::"Dad, looks like its going to be a fight"::
and she is on one of the Devils.
RH TH DMG
RH TH DMG
[Hasted attack]
RH TH DMG
Conferm chrit RH TH DMG
LH TH DMG
LH TH DMG
x2 (L/NL) (S/B) [As +2 Psionic Item][Adamantine Ingnors hardnes 20]
If she uses them for 4 attacks all attacks are at TH-2 [12/+7]
Claws of the Beast* [Psionic Item]
+1TH +3d6+1DMG [Adamantine Ingnors hardnes 20]
Spatial Awareness (Ex) +4TH +4DMG
Beginning at 2nd level, an elocater’s hyperawareness of spatial relations lets her use the battlefield to her advantage. When she attacks with a bonus from higher ground or is flanking the attacked enemy with an ally, the first attack she makes against that enemy each round gains a +2 insight bonus to her attack roll and damage roll (if the attack hits). Furthermore, due to her ability to reorient herself, enemies no longer gain a bonus when attacking her from higher ground.
Flanker (Ex)
An elocater of 4th level or higher can flank enemies from seemingly impossible angles. She can designate any square adjacent to her as the square from which flanking with an ally is determined (including the square where she stands, as normal). She can designate the square at the beginning of her turn or at any time during her turn. The designated square remains her effective square for flanking until she is no longer adjacent to it or until she chooses a different square (at the start of one of her turns). The character can even choose a square that is impassable or occupied.
By Expending Psion focus: Attacks deal an extra 4d6 points of damage for 1 round. You must decide whether or not to use this option prior to making an attack. If your attacks miss you still expend your psionic focus.
And Gift is just a blur of motion, hamming the Devil from impossible angles.
The dwarf paladin quickly draws his The Arlosword and advances on the devil Gift attacked.
As he was ready for such an assault, the Sage casts Haste on the party!
"Is technomancy uncommon? I cast through my pistol all the time." Blue sends to the others.
When the fight starts, Blue engages the unengaged devil, trusting Arlo and Gift to handle theirs. He points his cybernetic arm at the devil, and a strobing beam of lightning momentarily links him to the fiend.
Terex just notices the complete amorality of <shimmer>, it simply doesn't understand concern about others.
Most of Gift's and Arlo's attack bounce off the one devil's insectasoid shell but Blue's attack seriously injures the other creature and Armaund bites that devil clean in half. At that point, the other devil, says with a menacing tone, "I'll be lodging a formal complaint about these labor practices." and vanishes.
At this point, one of the human scientists says "This change could seriously disrupt our schedule, what is the reason for it? Also, we only requisitioned enough flesh for Beleg and Gundam. Don't expect us to have supplies for a Dragon." while the other human and the elf struggle with their keyboards.
Something about how he says flesh suggests something disturbing.
Gift pops next to Blue.
::"Well seems cat claws are not as good as a pair of blasters. So back to the drawing board."::
Her tail moves
::"And in this outfit, I'm starting to feel like a cartoon character."::
To the scientists, Armaund says:"Do not worry, things will be reorganized very quickly and we come with own resource."
To the group, telepathically. "Can we secure the area against these devils return? What should we be telling these people, longer term? And we should figure out exactly what's going on here."
Hexqil comes into being next to Gift.
::"Full scan please Hexqil"::
The Drone flyes around the room.
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (Engineering) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (Geography) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (History) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (Local) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (Nature) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (Nobility) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (Planes) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (Psionics/Arcana) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Knowledge (Religion) (+5int, +7rank +8class)<
Linguistics (+5int, +7rank +8class)< [+Telepath]
While Hex scans she walks around.
Terex has to remind himself, again, that <Shimmer> is a very strange sort of sapient that may not be capable of understanding morality, so he just has to be patient with them. What would you want the equipment and scientists to study, anyway? he asks. And while I'm thinking about it, would you be able to ward this room against teleportation and planar travel?
He stops sabotaging the keyboards for the moment and pays attention to what's on the screens right now. What exactly are these scientists trying to accomplish?
Directing his thoughts to the party Terex says, If we can lock down this room against planar travel, we'll only have to worry about the door. Rollo, do you have any spells for that? Once we're secure we can tell these scientists that we represent a different group interested in their services--one that will not be taking their souls if they can't meet their schedule. And then we see from there if these guys are in over their head or if they're as bad as the devils.
Rollo points at Shimmer at Terex' inquiry.
Blue consults with Terex, doing his best to add his knowledge to the attempt to figure out wat was going on here.
<Sparkle> is able to throw-up a shield against all plane shifting and teleporting into the general area. It covers about a 2000' sphere, so it won't stop entities coming outside that.
The three scientists, noticing the party appraising their operation, step back, looking nervously at each other. The elf says, "What kind of consultants are those?". Still in dragon form, Armaund says, "believe it or not, we are the good guys, hopefully here to save you from serious harm."
The red-bearded human replies, "There are no good guys. If you're here to steal our intellectual property, I warn you none of this will work without us" while the other human looks at a screen and says, "hey, something just threw up a teleportation shield. Who are you really working for?
Looking at the equipment, (with the aid of Hexqil's scan), it indeed seems the machine contain a computer program capable of understanding and manipulating magic - a remarkable achievement. Such a program is so unusual that you suspect that what's really going is the internal power of one of the scientists "leaks" into the program to give it's power. So the machine can only function with them at the helm. But it's still remarkable and unique. At the same time, it seems this process is slowly draining the life-force of all the scientists, perhaps killing them in a month or so. You suspect some of this affect came from suggestions their devil "friends" offered - you'd have to talk to them.
Looking at the thing in the center of the room, it indeed seems like it could be an avatar of the previous seal on The Wall with the shadows around being souls.
The scientists have a program for removing the souls and another for re-sealing them in a container (but you actually find any container). You aren't sure how well it would work and from their earlier comments, they aren't certain either.
Gift passes on all the info from the scans to the others.
"Yes there are good guys, we are they, and you are 100% right, non of this will work without you. That is because it's consuming your souls to run, as a necromantic program would. Trust us we know Magi-tech. I bet the agents of the hells suggested the means by which this runs. claver, you see"
She looks at them closer.
"As they knew you would work this out, learn your time is short, a month or Three. They knew you would try and supplement its need for soul energy from the well of souls here. And by this means the Devils get you to work all that bit harder and the IP they gave you."
She smiles at them,
"You should know when you have been played."
Hexqil links with her and She put her hand on the controls and her nanites entered the device.
"Let's have a little look inside and see what is really going on."
She links to the device and also Rollo.
correspond
::"Rollo, I need you to come with me into this thing. YOu know magic and I know tech, together we may be able to work out what is going on"::
Still invisible, Terex speaks up. We'd rather hire you, actually, and I think you'd find our terms a lot less likely to get you tortured for eternity than working with devils would. Unless of course you've already signed your souls away, in which case it'll be a bit of a trick to free you from your previous contract.
Since you don't seem inclined to believe in our benevolence, I'll tell you we have an interest in releasing the souls trapped here back into the normal cycle.
Excluding the scientists from his next message he says, I really hope we don't have to try to get them out of an infernal contract... and I really hope they've been fooled rather than being willing participants in working with devils.
When Terex mentions deals, Froust laughs, "Our technology is so powerful, we had no need to sell souls, the Baatezu were quite satisfied with part interest in our enterprise and even offered us a supply of materials for completing the project."
However, when Gift notes the soul-draining quality of machinery, Xonox jumps forward and says, "You lie! Show me!" and then intently scans the read-out that Hexqil provides, first dismissively, then with worry and then shouting, "NO!! Froust! Migual! Why didn't you...why didn't I..." at which point he wanders around having a tantrum, kicking chairs, smashing the glass cooking device and so-forth (not damaging any instruments, for five minute or until someone stops him). Finally, breathing hard, he looks at the party and says "Are you really the 'good guys'? Can you get us out of this situation?"
At that point, a voice can be heard from under the security door - "Beleg, Gundam, it is time for your meal. How shall I prepare it? "
At this sound, Migual "The gargoyles! Of course they're still here. What is the plan?!?!"
Rollo (invisibly) doesn't notice anything wrong with the situation.
Just have them respond accordingly.
We will try our best to get you out of this, Terex promises. He flies off the equipment and towards the party before dropping his invisibility.
How many gargoyles total are left? he asks the scientists. We destroyed two on the way in. For that matter, how many other devils do we have to worry about here?
Arlo draws The Arlosword in preparation for battle. "If we get you guys out of this alive, you're gonna tell us everything!"
Arlo draws his sword and it burns with such light that the three scientists collapse on their knees in awe, Xonox "What shall we do? What can we do? Uh, I think the gargoyles were doing something awful, evil. I tried not to know. But they might have kidnapped some locals for our security team..." at which point he starts softly crying. More calmly, Migual cuts to say "There were three gargoyles and the two 'devil'"
At that point, Minna walks over to the entry door and says, "It shouldn't be too hard from this side , jams in a safety pin and the electronically controlled stainless steel slab opens inward while the small gnome carefully positions herself behind it.
Beyond the door, there's a Gargoyle, dressed as a waiter, carrying a large silver filigree platter with a silver cover on with warming torch burning below it. He looks at the scene in stunned surprise.
Gift shuddered darrn-her Dad was scary when he had the wind up him.
Gifts had the dad she needed so she pulled her hand away from the computer system, and just before the door was opened She went to the scientists.
"Much as it pains me to say that, I will protect you from harm, now sit tight and let the grown-ups deal with this."
Xonox, the elf, pulls himself together a little and says "Thank you, friend" to Gift.
Terex had taken the time to position himself and prepare as Minna had opened the door. Now, with the gargoyle surprised, he waves his wand and blasts it with three rays of burning energy.
+
+
+
Xonox, the elf, pulls himself together a little and says "Thank you, friend" to Gift.
"Gift, the name is Gift"
She smiles and them,
"This is the fun part"
Blue gives the elf talking to Gift some side eye, but quickly refocuses on the Gargoyle, blasting it with electrical energy.
Blasted by fire and lightning, the gargoyle falls to the ground in a heap and the plate falls as well, the cover falls off to reveal something raw and moving.
At this point, the scientists are giving the party as many technical details as they can, it seems.
Arlo sees the human heart and pokes it with The Arlosword.
"Eww. The gargoyle was gonna make you eat that??!!"
It was for the devils, Arlo, Terex states, amusement plain in his voice. That amusement swiftly drops. If it's still beating, the person it belongs to might be being kept alive by magic. Or there might be other living captives. Some of us should search the remainder of the compound and see if they have somewhere they're keeping people.
Turning back to the scientists he says, We don't know what kind of reinforcements that devil will come back with, but as long as the teleport block is up they'll at least have to come through that door. That will go badly for them. The only question then is how long they're going to try. Any ideas on that front?
That said, the best option right now would be to get what we need done here and then get you to a location it's harder for the devils to find you at. We, or at least I, would be interested in hiring you for some other work once we can shake these devils. But first let's get these souls freed.
Terex looks over what they've done and talks with them, seeing if their plans for the release half are solid and if there's anything else he can tell about the sealing spirit from the data they've gathered.
Rollo (invisible) just watches the mayhem ensue. The dhampir smiles.
At Terex' prompting, Armaund returns to human form and a portion of the party goes out to search the area, taking the scientists with them, while a few folks stay behind to guard the equipment.
You discover, off in the side passage where you originally heard the noises, a gruesome prison/slaughterhouse. Here, there are the remains of five humans. Four carefully preserved and one partly dismembered. There may be magic keeping the blood moving but this person is too far gone and cannot be revived. There are also ten humans, six males and four females, tightly bound and held in a cage. There are also the instruments and devices used for the foul deeds of the gargoyles.
You search the area, free the living prisoners, destroy the devices and give the bodies proper rights. The ex-prisoners are in a state of shock but enough lesser restorations applied by Minna puts them in state where they can communicate. It seems they are from the city known as Unit 3, the closest of the cities in the area (which only have come from under the thumb of the Dark Traders fairly recently). They're surprised only that this was a different evil other than the traders. Their story is that they kidnapped, in a couple groups, by the follower of Narsod the Prophet and when they refused to convert to this new religion, they are sold to the gargoyles.
Leaving the ex-prisoners to recuperate, the party then investigates the scientists' machinery. The device is remarkable and quite possibly could be used to restore the broken seal with both the party and the scientists working.
Froust, Migual and Xonos have been extremely quiet, clearly guilty and fearful. Migual says "we may be able to work with you, we'd like to work with you but we have to know what terms you intend to judge us on.". And there's pause. Armaund comments, "It is quandary. We are not here to be the law for the locals but we also cannot let them go. I suggest we take them for justice in these people's city. Most likely they will demand weregild and service, as is standard for non-technological societies. By helping us here, they can earn this weregild and if they help us, we can speak for them."
Gift, buts on then.
"Sorry Armaund but local rules do not apply here. Looking over this tech with Rollo and Minna. The agency's magi-tech teams will want to have them for de-brief, my mother for one. Soon as we have restored the broken seal, we should hand them over. I can send for a pick-up team when the time comes. But... they have to agree."
She comments to the scientists.
"You have value, a value that can earn you the chance to save not just a few but countless lives across the planes. This tach will show up again and now the Dark Traders know about it, they will seek to use it for evil far beyond what you have seen here. Your value and your redemption are linked, we offer you this one chance to stand for what is right, it's that or as Armaund says, local justice. It's your decision."
She did not tell them, they would most likely never be free again, or the fact the risks with working for the Agency meant death was always a likely outcome. But they were smart, what she wanted to know was where they moral.
And it was in this moment she realized she needed to change, Seeing the dead and imprisoned, seeing the evil here. Childhood was over, she needed to grow up. Lose the childish catsuit and be what her mother and father wanted her to be.
Rollo nods in agreement at Gift.
I believe that to be the clearest of their choices. Either way, we need to believe that the Dark Traders will be demonstrating this new tech quickly.
Once the discussions go past ten minutes, you realize that whatever happens, you will be in this deep granite complex for a while and you'll need to make it livable. You quickly set up one area for the ex-prisoners and another area for the scientists and finally an area for yourselves. The area is still unearthly and eerie but now more livable.
Once this is done, discussion continues in earnest.
As Gift makes her point, Armaund nods. Speaking to the party "Yes, of course you're right. I think that's what I'm missing is a larger view of the struggle. Let us proceed." Froust, Migual and Xonos then agree to Gift's terms and seem actually satisfied with them.
The party can then go to work analyzing the machine the scientists have designed and the configuration of the seal-avatar. While worked on the project for months, the scientist still lacked some of the finer points of magic and the party's expertise is useful for correcting the machine's setup. An strange and ironic discovery which Rollo makes in this process is ... the blood of the ex-prisoners is a key missing ingredient needed to fully free the souls involve. Now all that's needed is negotiating ingredients and begining the operation.
Gift sees if Psionics could help with the interface.
"I think what your missing is a psionic interface, that way you can blend magic/tech and psionics to balance the flow and Reversing the Polarity
Terex, for all his varied talents, is a rather mediocre mage. But he does have a talent he thinks is important to this--breaking magic.
As he sees it, there are two major things to accomplish here. First was to break whatever the Dark Traders had done to bind the souls and interfere with the Seal on the Wall. The other was to reestablish the Seal itself.
The second part he'd do his best to help with. But that first part? The first part was exactly his kind of thing.
In the now convert cavern of Eolin the Crafter, the party settles down to working on the three scientists' machines and instruments. Gift, at least, is very familiar with computers. Interesting things happen when she assays the complex of magic and counter-magic around the seal-avatar. The trapped souls are bound together in something like a mass-mind, a mind tied together by ancestry. And this is what makes the blood of Unit 3 residents effective in undoing the magic. The problem is some number of those sacrificed were only very distantly related to the present ex-prisons and so some of these may be unaffected. You shall find out...
Terex, of course, supplies a series of clever tricks and shortcuts (using <Shimmer>, thieves tools and sneakiness..) - guaranteed to work, indeed but temporarily (a week, a month, year). Well, this can be the fallback.
It falls to Minna to persuade the ex-prisoners to actually donate some blood. She uses her best innocent and most unassuming manner...
Arlo, not being a slouch when it comes to assisting when he can, offers some of his own blood if it will help.
Terex joins in persuading the freed prisoners.
I know, this sounds pretty bad. A bunch of strangers show up and break you out, then start asking about your blood. Well, let me tell you what's going on.
This Wall nearby has lots of portals to other places, and as you've found, often what comes through these portals isn't nice. In the past there was a seal on these portals, but the Dark Ones came and they broke this seal by entrapping the souls of some of your ancestors.
Now, we want to free those souls and restore the seal, to help your lands be safe from all these invaders. I recognize that we're technically invaders, too, so it's hard to trust us. But unfortunately, the Dark Ones being the vile jerks that they are, they made it so that the easiest way to free these souls is with more blood magic.
Fortunately it won't take a lot of blood, and we have healing magic as you've seen so we can patch you back up, but... without this, your lands will continue to be in danger from these portals, and your ancestors' souls will continue to be trapped here. So... who will volunteer a bit of their blood to protect their homeland and free their ancestors?
Arlo's blood helps a little - the Dark Traders used primarily locals for their horrific rituals but took some from elsewhere, including a few dwarves. And from this, the next step is getting Xonox the elf to donate some blood as well, for more coverage. And with this, a story comes - Xonox is, it seems, a changeling, born or taken into a technological world of only humans, he discovered the magical computing system with his friends from the academy and then made unwise deal to gain the resources needed.
The ex-prisoners consider Minna and Terex' arguments and say: "We will give this willing if you promise to return us to our city when this finishes, we ache to be home."
... and preparations continue...
Rollo listens to everyone's proposal, plan, insight, hypothesis and theory. The Sage turns to Terex.
Would you mind if I spent some time in your Portable Hole Library? For research purposes only.
Rollo (assuming consent) is not seen in hours.....
Of course! Libraries are supposed to be shared!
Terex makes sure to introduce Rollo to Terecho, as he's calling his copy, before returning back to the outside world.
We're not going to hold you here against your will, he informs the former prisoners. This shouldn't take us much longer, and then I'm sure we can get you all back to your homes.
To make her interface work Gift had wired herself into the system.
"I need to reconfigure myself for this to work"
After bandaging his blood-letting, Arlo quietly watches GIFT with concern as she makes alterations to herself once more.
So, with the requite materials, blood and other thing and summoning the ancestral "mass mind" behind the various blood samples, a spell is woven with the genius of Rollo. Then, the machine of Froust, Migual and Xonos is put into action, engaging in a vast "batching processes", repeating the spell on the thousands of souls trapped outside the seal-avatar. Such a feat would normally take years but the magical machinery accomplishes it in hours - though the party and the scientists have to work feverishly making micro-adjustment to the process as the aether shifts subtly.
So... at the end of the process, nearly all of the souls are freed, propelled toward the Bone Yard and then to their fate.
But a few remain, maybe 30. These are those not reachable directly through the mass mind. And even these, the machinery tells you where to find those with a matching heritage - relatives in the Unit 3 and another nearby city whose blood could free them as well.
So, finally, with the process nearly done, Terex performs a finesse, temporarily disables the counter-seal and completes the ritual, leaving the remain 30 souls in a bit of limbo. The Wall is sealed. But the 30 need to also be freed for the seal to be permanent.
So this is the situation. The Wall is sealed, for now. But there are loose ends. You have three effective prisoners and ten charges. And you need to figure out a way up to the surface through the hole/chimney you came down with all of them. Minna could use her ropes again but this many people will be hard. Enough teleports might do it but you might up with the party split for a day or more while the teleporters recharge.
Gift staggers a bit as the last of the souls or ether let free or placed in a holding pattern in the system she was linked to. Her mind passes over the groups. She is not the same, how could she be, she had made herself into a psionic amplifier and focus with which to filter souls out of the mass of trapped life energy. It;s not her drone that is talking but Gift herself. Linking into your mind and sending her thoughts to you. Words came with images and designs. this was a much deeper link that you may have had with Hexqill. This was personal. More like Terex's way of communicating. And there is a push there like she is touching more mind itself. But it's not just one way, you can feel Gifts and her mind felt old and a little sad.
::"There are about 30 souls left, I have them in a psionic virtual world I have constructed. But that will not last, as they may start to degrade. There is an option, I can transpose them into a gestalt AI, but they would never have an afterlife. They would be locked in that form. The other option is the one the dark trades use, containment in soul crystals."::
She starts to pull the link cables to herself. Detaching herself from the device. She no longer hovers above the floor or zips around the room with teleports. She just walks over to her father.
"Its done"
There is no more childish catsuit or filly games. She is a woman who has sifted throw lifetimes. Lived each soul's life, cried with them, laughed, and begged with them. Held lovers and Children, mourned the passing of loved ones. All and every life she set free passes on through her. How could this not have changed her?
"It was horrible dad"
And she hugs him, from love and hope, tears running down her face as she did.
Blue watches Gift and Arlo. He wants to go to her, to comfort her. But he can tell she’s changed. There'll be time later. She needs her dad now. He turns away silently, and goes to see if anyone needs help with something that’ll take his mind off of Gift for a while.
GIFT's father can not begin to understand what has befallen his daughter; Arlo only knows she's in pain.
The dwarf carefully cradles the still-twitching android body down on the floor gently. Arlo slowly rocks both himself and GIFT in his arms. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here. It's okay..", Arlo whispers near GIFT's ear. "Daddy has ya."
Terexaltherin radiates wordless sympathy to Gift, with a sense that he knows what it's like, that he got a glimpse of what she saw when he also brushed up against the tortured souls with his mind.
After a few moments, he turns his attention to the group. You know, the easiest way to get everyone out might just be to get everyone in my library, and then just have me fly back up to the top and let everyone out.
GIFT's father can not begin to understand what has befallen his daughter; Arlo only knows she's in pain.
The dwarf carefully cradles the still-twitching android body down on the floor gently. Arlo slowly rocks both himself and GIFT in his arms. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here. It's okay..", Arlo whispers near GIFT's ear. "Daddy has ya."
She just hugs him back tighter.
So, after any further preparations and a final search of this complex (for information's sake), that finds nothing very notable (a few ancient runes and lots of old bird bones in corners), the party follows Terex' suggestion and everyone but the flyers crowd into Terex' library. The place has slightly eerie quality but is comfortable enough for a bit.
Thinking about the machines, the scientists, the story of Xonos' birth and how the group found this plane, it seems as if some powerful, amoral force operated to bring about this situation. This bears further investigation and probably should be reported to the organization ASAP.
So the trip to the surface is quick, a twenty minute flight.
At the surface, Gift immediately gets a flood of transmissions from her drones - The Wall indeed appears sealed, Othalio the Wanderer is wondering whether you have any further need of its services or whether it should attempt to leave the plane (or perhaps you could help it) and multiple Guardians send duplicate messages about the wall as well, filling memory...
And also at the top of the hole, there's a delegation of five Guardian parrots as well, who cry excitedly as soon as Terex appears and similarly once the others appear. They immediately congratulate the group on a job well done and provide with small crystals of appreciation (they are assuming The Wall is entirely sealed, btw). They mention, however, that they believe that Fendarion villagers are attempting to make contact or have made contact with the followers of the "Narsod the Prophet" - they've followed Fendarion drones headed to the far East where this "Prophet" operates.
Gift tells the others the Comms chatter!