Dakoyo will guarded step into flank and attack.
Armor Clash round 5 continued
Dakoyo, -28 of 28 SP, inspired boosted already
Armor, 49 damage, get em
Nako, -18 SP, inspired boosted already
Quonx
Gazigaz -11 SP
Vesk, sees her chance to stand up from prone and scampers away while muttering the Veskese version of "I'm gee-tee-eff-oh, baby"
As Dakoyo has been most helpful in dispensing damage to the nanites' mode of transportation and combat, it would seem the microscopic 'bots choose to helpfully reciprocate and it ambulates into a more convenient spot to enact its action.
The armor "helps" Dakoyo become even more purple.
Dakoyo will move to try to provide flank.
Gazigaz and Dakoyo both score hits on the armor and destroy the threat!
The vesk introduces herself as Steelclaw, the proprietor of the armor stall. She expresses her gratitude for the skittermanders' help and explains the Hellknight armor was a custom commission that the Hellknight cancelled on and she hoped the festival would be a good place to sell her wares but miscalculated the tenor of Reetamander and spent the night talking with uninterested locals. All in all, she mutters sourly that her trip to Vesk-3 has been a waste of time.
All around Central Common, much of the panic has subsided as the nanite-controlled decorations have been destroyed or run low on power.
However, the festival-goers are still nervous and on edge from the expected attack.
Yeah I would like to take a 10-min rest.
Event 3: Victory Speech
As soon as they have caught their breath, an unfamiliar voice comes booming across the Common’s sound systems, laughing sinisterly in a quite arrogant tone. The heroes can easily pinpoint the source of this speech as coming from the large floral statue near the Common’s largest fountain.
Abruptly, the sinister laughter over the Common’s sound system ends.
My fellow skittermanders, I can only hope you heed-heed this wake-up call. Terror descends upon Reetamander as we gather peacefully to ring in the Great Rebirthing. And where is your desire to help-help now? Why do you only save yourselves from this bedlam? Could it be—could it be your entire worldview, your so-called community-mindedness, is-is a lie?!
The voice pauses to clear their throat.
Look around you now and I am certain you see it too. You can’t deny that each skittermander is out only to help-help themselves. Cast off your aspersions, my friends! Admit your true ways—or suffer the consequences!
Just as the voice’s monologue begins to fade, the festivalgoers’ murmurs of confusion turn to shouts of terror.
A bomb! screams one skittermander, pointing toward the skittermander statue near the fountain.
There’s a bomb on the statue’s hand!
Several fountains are dotted around Central Common, each decorated with sculptures of a different type of aquatic creature found in the Vermilion Sea. This scene takes place near the Comananner Fountain, named after a massive aquatic predator found in the deepest waters. For Reetamander, a tall floral arrangement of a skittermander with outstretched arms has been situated near the fountain; the sculpture is meant to be a personification of the Great Mother and is a reverent addition to the Central Common for the festival.
A skittermander with bright orange fur styled in an intimindating manner stands on the edge of the fountain holding a wireless microphone. He is wearing an eye patch that he occasionally lifts to look out of and black make-up smeared under his other eye.
A beeping metal cylinder 3 feet long and 6 inches wide with wires sprouting from both ends and other electronic components welded to the side sits in the raised hand of the flower sculpture 15 feet off the ground. There is enough room on the floral hand for a Small creature to stand next to the device.
Ah-ha! Step no closer or I arm my device, you interloping jelly brains who have been fooled by the collective desire to help! IT'S. A. SHAM.
"But if we don't stop you, doesn't that mean we are helping you? I thought you don't want us to help people. Make up your mind!" Gazigaz shouts back in return.
Oh-ho-ho-ho, YOU think that I think that YOU think that I think YOU want help provided by not providing help that provides help by not helping and that doesn't help!
The pontificating and posturing skittermander straightens his eyepatch that he made crooked when he last lifted it to peer out and then holds up a handheld device with a large button that his thumb hovers over.
Your inane logic will not stop me! The collective desire to help is the inane logic! Who was there to help save MY younger brother when he helped others but was not helped back? WHO was there to help him? No one at all! Helping is a lie! A lie and a false facade, I say-say! My explosive ordinance will surely drive THAT point through the facade! The truth will be known!
”Oh no! How sad! What was your brother’s name? Did he blow himself up too? It is very dangerous to help when explosives are involved.”
Gazigaz's words appear to have a slight effect on the malcontent skittermander. He pauses briefly, then steps down from the fountain to consider those assembled more carefully.
It... I... but, but...
NO! Skittermanders and our so-called willingness to always help are to blame for my brother's death. He took that space-walk to help others and lost his life but where were those others at and why-why did none of THEM help him? The truth-truth is our society is a LIE!
"Hmm...", Nako scratches her noggin, "Would help if I had the whole story but could it be possible that your brother had any enemies in his life? Anyone that would like to do him harm? It could be possible that your brother got himself mixed up in the wrong crowd and was taken out in the process. After all, we are a society of folks that like to help others whether that involves helping an old fuzz ball cross the street, helping your weak buddy move because you are strongest friend, helping improve your own ego and even helping do the wrong thing or do another harm. Maybe your brother was a target and a mechanic helped fix the problem, aka your brother. If he has any resemblance of you I can understand why he's dead now. It may be a poor way to look at it but whether for the right or wrong reasons, someone is helping, whether it's another or themselves."
Nako thinks a moment longer. "Even now, you try to help your brother by making his death mean something, by making others suffer as he did, and thus helping yourself with the grievance of the loss of your brother. You may not wish to think so but you can't deny the truth!"
Nako wobbles for a moment... "Ugh... my head hurts... to much logical nonsense... does anyone have a pain killer to help my headache?"
No! Torastorfen's only enemy was the falsehood of helping! He is... was a extraordinary engineer. He lost-lost his life on a spacewalk to fix a faulty drive plate, the ship's engine would have flooded the interior with deadly cadmium II killing everyone on board in an explosive crash. He helped. But who helped Torastorfen? Why didn't someone help him? I blame those on board and all skittermanders for his death! Helping is a lie and, hee hee, my explosive ordinance will make this known!
"Well it sounds to me like Torastorfen was a bonafide hero! We shouldn't be avenging him, we should be honoring him! I betcha that the holovids would love a story like that! Why Torastorfen, the selfless engineer that saved an entire ship, ...and Zerastorfen, the brother that would go to any lengths to make sure his brother's sacrifice wasn't in vain... that sounds like space-oscar contender to me, if I ever heard one! What are you waiting for? You gotta find yourself a producer!"
The anarchist skittermander pauses at Gazigaz's imploring. He trembles slightly and reaches up to lift his eyepatch so he can wipe away the tears that begin forming. His shoulders slump in defeat.
Can what I believe have been the lie all along? What does it mean-mean? What will I do-do now?
He looks wistfully at the crew of Nakonechkin Salvage.
Maybe...? Maybe I could...
No.
No, I must carry on. I can't back away now-now, I've come too far. Our species MUST be freed from this burden! So says Zerastorfen! I have to, I have to!
I'm sorry.
Click
Seeing the wistful look, "Oh, yeah, you could totally join us! We're always looking for another crew member! We get to do all kinds of fun stuff on the job. And you'll have plenty of time to work on the screenplay for your brother's movie. Doesn't that sound like more fun that blowing yourself to bits?"
Tears flow freely from Zerostorfen's eyes and he slumps to the ground.
Alright, I surrender. I was wrong-wrong, so wrong-wrong. But I can't stop the countdown! I put a fail safe backup that cant be reversed when the button is pressed! The detonation will happen in 2 minutes! I'm so sorry, I was such a fool!
Zerastrofen curls up in a ball on the ground.
The wired metal cylinder emits its electronic sound.
beep
beep
beep
Nako spots the ladder.
Round 1 of 20, go!
If Nako would call out about the ladder Dakoyo will use a move and a standard to move to the statue and also then use his once a day extra move action to move again.
Gazigaz will scurry over to the statue while encouraging Nako, "You're the fastest and the strongest helper I've ever met. Quick! Run and grab that ladder and rush it over here. We need to get Quonx up there to disarm that bomb."
Quonx tries to scale up the flower statue but some loosely placed begonias foil her grip and she does not get off the ground.
Nako moves speedily to the ladder.
Begin round 2 of 20
Nako hurrys over to the ladder across the room with a rightious furry with flames practically emitting from her heals! She stops on a dime to pick up the ladder, then yells to her compatriots, "I'm commin' and Hell's commin' with me!"
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Gaz assesses the situation. He reaches into his pack and pulls out 6 brightly colored pom-poms, gives Dakoyo a nod and begins.
Dakoyo will put his weapons away and then start clapping. Go Nako! Go Quonx! YOU CAN DO IT!
Round 3 of 20
Zerostorfen continues staying curled up in a ball on the ground, alternating sucking on each of his six thumbs and sobbing.
Dakoyo will go over to him and try to console him.
Nako will hurry over to the statue with the ladder.
Gaz will remember his safety training course, and help spot at the bottom of the ladder.
Quonx's survey of the timer and priming system indicates she needs to successfully disable both or the device will explode. If she doesn't get it right, it may go off early!
Quonx takes a deep breath but severs the wrong connection of the second trigger system. She recovers instantly and skillfully takes out the final connection!
After Quonx's deft fingers and specialized engineer tools navigated the detonation system devised by either a sheer genius or an utter madman and bypassed the command codes and priming configurations, she cracks open the expulsion chamber and finds not volatile explosive chemicals but tightly packed slips of recycled paper that would have been hurled across the entire festival area. The mini flyers have versions of the same rhetoric Zerostorfen espoused earlier, such as, "Helping is a LIE", "Selfish-manders must admit the truth", and "You help them, but why they no help you?" Additionally, the papers also list an infosphere site address for an article titled, "Skittermanders: A Truly Selfish Species by Zerostorfen" and details a list of other places that will soon see "demonstrations of the true skittermander species" across the planet.
The Vesk-3 authorities soon arrive to take Zerostorfen into custody in addition to two water elemental minions that were hiding in the fountain and they surrender saying they will gladly testify against Zerostorfen in exchange for clemency. The water elementals are remanded into jars with lockable lids while Zerostorfen has specialty "multi-cuffs" placed on him. He pleads admission to his crimes of destruction and begs to be punished immediately. The skittermander authorities nod in approval and bring forth specialty equipment in the form of colorful, over-sized inflatable hammers that half of them use to strike the self-confessed terrorist while the other half administers hugs and encouraging words.
Now that the festival is saved, the salvage crew is hailed for their heroic acts for stopping Zerostorfen. Dozens and dozens of furry hands pat Nako, Dakoyo, Quonx, and Gazigaz on the back and they are escorted back to the best position in Central Common to witness the remainder of the eclipse. Songs and feasting abound and the crew of Nakonechkin Salvage are given five-star hotel accommodations within the city to later sleep off the night's excitement!
End of Chapter 1, onto Part 2: Hunters Hunted
Eons ago, a rogue asteroid crashed into Vesk-3’s surface,altering its geography and ecosystem forever. Many skittermanders believe the planet was inhabited beforehand by an ancient civilization they call
the Forerunners, and while no members of this ancient civilization survived the extinction levelevent, their DNA survived in the skittermander species. Unfortunately, other terrible creatures also evolved from the Forerunners, and retreated into the cavern systems formed by the asteroid’s impact. These beings are known as stridermanders, and they are the subject of tall tales and horror stories told by the light of the stars.
Today, stridermander sightings are few and far between, but in areas of
extremely high tectonic activity, passages to those creatures’ home—the
underground realm called Gadraveech—yawn open, allowing the predators to the surface. The more martial-minded members of the Veskarium take great pleasure in eradicating stridermanders who dare to attack the civilized areas of the planet, and some even delve into Gadraveech to hunt the creatures on their own turf. Hunting lodges have sprung up
across Vesk-3 to offer such expeditions at a reasonable fee.
This day, a group of employees of Nakonechkin Salvage—the
skittermanders Dakoyo, Gazigaz, Nako, and Quonx—have arrived in Ewagadravona, a Vesk-3 settlement near a permanent entrance to Gadraveech, with their boss, who excited to go on one of the hunting parties that descend into the underground realm.
The team are in Ewagadravona at the behest of their boss, the vesk Nakonechkin, who wants to participate in one of these hunting parties hosted by Gadraveech Tours. He claims this is an opportunity for his employees to learn how to work together better, but he clearly is eager to participate in some bloodshed. He has booked an expedition with a local hunting lodge, and brings his employees there with many exhortations of “This’ll be fun!”
CHAPTER 2: HUNTERS HUNTED- WELCOME TO EWAGADRAVONA!
The high walls and gun turrets surrounding the fortified
city of Ewagadravona give it a sense of both safety
and claustrophobia. The buildings within resemble vesk
architecture more than skittermander, with sharp angles and
concessions to practicality. At street level, the structure’s
windows are protected by steel shutters that can come
crashing down at a moment’s notice. Despite the dour
designs, the people here seem as friendly as those in any
other major settlement on Vesk-3.
Skittermanders make up more than half the populace of Ewagadravona, followed by vesk and pahtras in that order. The latter are drawn to the city because of its proximity to a large cave that leads down into Gadraveech. The cave was uncovered several decades ago, and the local government hasn’t seen fit to blast it closed, citing the revenue it brings as a tourist attraction. However, most of that capital gets funneled into the city’s protection, as occasionally, throngs of deadly creatures emerge from the cave, seeking blood. Such a large-scale attack hasn’t occurred in years, and many are beginning to believe the constant hunting parties that descend into Gadraveech have made a considerable dent in the monstrous population.
The headquarters for Gadraveech Tours—a commercial hunting lodge—are located in Ewagadravona on the third floor of a five-story building shared by several companies. When the salvagers and Nakonechkin step off the elevator, they are greeted by a worried-looking ebony-furred skittermander receptionist who first asks if they have an appointment today and then immediately tells them that all the day’s expeditions have been canceled.
"Cancelled? Why would they be cancelled?" [audible gasp of excitement] "Has there been trouble? We can help! We can help!"
NOOOO it can't be cancelled! Boss wanted to have fun. Can we help?
The office skittermander, whose name tag says "Biconiamaca", looks at the group.
I'm soooo sorry, sweetie, but we just lost communication with our last outing, a group of these super nice pahtras led by our company’s most experienced vesk guide, Syvatsolex, she's amazingly buff, and the company is too preoccupied with mounting a rescue mission. We're really short-staffed around the Reetamander holiday season.
But you'd really like to help us, hun? I can scrape up a lil' cash reward from the petty box and also refund your boss's non-refundable deposit if you could maybe make contact and help get our clients and employee back safe and sound? What do you say, sweetie-pies?