On the comms, Zephyr says quietly, ”Two Jinsuls inside—they appear to be working on long cylindrical shapes.”
When they drop out of the Drift, Locket peers through a nearby viewport, checking out the surrounding spacescape. Watching in silence, the base grows in scale as the ship continues its approach.
"Here we go," he mutters as the tractor beam's purple glow envelops them.
Turning away from the viewport, he walks over to his belongings and, sitting cross-legged on the floor, begins unfastening his rectangular case. Flipping open the lid, he extracts the pieces of his rifle one at a time and begins assembling them.
In short order, he stands, slinging a well-worn and slightly dinged sniper rifle over his shoulder. Collecting the rest of his gear, he joins his companions, ready for final instructions from Historia-7 and Radaszam, and moves into position to disembark the vessel.
"I see 'em, too," he whispers, confirming Zephyr's observations.
Unfurling his kusari-fundo, the pahtra readies for their next move.
Harlan stays mostly to the rear of the group, fiddling with his pocketwatch in anticipation of needing to use it on one of the wandering robots as the group makes its way deeper into the starbase. When the group reaches the doors he doesn't see much, but he nods to Zephyr and Locket and whispers back "No way but through, yeah? We take out the jinsuls and do our, er, due diligence on those cylinders. Give 'em a good inspectin'."
"Everyone ready?" asks Zephyr, whispering in the comms. "Let's strike hard and fast before they can raise an alarm. Keep alert for other enemies in the line of sight who may try to escape and also raise the alarm."
Checking the door for ease of opening, Zephyr waits for the others to signal their readiness. He then starts a silent countdown from 5, then opens the door on zero and prepares to shoot his shot!
His hands at waist height, open palms facing up, Locket inhales deeply as he slowly raises his hands in front of chest, elbows out to each side. Rotating his wrists, palms now down, he slowly exhales as he returns them to waist level. Repeating the upward movement and inhalation, this time on the exhalation he instead pushes his plams outward and away from his chest, the index fingers and thumbs of each hand meeting to form a triangle.
Locket nods to Zephyr, ready for action.
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Zephyr opens the door and the jinsuls are completely caught by surprise. They don't even have time to drop a tool before the party is on the attack.
Surprise Round: Initiative
Locket: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22
Harlan: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Zephyr: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Team J : 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Faelyn: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
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Launching into the air, Zephyr pilots his hover suit over and behind the blue Jinsul, his powered armor fists poised to pummel the creature.
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Harlan smirks as the jinsuls react with sluggishness. That won't do them any good against this team. He snaps his pocketwatch open and shut and sends a pair of force bolts at the blue jinsul in the surprise round. He expects this'll be quick, unless they're hiding reinforcements right around the corner.
Dashing through the doors, Locket sets his kusari-fundo spinning in a blur of crackling energy. Following in Zephyr's wake, he copies the android's approach, veering to the right at the last moment to stand before the red jinsul.
Zephyr begins pummeling the blue Jinsul, hoping to beat him senseless before he can raise the alarm!
Locket joins Zephyr, pressing the attack on the blue jinsul. His kusari-fundo arcs out toward their opponent before swinging back and, with a practiced flick of the wrist, returns for another strike on the next orbit.
Harlan doesn't let up, continuing to pummel blue from afar. "Reminds me 'a the last time we fought these things. Scrabblin' around in slow motion. HA!"
With Locket distracting the remaining foe (coordinated shot), Zephyr decides to used ranged weapons instead of closing to melee. The artillery laser on his right shoulder orients on the red Jinsul and unleashes a pair of deadly laser beams!
Harlan swaggers forth, then casually flicks a pair of additional force bolts at the remaining jinsul. Unless this one has some special tricks up its proverbial sleeve, it seems the team has this in the bag.
Locket grunts as the jinsul strikes him from behind. Catching his kusari-fundo on its return orbit, he redirects it into an under-over pattern, first from one side of his body and back again.
The pahtra sends the weighted end zipping out towards the junsul in another double attack.
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Faelyn steps quickly around Locket. "One down." Standing close to the dead jinsul, he calmly lines up his shot and fires. Air turns visibly frigid in a line of expanding frost, straight to the jinsul who squirms with obvious pain. "One to go."
...
The jinsul takes out its pain and frustration with a number of quick slashes at the neasrest target, Locket. The pahtra takes another deep cut, and only his quick reflexes save him another.
... P; critical bleed 2d4)
... P; critical bleed 2d4)
I shall be gleefully surprised if you don't end this fight right now.
Zephyr continues to fire, trying to quickly take down the foe!
Harlan inspects what the Jinsul were working on, hoping to glean some useful Intel before the group proceeds.
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Packets of UPBs lie scattered about the four work benches.
Harlan quickly divines that the cylindrical devices are torpedoes. He needs a little more time to decipher the alien design.
There is a computer station in the room also.
But you also need a DC 23 Physical Science or Culture check to decipher the coordinates of the target planet using the star chart provided in the briefing:
The jinsul are planning to attack an uncharted solar system far out in the Vast.
The door to the east is unlocked and connects to an arterial hallway throughout this section of the station.
Gathering up the UPB’s for later use by the team, Zephyr looks at the torpedos, thinking his background might be of use in deciphering their capability.
Relating his findings, Zephyr says into the comms, ”Control, it looks like they are working on some kind of stealth tech for their torpedoes.” Walking over to the ‘empty’ workbench, Zephyr reaches out his hand slowly to see if he touches an invisible torpedo.
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Historia replies, "Very good. Record what you can quickly, and keep moving."
"Sounds like they're making good progress and we might learn something, Radaszam"[/b]
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"I'd prefer they keep moving. Every minute we're here the risk of detection increases."
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"We're not even half done preparing the explosives. There's still plenty of time."
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While Zephyr confirms the situation with the invisible torpedo, Harlan checks the computer.
Harlan logs the mission data stored in the computer system and whistles "Wonder what got 'em so bent out 'bout this world out in the Vast. Quite the tidy attack bein' sent out there."
Satisfied that's about everything to be gleaned, he heads for the next door, but allows the others to lead the way through.
”Right, let’s move on,” says Zephyr, heading up to the next door.
Locket looks around at the crew, nodding with satisfaction. "A good start," he murmurs. "Nice work, everyone."
He checks over the jinsuls while Harlan and Zephyr inspect the cylinders and computer.
Locket scans the area between them and the door for signs of anything unusual.
If the way appears clear, he will nod to the others and approach the door, listening carefully for any sounds from beyond.
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Four mechanical bays line the north and south walls of this
room. Three of the bays contain long metallic cylinders with
exposed access panels. These panels reveal the interiors of
the devices partially filled with a luminescent payload. Various
mechanical tools lie scattered about the room, and sparking
wires hang from the ceiling above each device. A computer
terminal displaying various rotating diagrams sits in the
northeast corner. Automated doors exit to the east and west.
Zephyr did indeed touch an invisible torpedo.
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You finish your examination of the room and regroup to continue on.
[smaller] Softly, over the comms Radaszam says, "It's good to be out on a real mission. My next assignment is running war games for our allies to showcase that the Society is ready to meet any new threat." Historia-7 mentions that he’s well known for running excellent war-game scenarios.
Radaszam dismisses the simulations as "... vidgames. The Forum has saddled me with this when there's a real threat to deal with." He then compliments Historia-7’s drive in joining him on this mission.
You can see that the hallway continues some distance ahead. Doors periodically interrupt the smooth walls. However the set of doors to your right immediately after the torpedo maintenance room are different. They are much sturdier, and apparently locked.
Kusari-fundo coiled in one hand, Locket tests the doors to their right. Finding them locked, he presses an ear to the doorand listens for any sounds beyond.
"Anyone able to open these? Or do we push on?" he asks his companions.
"Locked door? An invitation to blow our way in, if I ever saw one. But since this is a stealthin' mission and all, I can do it quiet too."
Harlan moves over to the locked door. Once Locket confirms it's safe he sees if he can quickly get it open.
Zephyr hears that a keycard is needed, then he moves to search the bodies of the fallen foes for such an item.
Locket sniffs. "Come on. Let's keep moving," he says, nodding to the corridor ahead.
Ears perked and on the alert, the pahtra carefully makes his way forward.
Harlan shrugs, annoyed by the security "One of these oversized bugs'll have it. Then we come back here and nab what they don't want us to access."
He stays to the back and lets Locket trip any traps as the group proceeds.
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There are other doors, access panels, lockers, etc. Doors access work areas or machinery. Although none of the doors look as robustly stout as the first set you encountered, many remain a mystery because they are also locked. It becomes apparent that trying to open them all would probably consume a violently shortened lifetime.
The walls are hard. Occasional echoes of chitinous claws clicking on the deck are your only indication that the place is inhabited.
The VentureCaptains' conversation continues to bleed softly into your comms. Radaszam contemplates skipping an upcoming trip to the Veskarium. He had been planning to volunteer, mentoring juvenile vesk who have lost their way. "And recruiting?" Historia asks lightly. The vesk hisses softly, "Everyone believes I always have an ulterior motive."
Eventually you reach an intersection in the corridor. To your right, a short stub of a hallway leads to a set of double doors. To your left the corridor jogs and continues into the ship's depths.
”This one looks likely to be important,” says Zephyr, heading over to the door.
"Right's never wrong, eh?" Harlan follows after Zephyr, looking out for traps or hazards as he does.
If he doesn't spot anything, he grunts to the others to open the door while he stays back.
Snorting a laugh at Harlan's quip, Locket follows Zephyr's lead toward the set of doors to the right.
He pauses, ears slowly rotating, to listen for any movement on the other side of the doors.
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These doors open easily. Beyond them, is a broad balcony of bare deck plate twenty feet above the dark floor below. Across the room to the west, another balcony supports two computer terminals reside on its the north and south sides. A raised walkway along the northern wall accesses a single computer terminal. In the center of the room a fourth raised circular platform hosts another semicircular terminal.
"This looks like an important cluster of computers. Perhaps we can get some schematics or at least directions to the power source from here?" suggests Zephyr.
Moving cautiously into the room, Locket keeps an eye (and ear) out for any danger in the room.
"Maybe. It's worth checking out," he murmurs in reply to Zephyr.
"Damn weird that it's unmanned and unguarded." Harlan scowls at the terminals. "Cover me while I check them out, yeah?" He looks around first for any trouble.
If there are no hazards, he follows by extending the long, spiderlike legs from the back of his armor that lift him up into the air. He floats across the gap to the center terminal.