Vutrul goes to the beast and attacks with his dokso
The vesk vanquishes the vexing, villainous varmint verily.
Hagitha moves to where she can swing at the remaining beast.
FLASHES OF DISCOVERY-Combat Round One Cont'd!
Twila-5
Roddy
Beast (red) -12
Vutrul
Hagitha
Being (blue)
Rin -4 SP
George-23
Hagitha moves into the room and prepares to strike any foe that approaches.
"" As the words are shouted in a harsh, heavily accented form of common, they are punctuated by flickering and pulsing lights emanating from the blue creature's form. "I have learned the Sky Minders' speech and come to master the features of their outpost!"
"You may have driven away the Sky Mother, but her offspring will be mine!" declares the being, which you surmise must the Exile, 3pulsesthen2.
"You, reptile, may have slain the summoned beasts, but your tactics are brutish and simple. You must be dim-witted and weak-willed. You will be the first to fall!" The Exile focuses his thoughts on Vutrul.
"Flee!" demands his voice as lights burst forth from his skin, before he moves towards a door to the southwestern part of the room.
FLASHES OF DISCOVERY-Combat Round One Cont'd/Combat Round Two Begins!
Rin -4 SP
George-23
Twila-5
Roddy
Vutrul
Hagitha
Being (blue)
Rin and Twila-5 each tag the Exile with a shot.
FLASHES OF DISCOVERY-Combat Round One Cont'd/Combat Round Two Cont'd!
George-23
Twila-5
Roddy
Vutrul
Hagitha
The Exile (blue) -9 HP
Rin -4 SP
The vesk follows the Exile's command and flees the room!
Then, Hagitha's well-placed shot drops the Exile.
The room grows quiet, save for the the chirps and beeps of the room's computer systems.
FLASHES OF DISCOVERY-Combat Round Two Cont'd/Combat Round Three Begins!
Rin -4 SP
George-23
Twila-5
Roddy
Vutrul
Hagitha
The Exile (blue) -15 HP
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Roddy watches Vutrul flee and frowns. "Maybe somebody should go after him, make sure he's okay." He doesn't volunteer himself; in this clunky old armor, he moves about as fast as an assembly ooze. Instead, he moves to the body of the Exile and kneels beside them, looking over their lifeless form. "Still feels... wrong," he mutters. He can't explain it, but for some reason the spot between his shoulder blades itches with tension. Maybe it was his statement that he'd "mastered the features of the outpost."
He grunts as he stands back up and looks around, the strange entropic energy still drifting around his hands in quick, darting wisps. "Stay sharp. This guy was able to activate this station's defenses. There could be more trouble around."
"He said he knew these systems well. Let's see what he did with them." Twila-5 strides to the console recently vacated by the Exile and begins to take stock of the situation.
Twila-5 gains access to the command-center computer and deduces that she can retrieve information on what happened to the outpost and several interesting finds that the colonists discovered about nearby systems.
He grunts as he stands back up and looks around, the strange entropic energy still drifting around his hands in quick, darting wisps. "Stay sharp. This guy was able to activate this station's defenses. There could be more trouble around."
Roddy does not spy any immediate trouble or source of hostility.
FLASHES OF DISCOVERY-Combat Round Two Cont'd/Combat Round Three Cont'd!
Rin -4 SP
George-23
Twila-5
Roddy
Vutrul
Hagitha
The Exile (blue) -15 HP
Twila-5 determines that she able to activate the cameras placed throughout the "temple".
Map of entire outpost now revealed.
The android does not identify the presence of any other beings within the structure.
Holstering his sidearm, Rin leans against the wall and pulls out a protein bar. ”Its certainly been a full afternoon here.”. Wandering over to by Roddy, Rin looks at the door and tries to determine if it’s unlocked or coded.
Rin spies no lock or code barring the door, but he does see movement from below.
Suddenly, the room flickers and sparks as the form on the floor speaks.
cries out the Exile, his words accompanied and punctuated by flashes of light and explosions within the room.
"It was , who dared enter these ruins when my own village had turned against me. It was , who utilized the technology to summon the watch beasts from the First World! It was [/b], who learned how to harness the Sky Mother and to turn her young into a living armada!"[/b] howls the Exile.
"Then, you somehow trekked through the elemental storm, dared enter this sacred space, defeated the watch beasts, and now threaten to destroy my designs to take to the stars, to conquer other worlds?!"
"For such hubris, you must !" The Exile screams as his anger and hate rises up within him. Their intensity grows so quickly that it threatens to overload his own brain.
But, instead, through sheer force of will, the Exile casts his vile hatred towards the woman that brought him to the ground!
FLASHES OF DISCOVERY-Combat Round Three Cont'd/Combat Round Four Begins!
Rin -4 SP
George-23
Twila-5
Roddy
Vutrul
Hagitha
The Exile (blue) -15 HP | -3 RP
Roddy brings the Exile down for a final time.
It is not long before Twila-5 is able to access the whole of the outpost's computers. Using the information obtained, the Starfinders are able to construct the following rough timeline of events.
The introduction of Drift engines by the machine deity, Triune, led to an explosion in interstellar exploration and colonization. Numerous small, upstart companies were created within the Pact Worlds to take advantage of this sudden boom in colonization. One such upstart, Amiable, Inc., marked this planet for colonization, cataloguing it as Colony-894, after its intersystem probes revealed the planet to be a lush world full of life. Unlike other, more profit-motivated corporations known to make quick planet grabs in an effort to possess and exploit new resources, Amiable, Inc., though small in size, strove to act in an environmentally-conscience manner. The corporation reached out to the Xenowardens before setting about constructing its initial outpost on the planet. The Xenowardens, in turn, expressed interest in the life on the planet and agreed to partially fund the expedition in addition to providing monitoring of its ecological impact on the newly discovered world.
Once the outpost was established, the Xenowardens began taking account of the rare and spectacular creatures that dwelled on and around the planet, including a Besmaran whelp. It was not long before the Xenowardens realized that the forest near which the outpost was established included a sort of “thin space”, where the First World connected with the Material Plane and that the fertility of the First World flowed through the connection into the planet, often with unpredictable results.
Exploration into this connection perturbed some of the local fey that dwelled in the First World. Consummate tricksters, the fey used illusions and shape-shifting to cause discontent and strife among the colonists.
The fey’s efforts, conducting largely in secret without the colonists knowledge, led to distrust, infighting, and internal strife among the colonists. Soon, the joint venture ended. Amible, Inc., unable to make a quick enough return on their investment, withdrew from the venture and soon thereafter went bankrupt. Many of the Xenowardens departed as well, though a few remained behind with hopes of both continuing the exploration of the world and protecting its resources from outsiders.
Yet, the divisions and distrust among the Xenowardens, driven further by the fey’s actions, eventually turned violent. The remaining colonists were wiped out by internal strife along with many of their experiments, but not before one of colonists, distrustful of her colleagues, sought out the locals and entrusted them with the care of the eggs of the mother Besmaran whelp.
For centuries, the outpost remained abandoned until curiosity drove the Exile, 3pulsesthen2, to explore the ruins. His knowledge limited, the exile experimented and guessed at how much of what he found in the outpost worked. One of his earliest efforts in summoning creatures from the First World, resulted in his binding some sort of living storm to the site. Although the elemental-like being was too large and powerful for him to either return or contain, its presence nevertheless urged him to continue his efforts.
Eventually, learning much of the Common tongue of the Pact Worlds, he was able to get some of the equipment working, summoning creatures from the First World as security and servants. Using the summoned creatures and those few loyal to him within the village, 3pulsesthen2 had clear designs to steal the eggs of the Besmaran whelp that are current in the care of the village. Having uncovered references to the Xenowardens' own use of living starships, 3pulsesthen2 planned to create an armada of his own.
With the threat of the Exile ended and the summoned security creatures abated, the Starfinders are free to explore the remainder of the facility with the help of the map accessed by Twila-5.
Locations now indicated on Map
Officer's Quarter
This tight room contains little beyond an imposing plastic desk and an nearby chair. A single exit door leads to the northeast. This room was once the private quarters for the commanding officer of the Xenowardens. The addition of luminescent moss and fungi indicates that 3pulsesthen2 had claimed the room as his personal lair. Inside, you discover a variety items the exile has stolen or hoarded over the years, not only operations manuals and translation equipment, but also a seed bank, containing seeds for many rare and unusual herbs and plants valued for medicinal and industrial purposes that 3pulsesthen2 undoubtedly hoped would allow him to colonize and control other worlds.
Medical Center
A medical bed stands in the center of the room. A plastic shelving unit that curves around the southern wall of the circular chamber contains an assortment of vials and random tools. The only exit is a door to the southwest.
This room served as the medical center for the colonists. Although it is in some disrepair, it is still functional and can be used as an
immovable medical lab. The exile has clearly used most of the supplies over the years, but some valuable medical equipment remains. The shelving unit in this chamber contains four mk 1 serums of healing, two basic medkits, and four medpatches.
[dice=Engineering (DC 16) to open a locked cabinet near the bottom shelf]
This cabinet contains an advanced medkit, a spell gem of remove condition, and a spell gem of lesser restoration.[/spoiler]
Barracks
This was the sleeping quarters of the former colonists. Now rarely used by the exile, the room is mostly empty except for some bunk-bed units and remnants of personal items from the original residents.
Security Center
Panels of electronics wrap around this thirty-foot-wide circular room. The steady hum of energized computers gently drones, while lights rhythmically flash on and off. Monitor screens display live images of various rooms throughout the outpost. Door exit to the west and north.
Displays feed the video from the outpost’s cameras into this room. The controls are an older form of hybrid technology and magical defenses; the hybridization was intended to allow easier access to the chamber for colonists that were proficient in one or the other. The terminals in this chamber have the command authorization to summon and program the magical First World beasts that had served as security forces.
Hydroponics Bay
Here, rows of greenery line the southern and northern spaces of this fifty-foot-wide circular chamber. Curved plastic walls lead up to a transparent ceiling, partially obscured by chunks of random debris atop it but still clear enough to admit sunlight. Doors exit the area to the north and east.
The Exile used this area to maintain an ongoing supply of food. The fruits and vegetables grown here provided nourishment for the former colonists using the skillful techniques provided by the Xenowardens, and the exile had clearly taken to consuming them on a regular basis.
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Roddy notes the locked cabinet and calls for someone to try to open it.
Once they've explored the station, Roddy shakes his head. "I think we're done here. But we still need to decide what to do with the whelp eggs back at the village. Should we take them with us? The Xenowardens will probably know what to do with them."
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"I'll try it." Twila-5 crouches by the cabinet and gets to work.
"Hm. I'm not familiar with this archaic type of lock. Does someone else want to give it a try?" She steps back to allow either Rin or George-23 the room to give it a crack.
"I would think that the eggs would do better in their natural habitat, but if the mother doesn't return perhaps that's a moot point. If our ship can transport them properly so they remain viable I would be willing to bring them along. Hopefully they won't hatch until we've unloaded them."
The party reaches some consensus on how best to keep the eggs of the Besmaran whelp safe and properly cared for and makes any final discussions with the luminescent beings.
The inhabitants pleased are with any appearance by the party and any word of victory over the exile. This is followed by many questions about if the “haunts” will return and if it is safe to venture to the "temple" now. They throw a small celebration with the end of any threats from the "temple" and promise to look favorably upon Starfinders in the future.
When you arrive back at the Lorespire Complex on Absalom Station, Guidance debriefs you.
“Welcome back, Starfinders. The contracting organization, the Xenowardens, is eager to review all that you have recovered. I’ve prepared a list of subsequent missions that might appeal to you, once you’re properly debriefed. There are a multitude of other lost outposts in Near Space, and with your experience, we hope you will take these assignments into consideration. Until then, I look forward to the submission of your final reports."