"More like wantonly destructive, not any targeted maliciousness. And yes, you are free to do what you need to do."
Booker stands. "Let's get going then."
Stocked up and ready to go, the party heads out into the untamed wilds.
The weather is awful. Thankfully the environmental controls are enough to keep you comfortable, it's slow going on the two mile trek.
The technomagically enhanced severe weather conditions make teleportation extremely dangerous here... you really wouldn't want to try.
(Darkvision 60')
(Darkvision 60')
(Darkvision 60')
--->
Halfway there, Booker spies a chasm, which you nearly walk into. It's only 10' across, so it's easily traversed. On the other side you can see the beginnings of the valley to which you're headed.
Booker sniffs the air and throws a glance at the clouds.
"Are we almost there yet?"
Hack-It punches a few commands into his wrist console. Hum responds, transforming as it floats behind its controller as it attaches into jetpack shape. "Short gap, but if we're going across I think I'll fly."
If it's possible, Janzi is paying less attention than usual, making sure Monro and the vidcams catch every bit of the scenery.
Booker leads the party into the valley from the foothills to the south. It's a sprawling construction site, populated with cabins. The village’s predominant architectural style is a quaint alpine design with a modern twist. A-frame log structures are augmented with walls constructed of metal and glass, and silver solar panels adorn the roofs.
The impression of a sleepy village of modern log cabins is spoiled by the blizzard raging through the valley. The buildings surround a towering, blue-needled coniferous tree bristling with long, silver pinecones at the center of an otherwise empty promenade. Metal sculptures of cavorting squoxes stand beneath the tree’s snow-laden boughs, and a nearby plaque bears the Common text, “Snowdrop Village, Est. 320 ag.”
A group of holographic elves with pale skin and flowing white hair gather around the tree and sing through the storm in faint voices. The simplistic but catchy carol about wintery wonders echoes ceaselessly throughout the village square, mercifully drowned out by the intermittent howling of the wind.
As their merry song repeats, you notice incongruous phrases in the lyrics, such as “protect the nexus” and “victory over the kishalee.”
You spot a loggerbot—like the ones seen outside the command center chalet—wandering around the incomplete cabins to the west, apparently malfunctioning. This robot looks like a female dwarf with twin blonde braids whose chassis resembles a red-and-green checkered flannel outfit. The robot hacks at the side of a building with its axe, abruptly stops, and walks into a wall for a few seconds before finally correcting itself and wandering behind a nearby cabin.
Booker hunches down in the snow, looking for tracks. The blizzard makes the search difficult, but not necessarily futile.
He also sets up his broad-spectrum scanning kit for a search sweep of the area.
"Huh, interesting lyric choices. You catch that, Gig? 'Protect the nexus' and 'victory over the kishalee' are not very merry phrases."
Janzi is snapped from his distractions by the hologram tune. Wait, "protect the nexus?" And then "victory over the Kishalee"? Not exactly stirring visions of a warm fire in a hearth.
A bit later, the lashunta points out a loggerbot that seems to be malfunctioning. Hey, Gig, you're our computer whiz. See if you can do something with that thing, before it chops down all the chalets.
Booker glances up from the scanning kit to over where Janzi is pointing. "Dunk, you go with Gig, yeah? Don't want that thing chopping our musician in half."
He turns back to the scanner. "Hack-It, think you can dig out how those lyrics got signaled into the song? Pretty good sign of sivv involvement here, I'd think. See if y'can shut that racket off while you're at it..."
"There's a malfunctioning robot, and you want me to turn off the caroling? That's your plan? Unbelievable," Hack-It mutters loud enough for people to hear. "Good luck with that, Gig. Hope you a whizbang engineer."
He then flies off towards the holograms, looking to find the source of the projection.
As the party moves to begin their investigation the storm whips into a furor that feels otherworldly. Two pockets of wind in particular begin to coalesce into something... purposeful!
Round 1:
[b]Booker: Go
Hack-it: Go
Gig: Go
Dunklezahn: Go[b]
Hostiles: TBD
Janzi: TBD
"Janzi!" Booker calls, reaching for his artillery laser. "What am I lookin' at?"
Not waiting for a reply, he fires off a laser blast.
CRITICAL stupid elementals
Booker blasts a sizeable hole in the living wind, but it presses on, the wind howling in rage.
Round 1:
Booker: Hit
Hack-it: Go
Gig: Go
Dunklezahn: Go
Hostiles: TBD
Janzi: TBD
White: 34
”Computers and keyboards are one thing, but attacking robots is quite another.” Gig looks to see if he can find a disable switch on the threat.
Routinely bad hair, Janzi replies, before it occurs to him that...
Oh! You meant those! Well...
Janzi knows these to be elder Air Elementals.
Hack-It pulls out his pistol from his magic gloves, and he and Hum fire on the same target.
"Dunk! Maybe keep this one busy? Or that one? Kasathan ballsacks, this is what I get for listening to you lot," Hack-It curses from his vulnerable position, taking several steps back.
Janzi knows that elementals of this size don't have any specific special defenses, but are immune to most things which require a discernable anatomy. Something this big can also turn into a whirlwind and suck up a creature and toss them anywhere. Elementals are not known for their willpower, as their fundamental nature leaves them obeying their whims and instincts.
Hack-it and Hum both score hits on the living whirlwind! The sound pulses rip through and make miniature swirls which never rejoin the main creature.
Round 1:
Booker: Hit
Hack-it: Hit
Gig: Go
Dunklezahn: Go
Hostiles: TBD
Janzi: TBD
White: 73
Dunklezahn closes with the elemental, which tries to batter him on the way in for
He gives it right back, burning away enough of the elemental that it can't keep it together!
Round 1:
Booker: Hit
Hack-it: Hit
Gig: Go
Dunklezahn: Kill
Hostiles: TBD
Janzi: TBD
White: 151
Gig moves back to a safe distance and casts magic missile at the air elemental
Gig's missiles careen into the remaining storm. They swirl within until they strike center and then flash as they hit.
The elemental flashes forward, flying by Dunklezahn and striking him before he even knows what's happening.
MISS
Round 1:
Booker: Hit
Hack-it: Hit
Gig: MM
Dunklezahn: Kill
Hostiles: ATK
Janzi: Go
Round 2:
Booker: Go
Hack-it: Go
Gig: Go
Dunklezahn: Go
Hostiles: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Elemental: 13
Janzi takes a pot shot of his own at the remaining elemental.
He then moves over behind Hack-It. Got to get close enough to Dunk to make sure I can heal him, if needed, he says, which almost sounds reasonable enough to ignore putting others between he and the foe.
Booker opens up on the swirling elemental, two heavy blasts lancing up into the living maelstrom.
Janzi and Booker each score a hit on the elemental as it hovers over the fight!
Round 2:
Booker: Hit
Hack-it: Go
Gig: Go
Dunklezahn: Go
Hostiles: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Elemental: 58
"I've battled a dry ice elementals on the stage before, but never anything this size. Down, you vile creature!"
Gig moves his hands summoning forth his arcane powers and releases three magic missiles directly upon the elemental.
Gig continues to send missiles into the thing, which keeps sucking them up. Thankfully the wind seems a little weaker each time.
Round 2:
Booker: Hit
Hack-it: Go
Gig: MM
Dunklezahn: Go
Hostiles: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Elemental: 72
But Dunklezahn keeps it in place with his epic skill and presence! This elemental too is nearly destroyed after the spear burns.
He follows it up with a wicked flurry of destruction. The whirlwind quickly disperses.
Janzi takes a moment to cast a spell and speaks in everyone's mind. I thought this would be better than trying to shout above the howling winds here. I promise, you do not broadcast anything you do not want to by using this channel. By the way, good show, Dunk!
Booker changes out the battery on his weapon and stows it. "Let's get back to it. Hack-It, since you seem keen, go with Dunk to see about fixin' that bot. Gig, I want you to dig out the signal embedded in those lyrics. An' hurry up, before the storm blows us another pair."
Booker kneels down by his scanning kit for another reading.
Gig investigates the source of the lyrics to see how they got there.
”I think keyboard solos are far superior to politically motivated lyrics. If you really want the right ambiance, you have to keep politics out of it.”
Hack-It will head over to the bot and try and figure out what's what.
The party splits up to look around.
It looks like most of these cabins aren't completed. Dunklezahn and Hack-it get up close and personal with the loggerbot, but it doesn't seem to even acknowledge their presence. It keeps hacking at the same spot on a cabin wall. Hack-it sees neither an issue with the motivator or the power converter. He thinks it just needs a reboot from its central command - which should be in the village somewhere.
Booker doesn't find anything either, though he can confirm most of the cabins are empty. Gig can't figure out what went wrong with the holograph programming either.
There's a building drawing a fair bit of power (the only one here) and some kind of stairwell.
Booker regroups the Starfinders outside the the one building drawing power. "Looks like there's three doors, so we'll hit 'em all at once. Dunk, you an' Gig take the south entrance. Janzi an' Hack-It, the west. I'll circle round to the north. Don't forget to check for traps."
After getting a nod from each, Booker slinks around to the north, and carefully eyes the doorway for traps.
He retrieves his artillery laser, takes a deep breath, and telepathically messages: "Go! Go! Go!"
"Hi Dunk. Do you want to go first? I've got your back."
Gig creeps behind his partner with his hands raised, ready to cast a spell the moment he needs to.
"Can you hear how quiet I am?"
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"Hi Janzi. Go first."
Hack-It holds out his pistol, and Hum swivels its rifle attachment. Both wait for Janzi to move.
With weapons ready.
Behind Janzi.
The party surrounds the only completely finished cabin in Snowdrop Village. A cedar double door decorated with a festive wreath faces Snowdrop Village’s promenade to the west. Rear doors open onto two spacious wooden decks to the north and south.
Detecting nothing, the party enters. Inside the cabin, plush faux-fur rugs cover the lacquered wooden floor, and a stone fireplace adorns the building’s southern wall. The cabin’s décor features a warm color palette and kitschy decorations meant to emulate a lived-in, rustic atmosphere. The state-of-the-art kitchenette in the northern part of the cabin features marble countertops and stainless-steel kitchen appliances.
Booker sets up his scanning kit again, leaving the more technical aspects to the ysoki.
Hack-It does his part, his eye on all things mechanical.
Sure. Janzi goes first, mostly to avoid looking at Hack-It anymore. He sends this thought through the telepathic bond, along with the follow-up hope that he didn't send that thought through the telepathic bond.
Inside, he takes a look at the stone fireplace.