knee and pumps his fist when the spear rips into the menhir which fortunately makes him a smaller target as the spirit flies across the room. Most of the acid misses him, but the elemental certainly grabs his attention. His weapon instantly in hand, he swings it up at the creature
for
Skrivix looks at his dinky static arc pistol, then at the menhir. He shrugs and assumes his best cowboy pose, blasting off shots as quickly as he can.
"You like my John Wayne??!?"
After what seems an eternity of him missing, one shot appears to land on the target.
"OH MAN I HIT IT!! LOOK AT THAT CHIP I BLASTED OFF!"
Luckily, the menhir is quite easy to hit, and Skrivvix slowly chips away at it with his electric pistol. Karyn and Talc land solid hits as well while Rei continues her chant. Harrac, meanwhile, turns his attention to the elemental, keeping it occupied as he slices at it with his solar blade.
The menhir glows as it manifests a second mentrasi spirit. The first one targets Rei with a telepathic assault, trying to rack her mind and body with agonizing pain, while the newly conjured one blasts her with magic missiles.
The elemental tries to pound Harrac, landing one hit!
Karyn and Skrivvix blast the monolith's weak spots, but Talc's shot goes wide. Harrac burns another hole in the elemental fighting him, but it still battles on.
Both spirits now focus batter Rei with magic missiles as the elemental attacks Harrac again. The monolith glows with bright green light, and yet another elemental manifests, this one moving to attack Talc!
You don't make much progress against the menhir this time, as its hardness absorbs your shots. The spirits continue to pummel Rei with magic missiles as the elementals attack Harrac and Talc!
Talc blasts the menhir again, then, guided by Rei's insight, Harrac drives the inubrix spear deep into its weakened core. A great shock wave blasts out from its center, shaking the foundations of the buildings and causing dust and rubble to fall from the stony ceiling far above. A colossal swirling vortex of spirits manifests above the city, ascending upwards, away from the ruins of Xaharee.
After a few moments, the swirling spirits dissipate, leaving the city in almost complete silence. Only the echoes of rubble settling pierce the final stillness of the last city of the mentrasi. All spirits in the city, including the friendly spirit that had bonded with Rei, are gone, having at last departed to the River of Souls, leaving it truly empty.
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Rei briefly points at some of her wounds before turning to Talc "As usual, I am left disappointed by your performance today".
She then focuses her attention to Karyn. "Thank you Karyn for your services. I feel better now. We must now examine the little that is left before we depart. The spirit who has bonded with me, I feel his presence is now gone."
She then examines the remains of the core, and logs all she finds to her datapad, hoping to learn as much as she can.
The menhir consists of valuable stone reinforced with rare metals. Whether they value it for its archaeological merit or its worth as scrap material, you're sure the Starfinder Society will reward you for returning its remains to them.
After the final destruction of the menhir, there is little left that the city of Xaharee has to offer you. If you go back to find Iteration-177, there is no trace of the android’s body or evidence that anything stirred in the chamber you once found them in. The trip back to the surface is somewhat uneventful, and any further scans of the star system still show no other starships in the vicinity.
When you return to Jadnura to report yourfindings, he listens to yourentire report in calm silence while staring out the window at the skyline of Absalom Station’s Eye. Once you've finished, he slowly turns to face you, his face stoic.
“Thank you,” Jadnura begins, “you’ve done a commendable job and shown me just how reckless I’ve been. The idea that there is a deity sleeping within the Scoured Stars is… It matches my visions and the records recovered from the survivors of my expedition there.” He lowers his head for a moment, rubbing his temple. “Your report mentions that Dhurus is the name of one of Kadrical’s four heralds. I fear this is the same Dhurus that leads the jinsuls against us now. This fact is… daunting. I’m concerned about what happens if this deity eventually ‘wakes up.’ Are the jinsuls typical followers or extremists? It sounds like the mentrasi fled from this god’s overbearing protection, which makes me even more concerned about our future.”
He removes an ancient looking compass from his pocket and turns it over in his hands several times, brushing his fingers across the surface. “The Society cannot afford to sit back and react to these ongoing events. We need to formulate a strategy for dealing with the damage we’ve caused—I’ve caused. I’ll meet with First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo and decide what to do next. Thank you, Starfinders. You are dismissed, with my personal thanks."