Know (Engineering)
”Hey, look at these,” Rhoreen points at two weird things amid the wreckage. She doesn’t seem to quite know what they are, but with an aid or prompting, she might figure it out.
"Yes, you should take them. We can research them once we're free and clear of this temple." Chaance looks over the laser torch and one of the adamantine blades.
"These will damage the robots without blunting their edge, right? This is the same material as your falchion, Yambul? If we ever cross paths with Unity, this might come in handy."
Chaance is not dead set on the xill weapons, but she certainly has an interest.
After the second tap of the wand, Zzvkgrogk pauses to raid Yambul’s pack for a refresh, then auto aids Rhoreen’s KnowEng. attempt.
”Oh, right, Calliope – those do look familiar – maybe ike the chip we plugged into Hellion’s circuit? Are they the same as that one? Do you think he'll come back once the one we plugged in expires?”
He begins to look around for the controls to the excavator.
The jumbled angles against the uneven cave walls make his head spin.
5 first, 3 Second
(1st)
(1st) True Strike
(1st)
(1st) Long Arms
(1st)
(2nd) Cure Moderate
(2nd)
(2nd)
Can use craft (alchemy) to identify potions as if using Detect Magic
Hits: 28/33 ()
AC: 17 / 15 / 13 (Normal/Touch/Flatfooted)
AC Current: 22 (26 against bullets) (Mutagen, Bullet Shield)
Wand of Cure Light Wounds: 43/50
Radiation Detector (6/10 charges)
Neraplast Armor Charges: 18/24
Laser Pistol (Charges): 10/10
Antigravity Boots: need to look this up
Batteries Charged): 15/21
Empty Battieries: 6 /21
Zzvkgrogk Special (Alchemical Ordinance): 0 / 8
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Rūha looks about to protest Yambul's statement, but then nods "Very well we could have been. A reckless creature, but even if we couldn't hold to our agreement with it, at least it finds some peace now."
Surveying the items that the others are pulling from the wreckage, Ruha's eyes widen "Two more of those things? I think you're quite right Zzvk. These are two more facets, similar to the inhibitor we plugged into the main computer. One enhances an AI's aggression, while the other augments its ego. And I think we saw first hand just how much these things seemed to dominate Hellion's personality. While I don't think these were what was behind that spark of alacrity, they certainly played a part in making him what he was..." She offers the two crystals back to Rhor "We should hold onto them. I'd hate to see them twist another similar being into something just as terrible. And I have a feeling Hellion is not the only AI around that they might affect."
She crosses a pair of arms, once again pondering internally as to the true nature of the Androffan presence. Was Hellion an artifact of the Androffans, now awoken, or was he someone else entirely? She had no good answers, but some leads at least to pursue.
Zzvkgrogk finds no controls for the excavator here. Hellion must have connected himself to the central control processing unit using some wires on the drilling arm, or maybe using some kind of iron god wireless control mechanism. Whatever he did, there is nothing else left here that might help explain his connection and control of the excavator monitors and lightning system.
Yambul listens to the conversation on the power of Hellion and from whence it was derived. "So, is he coming back?" he pokes at the metal hulk, wondering if they need to scrap it entirely.
”Oh, right, Calliope – those do look familiar – maybe ike the chip we plugged into Hellion’s circuit?”
"Two more of those things? These are two more facets, similar to the inhibitor we plugged into the main computer. One enhances an AI's aggression, while the other augments its ego. And I think we saw first hand just how much these things seemed to dominate Hellion's personality."
”Yeah, of course they do,” Rhoreen agrees, *so* close to coming to that conclusion herself. ”Exactly what I was probably thinking.” Rhoreen grabs and packs the facets. ”They might come in handy later, but maybe we can use them to festoon our cycles. That might be fun. I love a good festooning.”
Rhoreen will explore the excavator and lighting system to see what might be learnt, and will spend as much time doing so as the party can handle.
”Is there anything else here we can scavenge? Anything that might be useful?”
”One enhances an AI's aggression, while the other augments its ego. And I think we saw first hand just how much these things seemed to dominate Hellion's personality...”
Zzvkgrogk looks on in horror. ”Evil – like an uninhibited ratling!! Then, maybe should we try and destroy the facets? Unity is still out there!”
"So, is he coming back?"
Zzvkgrogk ponders, and looks toward the cave ceiling. ”I… I don’t know, there was something more to this sound system than this shabby scrap… What I do know is that Hellion must need power in order to do anything. Why don’t we use those power cables to drain what is left of the backup power? If he isn’t gone gone, that might at least slow him down.”
Rūha agrees with Zzvk's answer "I don't know how well Hellion might be able to preserve himself in the event of his body being destroyed. When we installed the inhibitor in the excavator's computer systems, he seemed perturbed, which suggests he can't fully leave a physical medium. But like I explained before, AI are a kind of technological ghost. If he could shift to another host for his spirit, he could endure." She looks around "That said, I expect not just any robot will do. It has to be something with..." She struggles with the terminology for a moment before saying "...room for an AI."
"Of course, all that assumes I understand how this AI works. Though it's been surprisingly similar so far..."
"What's to say this Unity isn't just making substandard copies of itself, and shooing them out into our world? If Hellion was aware enough to rage against his mother, it feels like it's only a matter of time before we encounter another story of a metal demon raising an army of zealots to worship it in underground tabernacles."
"Are we done here? Can we return to the light already?"
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"After we recharge all our stuff, and see about taking out the power sources here. If Unity is making substandard copies of herself -- which I doubt are substandard on purpose -- removing the power will mean that they can't do it here as prolifically. Maybe."
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With your knowledge you determine anyone trying to rebuild the robot and resurrect Hellion will find little pieces to do so after the explosion. Even if someone managed to, some large parts of his memory are blown out forever.
Rhoreen makes it back to the excavator central control room and starts sorting out digital material retained there. She spots the inhibitor facet still plugged there.
Chaance also retrieved Nalakai's prayer book an hour or so back. The book contains some journal but it is written in Orc, and interpreting its dense, crabbed writing requires some decoding work and large hours of work.
Finally, Kulgara's journal contain even more notes. Someone of you knowing Orc might try to find out more information here.
Before we leave I think we want to power up items, and maybe silverdisks into powered batteries(?) as Zzvkgrogk suggested. We have the power cable which was, I think, all we needed to do this. What is the process, time taken, etc.?
Once that is done, I think there's interest in powering down any remaining power sources here so they can't jump start something else. Basically take all the power we can carry, and dump the rest.
Then Yambul will be ready to leave, hauling the loot and books to somewhere more relaxed to do the reading. Well, he is not doing any reading, but he might put together a little lunch... or maybe dinner! For his stomach is growling.
EDIT: Oh! Can we take back the inhibitor facet? That sucker is useful.
Know (Engineering)
Rhoreen checks out the machine.
If asked, she will try to help with the linguistics. She is smart and knows many words.
Linguistics
And for the journal, she can offer intelligent thoughts.
Int check
Given an extra day, she can learn Comprehend Languages which could help with the orcish translations if they are necessary.
Rūha joins Rhor at the central computer for the excavator, curious about what else might stored in the system, and what hints the party might be able to glean from Hellion's records. Later on, she helps Chaance with the orcish decoding work .
Chaance drills down on the priest's prayer book, taking more time than she'd like, but not one hour less than is necessary to fully understand what it is she's translating. "Rhoreen, does that say 'inner working' or 'inner guts'?" The elf adjusts her goggles, steadying her hand on the line in question. "Roo, would you interpret this litany as purely submissive, or desirous of achieving the same divine strength demonstrated by the higher power described here?" Chaance offers the prayer book back and forth, using the hen fletching of a broken arrow to maintain her place on the page when it's returned to her.
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Zzvkgrogk determines the inhibitor facet was what made Hellion's aim so clumsy. The facet can be easily unplugged from its slot now.
You also can use the power cable to replenish batteries in the backup batteries. It takes a full round to wire a device for refilling. The batteries are a bit timeworn and consume 10 charges even if the device to recharge needs less than that.
Each time a battery is recharged there is a 20% chance it gets destroyed, becoming a silverdisk.
Chaance seems to understand the orcish scribbling of Nalakai. The book is primarily filled with prayers to Hellion, but at some points it describes Hellion goals to be to destroy something Nalakai calls as the "Source" or the "Prime" on his prayers. The words make it obvious that Hellion is some sort of offspring of this greater menace, one that Hellion seeks to eradicate in part as vengeance for a period of time that Hellion served the Source as a slave, but primarily so that Hellion can take control of this more powerful entity's resources.
What the prayers are pointing out is that this menace dwells below Silver Mount, at Starfall.
This aligns with what you have already uncovered during your talks with Hellion and exploration of the excavator.
Meanwhile Rhoreen and Zzvkgrogk manage to access the data files from the excavator. This mastodon of a machine was part of a space vessel named the Crysalis, the largest recycling module and cargo bay of a larger vehicle identified as Divinity. The captain of the module, an Androffan called Yurian Valako, attempted an emergency landing but crashed scattering its cargo, refuse, and partially recycled materials across a miles-long swath of land just east of a large river you identify as the Sellen River. In time, this crashing site came to be what you know as Scrapwall.
Digging on the data, you find out the Divinity was managed by a central intelligence identified as Unity. This AI was under full control of all the systems and robots within Divinity. The central processing unit of the excavator has been trying to communicate with Unity for orders during millennia without success. The computer has a register stating recent contact with Unity, but checking dates all the logs seem to correspond to communication with Hellion. Apparently the computer believed Unity was giving it orders when Hellion did. Hellion contacted with the excavator just recently, arriving in the shape of large arachnid robot.
Piecing up together the information from Nalakai's book and the data from the computing unit, you determine that Unity was the AI on charge of Divinity and she recently managed to contact the excavator by sending a partial copy of herself into an arachnid robot, but this copy apparently quickly got out of her control and developed an independent identity: Hellion.
Furthermore, Rhoreen and Zzvkgrogk extract a list of nearby beacons that were active through a few hundreds of years, and are probably crash sites coordinates of other modules from Divinity. It is difficult though to piece up what locations from the nowadays Numeria those numbers correspond to, but you can try.
The Aurora (Android Foundry) > Iadenveigh
The Crysalis (Recycling Module) > Scrapwall
The Dusklight (Rescued Alien Vessel) > Dagger river (near Marstol)
The Divinity (Mother Ship) > Silver Mount (Starfall)
The Fuse (Experimental Abysium Reactor) > Falheart
The Noah (Habitat module) > Torch
There is still Kulgara's journal, but it is already late evening when you have the opportunity to join up together all the information, and anyway you could benefit from a rest, some time to discuss and an extra reader through comprehend languages tomorrow.
Know (Geography)
Know (Geography)
Yambul shares the first spoiler.
His head spins a little at all the realizations. ”So is Unity the problem now? I mean, Unity spawned Hellion, right? So is Unity crazy too?” He’s not really sure where they’re headed next, but he gets in line for the battery recharging (pending the answer to the above).
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Chaance uses the study of the prayer book as a purge of the recent violence. She ruminates, she breathes, she sips water, she closes her eyes, allowing the orcish writ to play across her mind's eye. She processes the contributions from the minds of Roar and Roo, and gains as much intel as she can, sharing it to hear it out loud.
"This is confirmation. Hellion's words, then Nalakai's. Silver Mount, at Starfall. Put a pin in that part of the map. If the Hellion would rage impotently against That Which Lies Beneath, we should consider it a threat. Would we share this with the nation's councils? A greater threat would require a greater counter force." Chaance considers.
"It would be poetic justice, if something called Unity unified Numeria's strength to oppose it..."
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Rūha recharges her EMP pistol, reading with interest over all the records as the battery slowly fills. It's fascinating, but also strangely painful. Familiar words, familiar concepts, in a very different world. And after reading all of it, she feels no closer to answering how or why she ended up here. Just one element of this campaign against Hellion had stood out to her. Hellion's repeated mention of, and obsession with, the person called Casandalee.
Rūha feels a shiver run down her spine. It couldn't be a coincidence, could it?
She returns to the present at Yambul's question, she says "Quite difficult to say. Hellion clearly had reason to hate it, but maybe in a way that a rebellious child hates its parent. Unity is likely far more powerful, but its sanity may rest on what facets happen to be influencing it." She looks down at her notes, then back up "On the other hand, it created Hellion and sent it out here, so I don't think we can afford to assume that Unity's motives are altruistic."
Zzvkgrogk high fives Rhoreen after a couple of hours of intense study.
He then sets aside those and his alchemy books and starts consuming a different one of his toted tomes “The Art of Archeology” by Sieger Von Zukunft.
”This is confirmation. Hellion's words, then Nalakai's. Silver Mount,... It would be poetic justice...”
Zzvkgrogk glances at Chaance, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
”I doubt Numeria would understand it enough to recognize it one way or the other,” he mutters. ”That inhibitor chip may come in very handy.”
”I don't think we can afford to assume that Unity's motives are altruistic."
Zzvkgrogk looks up from his independent study and shakes his head. ”Unity is an AI. I doubt it has ‘motive’, let alone any rational concept of Altruism.”
Zzvkgrogk recharges, losing three batteries in the process. "Awwg. Does anyone have anything else to charge? A chainsaw? A autograpnel? I think I got the bikes..." Good thing we have some spares...
He dives back into his studies before begging for a prestidigitation and bedding down for the evening.
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Rhoreen responds to Zzvkgrogk high paw with a five of her own.
”Oh yeah, we figured this all out. Somewhat. I mean. There are questions. Lots of good questions,” Rhor looks at the party as Rhor doesn’t have any answers. ”But this part, I think we figured out.”
”I don’t know what to make of Unity yet. We haven’t really dealt with it…just it’s angry offspring, right? It might be that it just wants to mine numbers for money or something. Or turn a bunch of blocks into chains or something ridiculous.”
Rhoreen doesn’t have anything to recharge, except her mind which could use a good night’s sleep. She’s nearly empty of spells and wouldn’t mind a long nap after the long long day.
Yambul will recharge the chainsaw and suggest, ”Let’s head in shall we? I don’t want to rest here, and there’s nothing stopping us leaving. Let’s go.”
As the party walks out to their motorbikes, he walks alongside Rüha.
”So, ahh, Rüha, do you got a minute?” Yambul sidles up uneasily. ”So, I thought we had a thing going where the two of us would be up front, trying to get flanks, spreading out the hits, that sort of thing.”
”But you seem now to be more interested in hanging back in range. Which is totally fine! You do you, you know?” He rushes his words, hopeful that he not be misunderstood. ”But if you’re not up there with me, I need to plan differently and engage the enemy differently. I’m thinking of studying up on a few moves, but what I do depends on you as my teammate.”
”Plus, oh, I’m eyeing this handsome clasp, but maybe I’ll have to get natural armor instead. Just thinking ahead.” He looks like it’s a difficult thing indeed.
"I doubt Numeria would understand it enough to recognize it one way or the other... I doubt it has ‘motive’..."
"'Doubting Zzvkgrogk'. No, I don't like that. It's inherently cynical, while you, master Rat, are usually so... excited when talking about newly discovered technology. Aren't you Numerian?" The elf regards the ratfolk with a light pout.
"Awwg. Does anyone have anything else to charge? A chainsaw? An autograpnel? I think I got the bikes..."
Chaance holds out the Laser Torch of Xill. "Does this need recharging?"
"It's inherently cynical, while you, master Rat, are usually so... excited when talking about newly discovered technology. Aren't you Numerian?" The elf regards the ratfolk with a light pout.
Zzvkgrogk takes the xill’s laser torch when Chaance asks about it, and plugs it in. ”It goes here.”
”You’re right… of course my dear elf friend… but this Hellion seemed to have only one purpose – to tear our world apart… Maybe it’s only just one way that energy can manifest, but how do you train it to be a model citizen? Or at least a Scrapwall citizen? The thought that this could happen again just terrifies me. Did you not feel its malice?”
If daemons are a thing, Hellion for sure was one.
"Its intent was mobilization and destruction of Silver Mount, and its progenitor. Who knows what it would have sought, had it succeeded. Like you said, what is motive to such an entity? Its malice was overt, demonstrable and understandable to anyone with an instinct to survive, which leads me to believe we would succeed in convincing councils in more, uh, civilized locations throughout Numeria. I'm hopeful."
Following Yambul's push, you make it out of the excavator, coming into a new Scrapwall. You find out a few Lords of Rust low rank members that have gone into Hellion's Temple but are easily intimidated as they see the dead bodies and black monitors around.
Up in the Arena, there are some aimless scrappers, the voice of the Lords of Rust defeat and Hellion's end spreads like a wildfire. Redtooth and Sevroth Slaid have taken control of the situation. The ratfolk receives you specially satisfied "Here we have, the Scrapwall Champions! You have things a plenty to share with us!"
Whiskifiss receives Zzvkgrogk with a paw pad while Chirpus looks at him with hopeful eyes "My Mozt Mozt Favorite Nephew !!!! You Are Heroez Now!!! Well Given Back To Thoze Lordz Of Ruzt!!"
Sevroth Slaid is more serious, just receiving you with a small nod "What are your plans now?"
The ratfolk invites you to sleep at the dens, but you are free to find another location for your well deserved rest.
"I admire your courage Yambul, but I don't have nearly your skills. Against a massive robot like that, my little self-defense training would be all but useless. While this at least-" she pats the EMP pistol in its holster "Can help wear a robot down."
"I'll be with you up close if there's any sense to it, but not if there isn't."
----
Rūha lets Zzvkgrogk take the lead in announcing the group's plans to the leaders now in charge of Scrapwall. Later on she asks "What happens to the remaining rank and file that joined the Lords of Rust? Redtooth and Sevroth, what are the two of you planning to do here now that the Lords are gone?"
"I admire your courage Yambul, but I don't have nearly your skills. Against a massive robot like that, my little self-defense training would be all but useless. While this at least-" she pats the EMP pistol in its holster "Can help wear a robot down."
"I'll be with you up close if there's any sense to it, but not if there isn't."
Yambul disagrees, ”I don’t have your skill either! I get hit.” he grins. ”I can wear ‘em down fine, but I need someone there to distract them both from hitting me and offensively helping setup the flank. But I’ll not ask you to go against your wishes. You want to drop back more, and I’ll have to adjust.”
"What happens to the remaining rank and file that joined the Lords of Rust? Redtooth and Sevroth, what are the two of you planning to do here now that the Lords are gone?"
"That's a good question. How is Scrapwall going to move forward? Who's in charge now?" He looks at Zzvkgrogk, wondering if he’ll anoint someone. He hopes they come together with something more democratic though - if that can work in such a difficult place.
He'll vote for staying in the warren at least one more night, "We should be heading back soon yeah? We've got those two wheelers to go back in style, now we've more power too." He turns to the smart folk, ”We do have enough power to get the bikes home, don’t we? It’d be a shame to leave them here.”
Rhoreen stays well away from the rust monster, worried for her inanimate skymetal rod. In fact, she covers it in cloth just to be safe and sure...and still avoids the rust monster.
She does celebrate though, after all it was *her* lightning blast that finally felled the monster, and she was going to be sure that people ratfolk everyone knows it. I mean, it's hard not to be smug when one is so talented.
"What are your plans now?"
"Good question. Not really sure yet, as this has already been a long day," she responds, not quite ready to make announcement yet. "Sounds like we might be taking our bikes across the desert. That might be a nice roadtrip."
Like with Ruha, she wonders what will happen with the new leadership and she hopes its better than the old.
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”Well Given Back To Thoze Lordz Of Ruzt!!"
”Hi, uh, hi Mom! … yea – there’s an excavator down there along with an evil” he looks at the others, ”Is it fair to say evil? Well, if not – let’s just say badly trained Artifical Intelligence possessing robots and casting non-magical energy pain at us… …. though he did also seem to throw some spells at us ... actually he was pretty powerful. We wanted to drive the excavator out, but there isn’t enough power. It’s probably best that it stays buried with Hellion anyway.”
”Thank you, all! Let them hereto be referred to as the Lords of Dust!” Zzvkgrogk regards Chirpus, smiles, reaches into his backpack and pulls out some bolts, a broken torque wrench, some gears of various sizes and – a special treat – the power supply from the Hellion robot. ”WOW! Look how big you’re getting already! Someday you’ll be a real rust monster heartbreaker!”
”"What are your plans now?"
”We think there is a more passive AI in Silver Mount, so I think our next steps will be to learn about it,” Zzvkgrogk replies once the group is out of range of meddling ears...
After conducting some small experiments, Zzvkgrogk adds the magboots back to the treasure pile.
"Those were fun, but clunky."
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Chirpus is delighted by the offer in metal, the rust monster consumes Hellion's blown out power source and any other core piece that you wanted to destroy with delight.
Starting up your bikes, you make it back to the Den where a great evening party is prepared, giving you time to celebrate and rest.
As for the next days...
For pieces Zzvkgrogk can look for whatever scrap the Redtooth has confiscated during the Arena after-battle or through the new control the gang exerts through Scrapwall. As for scrolls, the only viable source is Dinvaya in Scrapwall, which limits only to what blessings she can get from Brigh.
Yambul decides to master Kulgara's magical chain saw, and every day spends a few hours practicing with the mighty and noisy weapon. The ratfolk insists though for this to be done outside the Den, for the space there is to cramped and they are clearly worried the Kellid might cut out one of the members' whiskers.
Meanwhile, Rhoreen and Chaance work with Kulgara's journal, reading through all the notes to extract relevant pieces of information.
First thing, tracing back on the journal they can piece up Kulgara's story.
As is so often the case in orc society, Kulgara’s childhood was one steeped in violence and blood. Yet Kulgara was never a victim, and the violence of her childhood invariably consisted of actions she inflicted on her brothers and sisters.
In time, she ensured that she was an only child, and after a few more months of violence managed to transition herself into the status of orphan. Having cut all links to kin, Kulgara was able to consolidate her family’s resources and holdings in her small tribe to try to seize a position of power. Yet word of her excessively cruel nature preceded her, and her tribe put up a better fight than her family. Kulgara was forced to concede that she wasn’t quite ready to take control of her tribe, and instead fled west from the depths of the Sellen Hills, seeking a new place to call home. She came upon Scrapwall and knew at once this was the place for her when she defeated an ogrekin thug who was armed with a magical chainsaw—the weapon appealed to the orc, and she made it her weapon of choice from there on.
Kulgara moved from gang to gang, climbing to positions of power and encouraging her minions to strike against other gangs, but time and time again her gangs were defeated, much to the orc’s frustration. She couldn’t seem to find a group that could equal her desire for mayhem and her stamina for battle. When the Lords of Rust rose to power, she was quick to offer her skills to Hellion, and quickly she finally found herself in a position of leadership, feeling that she’s finally achieved her destiny.
Apparently she hoped to forge the Lords of Rust into a mighty force, to unite all of Scrapwall’s gangs under Hellion’s cause, and then to aid her god in taking Silver Mount—all, of course, so that when the time is right, she could wrest control from her god and assume true command of the mightiest gang of murderers and cutthroats Numeria has ever seen.
Checking more recent entries, you find out Kulgara became increasingly focused on researching ways to further her god’s goals, including the reactivation of the excavator and the eventual assault on Silver Mount. Yet the primary focus of her most recent goals seem discovering the location of Hellion’s “sister,” the mysterious Casandalee.
Through the pages of the journal she goes on rummaging of thoughts of his conversations with Hellion and the findings of the agents she has sent out of Scrapwall in recent times:
▶ Hellion hopes to use the reactivated excavator as its body and can transform it into a mobile stronghold that may even be capable of burrowing into the heart of Silver Mount. Unfortunately, the structure still requires vast amounts of power, and Meyanda’s failure to gather that power has resulted in an unwelcome delay to this plan. Hellion hopes that this is but a temporary setback, but knows that every day that passes before it can strike against Unity, the greater AI will continue to grow in power—if Unity can find a way to extend its influence beyond Silver Mount in a significant way, it will be too late to oppose it.
▶ With the excavation and repowering of the excavator delayed, Hellion recently revealed to Kulgara an interesting secret: Hellion was not the first of the Iron Gods spawned by the entity it calls “Unity.” Another came before him—a “prophet of Unity” named Casandalee. Hellion regards Casandalee as a sister, and notes that just as he escaped Unity, Casandalee betrayed Unity and escaped as well. According to the fragments of memories Hellion inherited from its creator, when Casandalee fled Unity, she took with her two unique devices: a neurocam, onto which had been recorded many of Unity’s secrets and, Hellion hopes, Unity’s weaknesses; and a compact AI core, which apparently can be used to manipulate records from an AI. Fortunately, Unity’s robotic minions were never able to track down and capture Casandalee, so Hellion believes that these unique devices still exist, hidden away wherever Casandalee ended up. He notes that she was an android, not an artificial intelligence, but that she was a very special one, not only because on the contrary to most androids that were built to the image of Androffans, she had the body of an alien race with pointy ears, but because somehow she was able to access the memories of her previous 112th lives. Apparently Hellion feared the android had since self-restarted or died, but was confident if she could be found or the site of her death discovered, it might be possible to retrieve the neurocam and unique compact AI core she stole from Silver Mount. Both items key to defeat and find information about Unity and her defenses.
▶ Working with information supplied by memories stolen from Unity before Hellion fled Silver Mount and independent research done first by Meyanda and more recently by Kulgara, the Lords of Rust have discovered that Unity’s robots lost track of Casandalee in southern Numeria, in an area now settled by worshipers of Erastil—the town of Iadenveigh. Kulgara has been working up a plan to mount an invasion of Iadenveigh to search the site for clues or, perhaps, the location of Casandalee and the neurocam and compact AI core, but it’s obvious from Kulgara’s notes that she’s not yet sure exactly where in Iadenveigh to start the search.
"Huh, Chaance? I see that Casandalee is mentioned here. And here," Rhor notes the entries. "What do you think about that? 'A prophet of Unity', it says."
Rhoreen dabs her finger into the entry.
"Ayep, that's what it says right there, Chaance. What do we make of that? And it seems like there is an interesting neurocam out there? And an AI core?"
Rhoreen ponders.
"Hmm. What do make of that? Huh Chaance?"
Know (Geography) - "Iadenveigh"
"An alien race with pointed ears..." Rūha looks over at Chaance as well "You don't suppose Hellion simply couldn't distinguish between an elf and a xenometric-elven android? Or between one elf and another? Considering how those facets were affecting him, maybe his facial recognition was significantly degraded?"
"And a Prophet of Unity that escaped? I wonder if this Casandalee has grown as dangerous as Hellion did, just in a different way entirely."
All of you locals to Numeria know Iadenveigh, situated a mile west of the turbulent Dagger River, is one of the largest settlements in southern Numeria, with a well established faith in Erastil and a strong resentment against all means of technology.
Nowadays people of Iadenveigh are hardworking and pious. Worship of Erastil is nearly universal.
The place is renown for being one of the few in Numeria where vegetation boasts and real crops can be cultivated. The location though is not free of the pollution that affects the lands, and it is known some newborn come up with mutations, being perhaps a bit more common than in other regions of Numeria to find people with 6 fingers and things like that.
Most of Iadenveigh’s citizens work as hunters, farmers, and trappers, though the town also boasts several skilled stonemasons, cobblers, and brewers. Iadenveigh’s farms and gardens produce a variety of crops, but the people rely on hunting for most of their meat.
The townspeople shun alien technology in all forms. Visitors with advanced Numerian technology are given a cold welcome and, upon the slightest suspicion of trouble, ejected forcibly from the town. Magic that closely approximates technology, particularly alchemy and construct crafting, tends to make locals nervous as well, but not nearly as much so as brazen displays of super-science.
Iadenveigh is ruled by the eighteen-member Deadeye Council. Predominantly prosperous elderly residents.
Iadenveigh is a regional headquarters of the Banner of the Stag, an organization dedicated to protecting small communities and outposts by training local militias and coordinating intercommunity defense. The Banner of the Stag also investigates serious crimes in Iadenveigh such as arson or murder, and favors swift, decisive execution to demonstrate vigilance and deter wrongdoing in others. Examples of the Deadeye Council’s rural justice include being staked to the ground near a bear’s cave or being weighted with stones and thrown in Longbitter Lake. Of course, such extreme punishments are not pronounced without just cause, and most of the petty crimes in town are handled in less severe methods such as public service or humiliation.
About half a century ago, supporters of Nirmathi succession exiled from Molthune, set out north from the capital city of Canorate. After crossing Lastwall and Ustalav, they made their way into southern Numeria, until they found a spot with particularly verdant vegetation. Over the ancient ruins of a time abandoned Kellid settlement, they found a majestic red elk seemingly abandoned by the locals. They took this as a sign the place was blessed by Erastil and settled there.
The name of Iadenveigh honor the Lastwall patron who had funded these people exodus. The settlers repaired the earthen wall around the rock and laid out the streets that ring the local mount known as the Brown in a methodical pattern resembling those of Molthune's cities.
The new land was full of wild game, but only the vast herds of elk seemed free of the strange mutations common to the area's other creatures. The settlers took the untainted elk herds as another sign that their home was blessed by Erastil, and crowned their settlement's wall with shed elk antlers, adding more each passing year.
Less known to most of the town inhabitants. The place where Iadenveigh was built was previously occupied by an ancient Kellid settlement called Starcaller Rock. Kellid oral stories say the people in there vanished in strange circumstances for they were not observing the warnings of Kellid traditions.
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"Hmm. What do make of that? Huh Chaance?"
"I'd really like to meet this Casandalee. 112 lives? That's an incredible trove of firsthand historical annotation. Especially if she was modeled off an elven lifeform. Some of us live seven hundred years or more."
"An alien race with pointed ears... You don't suppose Hellion simply couldn't distinguish between an elf and a xenometric-elven android? Or between one elf and another? Considering how those facets were affecting him, maybe his facial recognition was significantly degraded? And a Prophet of Unity that escaped? I wonder if this Casandalee has grown as dangerous as Hellion did, just in a different way entirely."
"I think you speak wisely, Roo. First ghosts, then machines with poor recognition, almost as if both Aldronard and Hellion were desperate to see their relations embodied."
The elf considers both half-elf's and kasatha's takes on the mysterious Casandalee. "Rhoreen has rightly drilled down on the key takeaway- there are devices we can use, like the one we used on Hellion, to subdue this Unity, if that's our intent. What I can't grasp quite yet is that Casandalee fled. Forced to flee? I don't know. Something about the neurocam and AI core... she knew enough to preserve them, but was it her desire to protect Unity, protect its secrets and weaknesses, what, from Hellion? Or did she desire to use the secrets and weaknesses herself, and bring Unity down herself, and was unable to do so, as a single android?"
Chaance rereads certain sections of the journal. Her finger still resting on a page, the elf looks to her companions.
"I would be very interested in visiting this..." her eyes strain to read the rough orcish writing, "Iadenveigh."
Chaance relates what she knows, corroborating what Rhoreen likely knows as well. "The place sounds... quaint." The elf looks at the kasatha as she finds a weak word to describe the town that glows in her mind. That is until she remembers.
"The Rhu-Chalik!! We still need to report that, to make local authorities aware of the danger!! I need to..." The elf can't quite decide on the way forward, or back. "Kyonin would greatly benefit from learning about the Rhu-Chalik being found on Golarion. But I just can't abandon... this Unity... Casandalee..." The elf returns to check on the body of the dead war orb.
Yambul does his best to follow along, though he himself doesn't see a clear path forward. He picks up on the name everyone is bandying about though.
"So is this Iadenveigh our next stop? If so, we should leave our scooters behind as you say they don't like tech. They should be safe here, and we can return to claim them when we head somewhere less backward." he grins.
He looks at the chainsaw sticking over his shoulder, "They probably won't work on this there though. Damn. Should we stop back and see the professor briefly? Is it on the way? We could leave our bikes there. A couple days in a decent town with a little tech will set me up just fine. I've got to tweak this thing so it works against constructs and robots."
He looks to his weapon, "But it's not necessary I suppose. I still have my falchion."
”"I would be very interested in visiting this..." her eyes strain to read the rough orcish writing, "Iadenveigh."
”Why not? The Land of Mutants. Probably something leaking into their water. Don’t drink it. They probably don’t like RatFolk – no one does, they don’t like technology,” he looks at his silver plated hammer pendant, ”they don’t like Brigh, and they aren’t going to like what I do for a living either! Iadenveigh... doesn’t it sound redundant? Like - ’Burdenheavy’. A backwards name for backwards people. Oh… this could be fun.”
He looks around suddenly sheepishly. ”None of you are from there, are you?”
”It does sound like the next logical stop in our explorations. I’ll just pass myself off as a mutant.”
He looks at Chaance. ”Did you need any help with that Rhu-Chalik bug thing?”
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"I'd really like to meet this Casandalee. 112 lives? That's an incredible trove of firsthand historical annotation. Especially if she was modeled off an elven lifeform."
"Yes, of course. And Chaance, what, do you think 'Casandalee' would say if she were here right now about her connection to Unity, or the devices she had? Do you have any personal experience that might translate well into their state of mind?" Rhoreen looks hopefully at Chaance.
* * *
Rhoreen will explain what she knows of Iadenveigh, which is a lot, she will smugly think to herself. She knows a lot.
Know (History)
He looks around suddenly [s]sheepishly[/d] rattishly. ”None of you are from there, are you?”
"Oh, you know, not me. We go way back, <*sound*>," Rhoreen makes a sound like a cyclerider running on one wheel. "Yeah, I don't think any of us will be offended, but if go to Iadenveigh we should be careful with our technology. We don't want to get on the bad side of the Erastilians. They are a salty bunch."
"We don't want to get on the bad side of the Erastilians. They are a salty bunch."
"Is that so Calliope? Hard for me to tell, because most people are when it comes to Ratfolk. So, is it on the way to Torch? Do I need a disguise or something?"
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"Do I need a disguise, or will the name tag I wore back in Torch help settle their fears...?" Rūha bows her head to not hit it upon the ceiling of the ratfolk den. "Iadenveigh sounds like a place with more than its fair share of problems, but I suppose if the people there are sticking around, they must be willing to accept it for what it is."
"As for the Rhu-Chalik, if you feel it's important Chaance, we should handle that first. The impression I have from reading Kulgara's journal and the other statements we heard is that Casandalee was in Iadenveigh quite a while ago. If she's still there, she's likely not going anywhere. If she isn't there anymore, the trail can't get too much colder than it will be by the time we arrive. So considering that, we may want to unsure your contacts know about the Dominion presence." She nods insistently "The way you spoke about it, they may be as much of a danger as our rogue Androffan AI are, if not more."
" I suppose if the people there are sticking around, they must be willing to accept it for what it is."
"... They made Iadenveigh what it is, and it doesn't sound open to outsiders... But if we were with Casandalee, would it benefit us? Do they even remember her as an android now, or would they accept her as an actual Elvenfolk?"
Zzvkgrogk shakes his head.
"I am so confused. Maybe I need a rest. What should we intend visiting the place?"
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"Yes, of course. And Chaance, what, do you think 'Casandalee' would say if she were here right now about her connection to Unity, or the devices she had? Do you have any personal experience that might translate well into their state of mind?"
Chaance narrows her eyes in thought as Rhoreen inquires further. "You propose a thought experiment. Well, first, when you say the name, Casandalee, it sounds like the very opposite of Hellion. It echoes of elven words like Cállambëa, which means 'place of heroes'. It resonates like Cinnaess, 'peacebringer'. As I'm sure you know."
"To make an android body in the form of an elf, I can only assume the soul brought to life within it was inherently good. It has a soul, above and beyond an AI, right? Yes. A soul who recognized Unity as a threat, something capable of creating a monster like Hellion, so she fled. It may be premature of me, but I'm beginning to respect this Casandalee." Chaance regards Rhoreen for a moment.
"It's presumptuous to give voice to someone glimpsed within a zealot orc's journal. These are ancient beings, all of them. Even the xill." Chaance tilts her head, and addresses Rhoreen.
"Now you. Slip into Casandalee's shoes, and speak your mind."
"As for the Rhu-Chalik, if you feel it's important Chaance, we should handle that first."
The elf nods to the kasatha. "I would argue that the Dominion of the Black is a much greater threat, compared to the Thing Under Silver Mount. The Rhu-Chalik represents the threat tangibly. The Dominion knows of Golarion. It's only a matter of time. I only pray that I can bring word, possibly the body, of the Rhu-Chalik, so my Queen can be properly informed of the danger." Chaance sighs.
"Perhaps there are ways to send word to Kyonin, without needing to physically travel there. Or better yet, magics which would whisk us to the capital, body in hand, so they might themselves set eyes upon the evidence..."
"Chaance, do you have any contacts here in Numeria that might be able to make the journey? Or someone that might be able to cast that kind of powerful magic?"
Thinking back to Yambul's earlier comment, she adds "It may be a good idea to head back to Torch first, so they at least know we're in one piece and the danger here has been settled for now. There might even be someone in Torch who can send the warning to Chaance's allies."
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Rhoreen stands and stretches, trying to piece together the thoughts of Chaance.
”Well, you’ve given us all something to think about. Somewhat,” Rhoreen responds. …but not any answers as to why Hellion thought you were Casandalee, nor why they are described much like you.
She stretches more, shaking out her legs.
”Well, should we get going? Is there a place we can stop to buy sell some goods for some other goods?”
Yambul listens but still isn’t quite clear where they’re headed, or how they’re getting there.
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Based on what has thus far been discovered, Zzvkgrogk doesn’t know what to make of a ‘soul’ within an android who would summon a xill out of it’s plane of existence and curse it to bind it into fighting a full on Numarian war with the Black Horse tribe with the promise of the would-be King or Whatever Title’s first born, with the added intent to take out the Technic League just so she could face Unity – only to apparently epically fail and not make good on any of her promises.
No, none of that sounds like benevolence to Zzvkgrogk. Almost makes an embittered and jealous Hellion seem like a saint.
”"To make an android body in the form of an elf, I can only assume the soul brought to life within it was inherently good.”
”I think maybe making assumptions here is not useful, perhaps not even in a ‘thought experiment’ as you call it. You might set up the wrong expectation for yourself and be disappointed.”
"It's presumptuous to give voice to someone glimpsed within a zealot orc's journal. These are ancient beings, all of them. Even the xill."
Zzvkgrogk scratches his head, genuinely puzzled.
”Who? What?! Ancient? Maybe, but didn’t Zagmaander say that all of this went down twenty years ago?” He raises an eyebrow above a beady eye. Is she Casandelee? Did she forget everything? ”Say, Chaance what do you imagine happens if an android or AI unexpectedly goes offline due to an enormous electrical shock? Or an explosion at an android foundry?” Or even a spaceship crash...”...Yea, maybe we should stop by Torch, take care of our stash and see how Meyanda and the Professor are faring. Maybe we can find help on the coordinates of the other pieces of the Divinity spaceship."
He spends some time copying scrolls at Dinvaya's chapel before moving on to Torch, if everyone is up for that.