Zephyr takes a defensive position inside the room, then closes the door behind them so anyone passing by in the main hallway will not immediately see them as intruders.
|
Harlan instantly sees that the computer system interface is shutdown. It doesn't take him long to discover a sequence of commands that begins to activate the computer station, but the system quickly shuts down again. He suspects that system activation requires identical input from all four consoles simultaneously.
Zephyr gets on one of the consoles and readies to copy Harlan’s keystrokes simultaneously.
Nodding, Locket leaps across to one of the other platforms and attempts to follow Harlan's directions.
Harlan stays in the center one, ready to coordinate "Imagine if they sent a three man team, would be a right pain ta get this goin'"
With a flap of his wings, Nym takes to the air and glides effortlessly over to the final console.
He waits, ready to activiate the console and carry out the sequence of steps as per Harlan's instructions.
"You know, I've been called a hack plenty of times before, but this is the first time it's actually been true!" he quips.
|
|
The party flies to the various platforms and coordinates starting the system. Clicks and mechanical hisses sound. Then the entire chamber fills with a hologram; tiny motes of white light form globular clusters and a huge spiral pinwheel ribboned with dark shadows. Tiny dark purple lights are scattered through the white.
You barely have time to recognize the hologram before two crab-like creatures swarm over your platform railings. They move like graceful, less jumpy jinsuls, but the metallic sheen of their carapace and the mechanical noises indicate they are constructs.
Locket feels a painful vibration churning his back and spins to see one between Faelyn and himself.
Harlan gets a glimpse of another but doesn't quite have time to duck before a sonic pulse strikes him.
... (So)
... (So)
"It's a holographic map of the galaxy!" Locket murmurs, the white and purple lights reflecting in his large eyes.
"Why the precaution in accessing it?" he wonders. "What secrets does it hold?"
"Is there any more information on the system?" he asks, turning to Harlan.
"I'd say they like the light show." Harlan swaggers to the side "How 'bout we give 'em one to remember." He pummels the red mini-jinsul with a barrage of magic missiles.
Distracted by the luminous galaxy map, Locket is caught unaware by the mechanical foe's attack. Grunting from the pain of the blast, he turns to locate the source.
Striding toward the mechanical crab, he drops the weighted end of his kusari-fundo amd sends it spinning in a whirling orbit.
Drawing within striking range of the creature, he attempts to entangle the construct's legs.
|
|
Harlan reflexively showers his opponent with force bolts.
Locket tries to trip the bot nearest him, but the platform railing fouls his cast.
Crablike in form, the constructs are some kind of defense bot. You've felt their low frequency sonic disruptors. They also have pincer that look potentially painful.
Constructs are immune to the following effects, unless the effect specifies that it works against constructs.
Bleed, death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, and stun.
Ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, exhaustion, fatigue, negative levels, and nonlethal damage.
Any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect works on objects or is harmless).
Zephyr turns and sees the red crab attacking! He orients his artillery laser on the creature and sends out a pair of powerful laser bolts at it!
Harlan comments "Jus' yer standard guard bot. Watch the little crab claws, otherwise tear 'em to bits."
|
|
Zephyr's first bolt is well wide of the mark. His second although much closer the mark, is blocked by the computer console.
Faelyn turns around to find the battle already fully engaged. He looks over the situation, then advises everyone to concentrate on the crab-bot attacking Locket. He emphasizes his advice with a well-placed shot.
...
Locket's foe dodges under the spinning kusari-fundo and snaps at his leg with its pincers. They scissor in and out, leaving painful marks even through the pahtra's armor.
The one on Harlan's platform scurries around the console to do the same to the dwarf, but the technomancers proves too elusive for it to grab him.
... (P, critical -- biobot injection)
... (P, critical -- biobot injection)
With his heavy artillery laser’s range, the green construct crab is well within firing distance. Zephyr reorients on it and sends out another pair of laser shots!
Locket mutters a curse when the railing spoils his attempted attack. In the instant it takes to recover his technique, the pahtra leaves an opening that the bot exploits.
Grimacing in pain from the pincer's hold on his leg, he maneuvers free from the bot's grasp and attempts to kick it. Hard. Twice.
Annoyed by the persistent guard bot, Harlan hefts himself up into the air and backs off. He floats over to behind Locket. He figures he didn't see any wings on the bots, meaning it'll have to the take the very long way around.
|
|
Locket misses. The crab-bot closes and tries to take advantage with a series of attacks that are as successful as the pahtra's.
Harlan tries to use his perceived mobility advantage. He jets to a position behind Locket. It works. Deprived of its target, the crab-bot reorients on Zephyr. Its legs blur with a rapid series of scuttling steps before it leaps the gap to Zephyr's platform and swarms down the catwalk toward the android.
Faelyn fires again at Locket's foe.
... (P, critical -- biobot injection)
... (P, critical -- biobot injection)
...
Now in an unmolested position, Harlan's comfortably able to barrage the red bot with another trio of missiles. "Persistent little bugger."
Frustrated with his carelessly timed kicks, Locket focuses on his form as he kicks twice at the bot again.
With the red crab bot in his face, Zephyr repositions and slams his powered armor hover suit fists at the creature.
|
|
Locket's first kick is to low, but the follow through knocks the last leg on its right out from under it. The bot falls on to it's right edge and Locket whirls into a round hoiuse that ends with his heel in the bot's CPU.
Faelyn wastes no time on congratulations. He dashes past both Locket and Harlan and levels his pistol at the far crab-bot.
...
The last crab-bot snaps repeatedly at Zephyr without closing the deal.
... (P, critical -- biobot injection)
... (P, critical -- biobot injection) [/sp
Harlan persists with another barrage at Red. "Easy enough. Let's wrap this up."
Having dispatched the nearest bot, Locket turns his attention to the far side of the room, where Zephyr and the other bot are facing off.
The pahtra sets his kusari-fundo into motion, in slow arcs initially that soon build to a whistling blur before igniting to trace a fiery orbit. Reaching into the flaming disc with his other hand, he hooks the chain, swiftly redirecting the weapon's path and bringing to an abrupt halt, a glowing weighted end grasped tightly in each fist.
Bringing his hands first together, he jerks them apart, flaming lengths of chain criss-crossing between them. He pivots to the side and, raising an arm behind him, whips it forward to send a fiery bolt of energy crackling toward the bot.
|
|
Harlan's missiles damage the bot, but Locket's plasma shorts and melts and totally fries the machine. Shuddering sparking and smoking, it collapses on the deck.
The party returns to their stations to investigate its function. From the holograms appearance you might have guessed it was a map or navigational aid, but it is considerably more than that. Through a black box combination of magic and technology, the hologram displays the realtime positions of the entire jinsul fleet.
Harlan considers what the holograms are showing and smirks "Maybe we can't take this with us, and no tellin' how they'll move things in the future, but this sure as hell tells us what they got right now. Radaszam's gonna like this." He sees if he can make a "snapshot" copy to a device, but if not he just takes a dozen photos to see if he can capture counts if not exact positions. He figures someone with real smarts about tactics'll be able to glean an edge out of it.
"As much as I'd like to sit here and have their security come to us an get blown to pieces, let's keep movin'"
"Does anyone have enough skill to implant a virus into this system? One that perhaps will activate whenever the computer is started and send the Jinsul fleet data through some encrypted data relays to our intel operatives?" asks Zephyr, "That might be worth a try."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Harlan cracks his knuckles and then sets to getting a clean capture of the data. He first casts fluid morphism on himself to improve his chances at the tricky-looking data scavenging.
But it's to no avail.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's a galaxy worth of data, but the jinsul system is efficient. Harlan soon has the jinsul ship locations recorded.
Historia and Radaszam continue their conversation while you trudge on. "Radaszam, I need a third hand. Hold this while I make this connection. -- Good."
.
"So how is it going with you, Historia?"
.
She pauses before answering. "Things are all right. Sometimes even good. I've been spending time with Zivigix. He quite supportive, even fun to be around. I'm even getting used to Strawberry Machine Cake."
.
Radaszam hisses. "There's an open channel to the agents. You might think carefully about sharing information about personal relationships."
.
"They seem mature enough to hold what I say in confidence, besides, it's not as if I'll be describing biological impossibilities."
Over comms to the leaders he grunts "Hope yer lookin' forward to a big pile 'a dirt on our new friends." He finds whatever Historia is going through to be simultaneously out of his zone of interest and probably not a good idea to pick at, so he keeps his mouth shut. Listening to some pop music to feel better seems like a worthless strategy, especially when there's some perfectly nice Jinsuls to destroy if you need to vent. He shrugs, then turns to join the others as the group continues deeper into the complex.
"Take the right?" Harlan suggests, relatively indifferent.
Zephyr listens to both doors. Unless he hears something intriguing, he agrees with the door to the right.
”There are sounds of sludge and motion through the door to the right. Shall we investigate?” asks Zephyr.
"Noises, eh? Let's smash whatever it is first then." Harlan stabs a pudgy finger in the direction of the single door. "Lead the way."
Harlan shrugs "Other side says 'danger' anyway."
”Unless it says, Danger—Power Core, I’ll agree with you,” replies Zephyr.
"Just 'Danger'. Maybe they left it open to space, or filled with deadly radiation. We'll likely find out soon enough."
"One's as good as the other," Locket says with a shrug.
He stares blankly at the placard, unable to read the label. His ears twitch as Zephyr relays his findings.
"It's wise to not leave a potential enemy behind us. And there's no need to rush in blindly. Let's try and get a peek at what's inside and make a plan."
Crossing carefully to the door, Locket attempts to quietly crack the door and look inside.