|
Yarameh can tell that these aren’t just normal elementals as they appear to be. Of course, they obviously share some traits of those planar beings such as being immune to bleed, critical hits, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning. She knows they can’t be flanked, and that their rocky structure makes kinetic weapons less effective . But what’s weird is that they also seem to be haunted somehow. Almost as if they were tainted by or created by something undead. She witnesses Byakurai’s attack, and agrees that anything that would affect undead would likely affect them, too. Oh, and they’re not very good at resisting mental affects .
Her shot hits the Red one burning a nice hole in its side and causing some of the minerals to pop and smoke as they fuse. But it certainly doesn’t deter it as it rushes forward to return the favor to the half-drow.
The injured Red elemental rings Yarameh’s bell with a solid hit to the head.
Green moves deeper into the cavern chasing after Stiehle.
Stiehle takes a rock-studded fist to the gut, but at least it wasn’t as brutal as what Yarameh took.
One other thing you all notice is that as they move, they pass right through any stone outcroppings in the walls, almost as if they were gliding through the earth.
Conditions: Dark, spooky, underground, yada yada
Everyone may act!
Fight’s On! map
Yarameh
Stiehle
Byakurai
Green
Red
Aravon
Iris
Ceolor
|
Hoping to stop it from cornering one of their allies, Byakurai launches another sunbolt at the green target to try and prevent it from harming Stiehle, then advances to protect the group's flank (and start lining up to shoot at red later).
vs. EAC
(Deadly Aim + Photon)
(Weapon Crystal 1)
Critical:
(Deadly Aim + Photon)
(Weapon Crystal 1)
|
Ceolor gives a few blinks as he finally looks up from the portable floating typing device he'd had his head buried in since day 5 of being on the ship. He realizes that the unusual and loud noises were actually coming from a fight and not just some background noise. He takes a second or 5 to perk back up, but quickly gives a snap causing a small ball of the ink black of deep space to appear and then immediately form into a perfect replica of a 280's azimuth lazer pistol, if one could be made from the depths of space.
A small blaze starts behind his eyes as he holds up one hand, forming a small dagger of darkness. It flies from his grip is if magnetized and lodges into a weak point of the elemental's armor.
Bringing his rifle up to take a shot, Ceolor aims for his dagger, hoping to hit something vital.
The laser fires what could only be described as the thinest thread of light that binds to the dagger before seeming to leech the heat from the elemental, a small area of frost growing on the thing.
|
|
Aravon flinches seeing the massive blow that Yarameh recieved.
"Leave her alone you pile of rocks!" Aravon hits the foe with his fist, targeting his entropic energy into corrosive explosion
At the same time, Smiley bites the foe. His mandibles
"Stiehle!? Are you all right there?" yells Aravon worried.
|
"Ooof!" The operative tries to dodge the blow, but isn't nearly quick enough. "Yeeeaahhh...?" He squeaks in response to Aravon, trying to get his breath back even as he dives forward in a roll, trying to confound the senses of this enemy who is far too close for his comfort. Getting behind the thing and then the vesk, Stiehle turns again and takes another shot at the thing.
vs DC20 + Target's CR
vs Target's KAC
+ (if applicable)
If enemy is hit, Debilitating Trick makes Green creature flatfooted until beginning of my next turn.
|
|
Byakurai’s attack again does extra damage from the fires of Saranrae but not from how accurate it was .
Iris starts casting, and Aravon disintegrates some of the elemental’s rocky form. Stiehle again fails to hide from Green, and though his shot hits, the bullet dislodges only a small chunk of glassy green mineral .
Conditions: Dark, spooky, underground, yada yada
Yarameh may act!
Fight’s On! map
Yarameh
Stiehle
Byakurai
Green
Red
Aravon
Iris
Ceolor
|
|
- Easy. Like a puppy. Go to mommy.
Yarameh takes aim and shoots directly at the strange elemental, then turns her head to her comrades and begins to tell about the enemy. It seems that turning away was a bad idea. When she returns back to aiming, the creature is already too close and raises its fist.
- Oh, s%%*...
After the pain and the ringing in front of her eyes have passed, she hears Aravon's furious cry.
- How sweet. I think all the problems are from the fact that I didn't turn on my favorite music.
As half-drow steps away, she reaches for the tablet on her sleeve, and heavy metal starts playing from the speaker on her shoulder.
Spitting blood, Yarameh says ”now let's burn their asses" and simultaneously with this words the roar of heavy metal, she shoots. The flash is incredibly bright, like special effects at a rock concert.
- Yeah! That's better!
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yarameh gets her revenge with a well placed shot as the sounds of heavy metal fill the caverns. Echoes reverberate in the natural space amplifying the heavy bass and screaming riffs even more. She might even notice the Rock elemental begin to nod its head to the Rock beat.
Green chases Stiehle but realizes that Byakurai is kind of on the way. And they’re the one that’s hurt it the most.
It's arm just catches the Borai in the leg leaving a relatively minor wound.
Red sees Aravon and doesn’t like that the vanguard actually disintegrated parts of it.
But fails to hit, not realizing that it was swinging with the very part Aravon had just dissolved!
Conditions: Dark, spooky, underground, yada yada
Everyone may act!
Fight’s On! map
Yarameh
Stiehle
Byakurai
Green
Red
Aravon
Iris
Ceolor
|
|
Stiehle curses as his pistol seems to have little effect on the thing. Using Byakurai as a sort of shield, the operative finds himself getting into the familiar rhythm of the heavy metal roaring from Yarameh's speakers and he shouts to be heard. "Now we're talking! Let's tear these things apart!"
Discarding the pistol he's holding, Stiehle draws his membrane holdout pistol and takes aim as he spins around the bulky form of the vesk to try and take his foe by surprise.
vs DC20 + Target's CR
vs Target's EAC
+ (if applicable)
If enemy is hit, Debilitating Trick makes Green creature flatfooted until beginning of my next turn.
|
Iris finishes up her spell as the small fire elemental appears on the other side of one of the elemental with red gems.
The creature immediatly tries to burn its closest foe.
Thinking her bullets would have little effect, Iris concentrates to shoot a small jolt of electricity. She also grab her biggest battery.
|
|
Wincing at being struck, Byakurai narrows their eyes, forcing calm. Reaching optimum attunement , they align their shield against the green-hued enemy while quietly warning their fellow Starfinders over comms, "...Incoming."
(AC 23 vs Green)
Letting their red eyes flutter, Byakurai's fingers splay wide as the white chains bounding their forearm shatter like glass, flying out in a Distant Burst behind the emerald foe where they crash together with such force that they explode into a white-hot Supernova!
(10 ft. radius centered on green's far corner, marked on map)
DC 16 Reflex Save for half damage
Following this explosion, the light of their mote flickers weakly back to life, but unattuned once more.
|
|
Aravon is surprised to not feel any hit when the elemental wanted to attack him. Aravon seems to grow in entropy himsel. Aravon takes a swing of his own, smashing the elemental with his shield. He uses some of the accumulated entropy into the strike.
"Why don't you go and join those other piles of rock here!"
[ooc]Using 1 EP to strengthen my attack and attack[ooc]
|
|
Ceolor, noticing that fire doesn't seem to be a problem for hitting these things gives a snap and causes the burning energy building around his eyes to trace down his arms and across his weapon outlining it in a sheathed of flames, he raises the rifle and fires another shot at the green gemed elemental assuming it's still standing.
This time the weapon actually fires a blast not unlike a laser rifle.
|
|
Aravon’s shield takes the Rockin’ elemental full in the face, dissolving parts of its nose and what might have been eye sockets. It still has its mouth, though, and it is unclear if the howl it emits is one of pain, or if it’s trying to sing along with the ongoing heavy metal music.
Iris’s summoned elemental doesn’t have any luck with both attacks just barely missing, and Iris’ own energy ray goes wide in the chaos of the battle.
Ceolor fires a plasma flare at Green hitting it in just the right spot for the perfect effect. Its mineral body falls apart, a small cloud of dust rising up from the pile of now inanimate stones.
Yarameh joins her voice through her shout projector to the chorus as it rises, but the Red Rocker dances out of the way swinging its shoulders in time to the bass.
With Green down, Stiehle switches targets hoping for a better result. Alas, though he does finally manage to hide, he fails to hit his new opponent.
Holy Supernova, Byakurai! They set off a flare of blazing white-hot holiness right behind the last elemental. Although it also engulfs Iris’ summoned ally, the heat-death of the now melted slag pile causes it to return to the Plane of Fire anyway. You might have even heard it growling along with the music as it vanished.
As Yarameh’s music continues to fill the caverns, everything stops moving. Except for two things. Like a special effect at the end of a concert, you each notice a pair of visible lights snaking through the air and into the wall before dissipating.
Searching the camp site for clues about what the heck is going on, you discover that Jadnura left a backpack full of supplies behind in his excitement over finding the Tear. The forgotten gear pack contains two mk 2 serums of healing, some smart cable (50 ft.), an advanced medkit, two beacons, a grappler, a laser drill, a portable gangway, and a survival straw.
|
|
Stiehle glares at his pistols as though betrayed, then holsters them. "Those things were awfully spry for being dead. Wonder if they're the spirits of the folks that used to inhabit this place. We still haven't seen signs of the settlement we located from orbit. We can take a rest here and catch our breath before going on. Those things packed a hell of a punch, I tell ya. There may also be someone lurking ahead just waiting to ambush us, if we read those tracks correctly."
|
|
After the fighting stops, Byakurai remains unattuned, meditating for a minute on distant singularities in order to feel their influence once more (sidereal influence: graviton). They cloxe their eyes and subvocalize prayers to the Firescale after Yarameh's revelation in agreement with Iris's sentiment.
|
|
Ceolor takes a moment to watch the spirits as they go.
"They might not be a threat right now, but there's a possibility that they could come back. Also there may be more ahead. We should probably proceed with caution."
He starts to dig around as everyone else seems to be focusing on other things. Popping up with the bag of supplies, Ceolor comments, [b]"Well, our former, or current(?), First Seeker certainly was a prepared Starfinder. This is a good stash of supplies to completely forget about.
Depending on what everyone else is doing, Ceolor either takes a good vantage point in the marching order, or sits and focuses his energy for a moment, gathering extra weight and air around his form. After a minute, the 5 foot space he's in has a significantly higher air pressure, muffling the sounds he makes as he moves.
|
|
Yarameh sits down to review the battle scenes captured on the camera built into her armor.
- Well, well. That's not bad... Still need to buy a drone to shoot from different sides. But this moment was quite bearable. I can cut it quickly and put it in a tik-star-tok... Oh. Damn this necessary social media...
So she mutters to herself, putting heavy music of her own performance on a short video of 15 seconds with a scene of a well-aimed shot at an elemental.
|
|
Stiehle has nothing to add, but checks out Yarameh's video when she's finished. The choreography and music accompaniment is impressive.
When the others are ready to move out, Stiehle stays near the back of the formation, his semi-auto at the ready as he keeps an eye out for the mysterious stranger that is somewhere ahead of them. He is also interested in finding signs of the settlement their instruments spotted from the spaceship.
|
|
After a short rest, you gather your newfound gear and make your way deeper into the cave complex still following the tracks of the recent unknown visitor.
The small carved chamber features an alcove in the southern wall with a stone altar . The top of the altar is carved to hold a massive gemstone or other angular object. Cracks spiderweb across the walls and ceiling. The footprints of a booted humanoid clearly mark a path from the eastern entrance to the southern wall and altar, then back again to the northwestern wall, where a large crack in the stone leads to another unseen chamber beyond.
Examining the crack in the northwestern wall, you can tell that it is large enough for a small creature to move through unimpeded. A normal humanoid-sized creature would be able to squeeze through. Aravon can tell with a glance that it’s going to be pretty tight and tricky for Smiley to get through safely.
|
|
Ceolor looks to take a near frontal position, inured to last mission where he was the toughest person in the group, before he realizes that nearly everyone else here can take a hit better than him, and falters for a second. "If you want I can try scouting out the space before everyone else comes through, or we could all move in in force, in which case, I'll stay towards the back."
|
|
Intrigued, Stiehle takes a close look at the altar as well as the fissure through which they must follow their quarry.
vs DC 19 = Failure!
vs DC 24 = Success!
As Aravon starts to move through with Smiley, the operative raises one hand to stop him for a moment, then whispers intently to everyone. "Look. See these small fissures radiating outward and into the ceilng? This rock is very unstable. No sudden movements, no loud noises or the whole thing comes down around our heads."
|
|
Stiehle and Yarameh quickly deduce the danger that the gelogical conditions present. Loud noises would certainly be bad…..
As Yarameh begins to walk away, she hears a soft bass thumping coming from her armor’s speakers. A long slow slashing riff joins it, still very quietly. She realizes that she didn’t command her music to start playing, even as she recognizes the song as one of her own recent compositions, The Beauty of Your Hard-Vacuum Death. She turns back to Ceolor and is terrified to discover that her song is also playing from his electronics. Then she hears it coming from up ahead, rising in volume across all three systems.
Stiehle doesn’t recognize the song that spontaneously began in his freebooter armor systems, though he quickly realizes the danger that the increasing sound will soon cause. All three Starfinders are powerless to stop the music as it builds and builds to Yarameh’s climatic vocal solo about watching a lover die in an airlock. They can’t even shout to each other over the combined rumbling of Rock and rocks, but they all know one thing. They must get out of the area as the cavern ceiling begins to collapse!
As soon as the cave in stops, so too does the music. In the eerie silence that follows, Iris spots something
|
|
Aravon looks with terror on the ceiling
"Why are you playing the music right now!"
He turns around and whistles to Smiley who with big issues turns begins to squeeze through the space Aravon runs just behind it.
"Go, go, go!"
Aravon sees how hard it is for Smiley to run through the corridor so he begins to push his mount to go faster.
As half-orc pushes, Smiley one of the big pieces of debris hits him in the shoulder. "Fast Smiley!" Yasakaja begins to push with all his strength through the tight space and gets to safety.
But Aravon is covered with rubble, and it takes 10 seconds for him to get out bruised and limping.
Smiley begins to run and Aravon runs just behind him. He looks at the falling ceiling.
"Whos bright idea was that to play that music!"
|
|
"It's not my fault!" Stiehle growls at Aravon. Repeatedly stabbing the volume control in a futile attempt to stop the music when his voice command fails to do anything, Stiehle curses the day that virus infected his computer and makes for safety in a mad dash...
Once he arrives safely (albeit a little shaky), he peers at the item pointed out by Iris. "Maybe they left it there purposefully? As a sign? Does anybody know anything about what this symbol represents?"
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Unable to stop this madness, Yarameh decides to lead it and rushes forward, loudly singing along to the song. 'Your throat turns blue and sweeeellss / Goodbye my beloved, go to the Abyyyysss...'
Jumping out from under the rubble, she begins to laugh. 'Hahah! And I'm not the only one here with fun bonuses with Apostae. Ha! By the way, once I uploaded a wonderful album of my friends from this group to the izalguun's supercomputer. In order to introduce their AI to our culture... Well, that's another story. So, what's here?'
|
|
There are no traps on the runplates that Iris found, and Aravon immediately recognizes the symbol from one of his recent missions. Kardical is a Lawful Neutral god of collections, order, and preservation whose center of worship was the Scoured Stars system. The jinsuls once worshiped Kadrical and his heralds including Dhurus.
Clambering back across the rubble, you again find the passage that the footprints led you to earlier. It appears to have widened slightly and beyond it you see a long rocky passage that leads deeper into the moon. With no other clues, you proceed onwards and downwards, the trek taking over two Absalom-standard hours in absolute silence and stillness, the trip being fairly easy, even for Smiley.
Your journey ends abruptly at a smooth stone wall. Carved glowing glyphs adorn the wall and generate a high-pitched hum, but no obvious exits lead away from the passage.
As you approach the wall, a humanoid form of glowing gossamer floats out from the wall in front of you. Its very presence radiates calmness and a sense of peace. It placidly gestures to you and speaks in a language that sounds like pebbles flowing down an incline, full of guttural clicks, pops, and occasional soft sighs. After speaking it looks at you calmly, clearly waiting for you to respond.
|
|
Ceolor moves forward and gives a small bow before shifting through the multitude of languages he knows, starting with "Hello, can you understand me? I don't know that language, please repeat what you jsut said again." in Izalguun, and then shifting through Common, Akitonian, Ysoki, Shobhad, Kasathan, Goblin, Ghibrani, Infernal, Vesk, Triaxian, Shirren, Skittermander, Elven, and Draconic. He also pulls up his data pad and shifts through the written forms of each an an attempt to see if the thing can communicate.
|
|
Iris calmly tells the creature she is casting a spell to understand it, before casting comprehend language. “I should be able to understand it, but they will not. That should help trying to communicate a bit.”
To Sthiele, she will reply “This is not a Jinsul, I encountered them during the mission in the Scoured Star.”
Barin, who everyone had forgot about as he was following the group, also tries to communicate. He points out “If no one recognize this creature, this might be a first contact”.
|
|
Yarameh immediately identifies the iridescent entity as an undead spirit. She’s not familiar with the species it represents, nor is anyone else. Iris is likely correct, this could very well be a First Contact situation!
In addition, Yarameh is able to tell that it is clearly incorporeal and based on how it is shying away from your flashlights, it likely has some vulnerability to fire. It’s also not very tough physically
The spirit watches calmly as Iris casts her spell, stares perplexed at the image of the Tear, and listens as Ceolor runs through all the languages he knows. It seems to realize that Ceolor is trying to communicate and replies,
”I do not understand you. Let me bond with you, and all will become clear.”
As the only one that can understand the ghost, Iris translates for her fellows, but is of course able to act on the information first before speaking, should she wish.
Now that Iris can read the language that they are written in, and with some help from Stiehle and Ceolor to make sense of the cultural meaning behind the words, you realize that together they are both a welcome and a warning that reads something along the lines of:
“To outsiders who visit our land:
Welcome and be greeted.
Know our homes and discussions can be
Somewhat heated.
But do not bring religion to our door,
It is not permitted.
Those who push their beliefs on us
Will not be acquitted.”
It holds out one long-fingered hand and looks longingly at Ceolor and Iris.
|
|
Iris tells what the spirit is asking, that it wants to bond. “It could be a way to gain control of one of us for a nefarious purpose. It seems similar to what we have seen the elemental do.”
Iris starts looking into her mysticism library chip to find hints that the possession would not be permanent, hoping the undead is patient and has time to wait for the team to come to a conclusion.
If she does not find anything that would make her think she should not try to bond, she will tell the party, “I am willing to take the risk, but be wary of what could happen.” Then she goes in front of the creature and makes signs to it, trying to point inside her.
|
|
Stiehle shrugs as he helps to finish translating. "I'm not one for religiosity anyway. Maybe we ought to uh... hide any references to religion for the time being?"
When Iris lays out her thoughts, the operative frowns slightly. "Bond with you? Like take over your body? I suppose if that's the only way to interact with them. A First Contact situation is too interesting to pass up. We'll keep a sharp eye out."