Fleeting Truth (Inactive)

Game Master Kirill.Storm

Kait'lax records a bit on their datapad. "This is very interesting, but will not help us defeat Scaranis. I don't think we have mmuch choice but to take a gem from the large statue." Following the drone, Kait'lax heads in that direction.

Compucast nods, taking an interesting node of the repair work on the drift beacons.

"I had heard that beacons were failing..." he notes.
"But I fear you are right, and we must tackle that last statue."

Id takes one last look at the mirrors and tries to make sense of their images.

Mysticism: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (3) + 20 = 23
Perception: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (10) + 23 = 33

I assume you culd take 10. With mirrors dfficulties are low, so I decided to provid you all visions and info once, in the previous post

The informaion recieved is really breaking probably.
So for now you decide to ignore couple more rooms and proceed to the hall with huge statue and a portal in front of it. Probably you clould walk near the walls or ceiling to not be sacked into the portal.

Which room is this last gem/skull in? A8, or that bottom right room with no code?

At slide 5 at the top right is the room with last reamining skull statue, area A11. YOu have not visited to area A5 and A6 yet..

"There are two other rooms that might provide clues as to destroying the lich... perhaps we should look at them before trying for that last gem?" suggests the technomancer.

He peers into the close room (a6), checking it for magical auras.

This chamber were Compucast peers contains a large sunken pool filled to the brim with thick, semi-congealed blood. The pool is surrounded by a stone walkway. A single urn sits near the edge of the pool, empty save for ashen residue. Two flights of stairs exit this chamber, one down to a room filled with urns and the other up to a branching hallway.

The pool of blood is five feet deep and radiates a powerful necromantic aura.

The technomancer looks with disgust at the pool, trying to work out its significance.

mysticism: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

"First time I ever heard of lich's being interested in bodily cleansing. There is likely some darker purpose to this pool, but it eludes me."

Kihgtsa enters the room after Compucast calls out and examines it as well.

Mysticism Aid DC 10: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 24

"It's true that blood is not usually important to liches, but many undead do have a connection. Have you considered..."

Id-Sinitis should be able to aid us up to 30.

Id reads the outer aura of the final gem and assists Compucast.

Automatic assist.

"Well, I vote for not going in there."

Kait'lax and crew move carefully around the pool to the southern room.

Tolar continues to follow.

"Are there traps?"

"I'd suggest not jumping in." notes Compucast.

"Even with your suit. The necromantic energies maybe deadly."

He turns away from the pool and goes to check the last room, again from the door way.

You can open previous spoiler for 30 collective Mysticism.

The team slowly proceed near the grim looking ppol towards last remaining.

The walls of this L-shaped chamber are lined with deep shelves,
each holding row upon row of urns. Each urn is labelled in tight Eoxian script. Two flights of stairs exit this chamber, one down to the entry chamber and one up to a room containing a sunken pool of red-brown fluid.

A character who examines these urns, can read Eoxian, and succeeds at a

All these can have some purpose, is it?

Some of the urns are displayed alongside rings, jewelry, glasses, or other personal possessions taken as trophies from the deceased. Combined, the most valuable of these trophies are worth a total of 15,000 credits.

"I can't read this spider-script. Anyone else?" mutters Compucast as he enters the columbarium.

He looks around to see if any of his team mates have any idea about the chamber.

"Though if these hold the dead, on the way out, we may want to liberate them, just as we do the skeletons in the cage a way back."

Kait'lax does indeed speak Eoxian.

Culture: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (2) + 21 = 23

Not very well, though.

"I've had enough surprises to want to open a jar whose label I can't read," Kait'lax says after staring at them for a while. "If someone else wants to try, be my guest. But I think we need to focus on finding the last gem."

"Agreed. Lets worry about this after that last gem is seen to."

What do we need for that last gem? Another mysticism check?

You leave the crypt-library and head towards the champer with swirling portal.

You have to approach the skull carefully an need to somehow fly or break gravity like Tolar do. Not a big deal for elite Starfinders.
In general this one is similar operation with other statues - approaching is going to be painful.

Tendrils damage, Fort 20 to halve: 12d12 ⇒ (12, 1, 5, 10, 1, 7, 11, 8, 5, 7, 10, 10) = 87

Starfinders soon will break it and continue through the portal.

Still in a bad condition but full of resolve you return to the Scaranis sanctum through the portal.
Soon you install all the gems to the platform mystical console.
When gems are placed into these impressions, the rings around the platform
descend to the ground and the platform opens, revealing a cavity.
Within this cavity is a thick bone tube with capped ends— Scaranis’s electroencephalon.

Destroying the electroencephalon requires a minimum of three different
characters working in tandem. First, a character must grasp the capped ends of the tube and pull them apart.
Grasping a capped end causes a spike to pierce the character’s flesh, dealing 2d6 piercing damage and additional bleed damage per round.

This bleeding can’t be staunched until the character releases the
tube. Pulling the capped ends apart to open the tube requires
a successful DC 29 Athletics check to two characters can work together on this check by grasping alternate ends of the tube; doing so allows both PCs to roll.

And that will be only the first step...

Fortitude Save: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

Unfortunately, the drone does not have manipulator arms, so I don't think it will be able to help (but if so, it will definitely volunteer to be the one "bleeding" with Athletics +16).

Our best Athletics seem to be Tolar at +23 and Jackojare at +12, but since he is not particularly healthy. Kait'lax has +11 and uses of Certainty (+2 to one skill check) and Communalism (roll twice and take better while ally is within 10 feet), so they are probably the best choice for the second person to make the attempt.

Kait'lax removes two mk 1 serums of healing from their pack and lays them on the ground beside them in case they are needed in a hurry. "This looks like it is going to hurt," Kait'lax says, holding one end of the tube toward Tolar. "Shall we?"

Compucast offers to also help in the process if Tolar is not up to it.
Athletics +13. He is a Vesk!
But it would be much better for Tolar, his bonus means he is likely to succeed, where as my bonus... will take some time.

Jackojare wonders if he had to go through the portal as well to continue on, cause if not, he was just standing right there in the main room where he was at until called upon. fort from Jackojare if you need it: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

"Breaking things? That I can do."

Tolar grabs one end. damage: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 3) = 7

And pulls. athletics: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (11) + 23 = 34

3 more rounds of nearly pulling Compucast's arm off later... more damage: 6d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 4, 1, 5, 2) = 18

Actually taking 10 works if allowed.

Id stands at attention, ready to heal anyone who goes down from blood loss.

Tolar's limbs are heavily bleeding all the way he brute force the console with aid from killdroid. Uncovered from thin ice which cracks and the console soflty uncovers.
ID heals up cyrsed TOlar to stop bleeding. Killdroid sparking after damaging operation.

Jackojare feels sick and stands few steps away from others.

Pulling open the capped ends exposes the interior of the electroencephalon, Slide 7 revealing a network of interlocking parts that can be slid, shifted, and rearranged. This mechanical puzzle can be solved with a successful DC 30 Computers or Engineering check. Each attempt to solve the puzzle
requires 1d4 rounds. Sliding the final piece of the puzzle into place requires you to place a finger into a small hole lined with ridges. These ridges draw vitality from the character, draining some life essense 1 RP from whoever places their finger in the hole. You has no Resolve Points, you will face negative energy draining 1 level drain.

Once that is explained out load. "I'll stick my finger in. Haven't been much use otherwise."

"Allow me to take a look at that..."

Engineering: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (18) + 24 = 42
Time: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Kait'lax quickly solves the puzzle and uses their own hand to maneuver all the bits into position.

Still 5 RP after this, so they are in good shape.

When the puzzle is solved, the electroencephalon projects a holographic image of magical runes into the air, which must be placed into the correct configuration.

In general thats a sort of root access to this mystical console. What do you want to do next? Decide what to do with it and then reconfigure it.

Configuring the image projection requires a successful DC 32 Computers or Mysticism check. Each attempt to configure the image
requires 1d4 rounds.

"I think I can solve this one quite easily.." notes Compucast.

"It is a trivial fourth order problem."
If he is aware of the complexity of the problem, he'll T10 on it
computers: 10 + 22 = 32]

COmpucast is aware of complexity ot this system. But also he should know, what he is willing to do.
Erase data? Reconfigure access prtocols? Destroy electroencephalon entirely?

Compucast thinks he can execute proper commmand. But what waht will it be?

Compucast sets the option for self destruct. "Data if valuable. But this scrawny figure has wormed his way out of trouble, even death, in the past. Safest to just make sure he stays dead."

Unless anyone objects. We were sent here to destroy it, right?

"Get rid of it. I have no desire for our undead friend to come back... and come looking for us. Plus, this was our deal with Melchrazor."

You see some pale red runes right in the air which informs about imminent destroy. The electroencephalon crumbles to ash, mystical console quickly decay and melts as if were made of flesh, ensuring Scaranis is permanently destroyed.

His body stops regenerates and become ashes soon as well still being at place like an ashen statue, within this airless chammber.

Portal back to the asteroid corridors starts fading ...

What will you do next?

"It is my professional opinion that we get out of here fast!"

Mysticism: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (14) + 18 = 32 for whether we need to sprint to the exit or have time to grab a few things on the way

Compucast points at the fading portal. "Move!" he says, hurrying toward it himself.

I think we grabbed things the first time through didn't we?

Can't hurt to grab the gems again if we have the time. But not risking it if we only have seconds.

Tolar moves ahead of the party but slow down enough to be there if trouble arises.

Everyone getting out of the Scaranis sanctum. Which becomes his grave now as Starfinders pick everything they can carry out quick including their personalities.

Soon you find youself at even darker and motionless place. Though it seems now pretty safe. Or is it?

You still somewhere at the asteroid, in the corridors of necrovites facility. What will you do?

"Compucast, you have the beacon. Call for evac before anything else nasty shows up."

Once out near the entrance (but not too near, those necroite's had a callus disregard for mortal safety) Compucast holds up the beacon and says "Extraction"

The covert ops shuttle picks up the Starfinders and flies you to destination in Lacustria Hollow. The crew assume you completed your mission and don’t question you.

Lacustria Hollow is a vast, flat expanse of silt, dust, and wreckage. Once you disembarks, finding the forcevault — an immovable opaque globe of force two‑feet square — is fairly straightforward and only requires around an hour of digging.

Soon upon discovering it, you can open the forcevault by inputting the access codes that Guidance provided and retrieve Data Segment Two, which takes the form of a highly secured datapad that requires further decrypting at the Lorespire Complex.

The covert ops shuttle returns you to Orphys, where you quickly ushered back to main ship and off world.

In a few days When the PCs arrive in Absalom Station, Guidance thanks them for their efforts and silence. The artificial intelligence suggests you some rest. She explains that Data Segment Three is located on one of the most dangerous worlds in the system: the mysterious planet of Aucturn — an assignment for another day...

Finally, and I'm alive

"I'm not ashamed to admit that I've never been as worried as I was on that mission," Kait'lax says to their allies as they return to Absalom. "I thought I had built some pretty good defenses, but that was deathtrap after deathtrap! But what's done is done. Good job everyone. A round on me. Kihgtsa knows this place in the diaspora where the dwarves are so..."

A glare from his ally ends the sentence prematurely.

"Ahem. Anyway. Meet us at the docks." Anyone who joins them is treated to the most saccharine mix of music from Strawberry Machine Cake and similar bands, as if they are trying to tune out the entire mission, literally.

Kait'lax spends their time until the next mission making upgrades on their drone, as well as finding an old friend to make upgrades on their own weapon. And just barely get in before I can no longer use Fame to upgrade my nuclear tools.