Kneepuncher turns into a DOG-KILLING MACHINE, finishing off Red and slaying Green in a single amazing turn! He's also immune to Blue's ripping gaze now! He manages to shake off the slowed condition!
Srurdez, seeing this, chucks his axe after the Blue dog!
Then Zarg's fireball goes off!
Blue evades some of it, but is still smoking!
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
Teka (-17)
Kneepuncher (-16, Immune to Blue's gaze)
Maxamas
Daata (Red Fort Save DC 17)
Hounds
Red (DEAD)
Green (DEAD)
Blue (-48, Slow spell used)
Zarg (-47)
Srudez (-9, Immune to Blue's gaze)
Daata and Mikey shoot together, injuring the Blue dog further!
Blue runs up to the steps of the Eternity Arch, and takes a bite out of Teka.
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
Teka (-17)
Kneepuncher (-16, Immune to Blue's gaze)
Maxamas
Daata (-16)
Hounds
Red (DEAD)
Green (DEAD)
Blue (-68, Slow spell used)
Zarg (-47)
Srudez (-9, Immune to Blue's gaze)
Blue saves against the acid ball, and is still standing, though she looks like a stiff breeze might knock her over.
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
Teka (-49)
Kneepuncher (-16, Immune to Blue's gaze) Potential hasted attack?
Maxamas
Daata (-16)
Hounds
Red (DEAD)
Green (DEAD)
Blue (-68, Slow spell used)
Zarg (-47)
Srudez (-9, Immune to Blue's gaze)
KA-Pow!
The blue hound gets flattened by that punch, and the crowd goes wild!
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"Whoohooo that was AWESOME kneepuncher! So uh... any more of 'em around? I'm runnin' a teeny bit low on fiyahpowah..."
He turns back to their new friend working the eternity arch. "So uh... this better be worth it! Makin' a beeeg mess tinkerin' with that... you almost done up there or we gonna have ta shut it down?"
With a shriek, the last dinosaur collapses to the floor. The reprieve is short-lived, as another rift opens near the chamber’s sharply angled walls. Crawling through the rift are bizarrely‑proportioned, emaciated quadrupeds, their sharp teeth dripping with dark saliva. “Almost there!” Felise shouts. “Just hold them off!”
Felise hangs on to the Eternity Arch as another ripple of temporal energy slides through with an echo of the fight you just finished.
"Man, these time loops are disconcerting!"
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Zargothrax yells back at Felise. "Almost ain't good 'nuff. Ah wanna hear ya say 'THERE!' Gonna lose more starfinders if more o' them dogs come through so make it snappy!"
He feels his words slow to a crawl, then he pauses as a ripple of temporal energy creates a tear in front of him where he can see... himself? Back at his little apartment on Absalom station? Can't be a memory since he's looking older than he was 10 minutes ago, and he hasn't been back since he sprouted his new gray spines.
He watches as he pops open a whisky and pours it into a cup full of Bretheda Bubbles (with me) tea, then adds a squirt of honey. "A nightcap... then off ta bed. An Buff-Bot? Dun go practicin' your shaking spear tonight. Ahm beat and need a good nighty night sleep. Where did mah Renkroda stuffy go? Garcon? Did you steal it again??"
He laughs at the vision of his future self. "Whelp... guess ahm a gonna make it home! Gotta get me some new roommates though. Thems a bunch o' real characters."
Just as the vision fades you can see one of Zarg's roommates open the door to reveal a dwarf dismounting from a castrovelian beast before saying something completely unintelligible. Be careful what you wish for...
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Teka stops behind one of the pillars as she takes one of the serums the Starfinders had supplied the party. She winces a bit as her wounds start to mend and she responds to Maxamas, "I'm glad your confidence wasn't at all affected. I will count my lucky stars though that I managed to stay in one piece with all these chronological beasts tearing through making a ruckus. Just the glare from those hounds was enough to bring me low."
As Teka closed her eyes she thought of her future. She was looking forward to seeing her grandchildren gathering around her all wanting to know about the grand adventure she had just been on.
She was telling them of finding puzzles within the deserts of Akiton and how her team resolved them. She handed out paints and plastic planets for the children to play at solving the puzzles, or in once case repaint the surface Eox with pink flowers.
Along the way she tells stories of the people she met during the adventure. She tells the children of the colorful, wonderful party members she had met. Although she does omit facts like Srudez's smoking habit. She also tells the party of the friends they met within the tomb. Of Felise, the silent librarians, and the inevitable sentinel. She showed some common signs to the children although it was not as silent as the library was. One of the children proudly announced that they were going to grow up to be an inevitable.
That was enough to let her bear the pain as she stood back up and readied once more along her fellow Starfinders.
The mist within the Eternity Arch clears, as the time dimensional is shunted away and replaced by the transparent figure of a dragonkin clad in an explorer’s outfit. “I’ve attuned it!” Felise cries, her face lighting up. “The Arch is stabilized!” As the dragonkin figure within the Eternity Arch grows more substantial, Felise reaches toward her, tears streaming down her face. “Heraxia! Is it really you?” She cries.
“Felise!” The dragonkin reaches out, but as their hands near one another, Heraxia’s flickers, fading into insubstantial mist once more. “So, you’ve been investigating the Arch too?” Heraxia looks over the Starfinders assembled around the room, blinking back tears. “I see you’ve been getting some assistance as well. The Pathfinders have been helping me try to return home from here, but...”
Felise examines the archway for a moment and frowns, quickly sobering. “It’s not strong enough, is it? It’s completely attuned to your time, but you’re still wavering.”
“I can’t step through,” Heraxia says. “This time keeps pulling at me, holding me here. But I think I have a solution. The Pathfinders will put me into stasis by sealing me in a chamber within the ruins. Look for the secret door at the back of this room, behind the Eternity Arch.” Her voice grows fainter as she speaks. “I’ll...be waiting...for you...”
As Heraxia disappears, the Arch’s glow fades, the symbols carved on it freezing in place. Felise turns back to the Starfinders, drawing herself up to her full height. She takes a deep breath, then says, “Well, let’s go have a look.” After a careful inspection of the chamber’s back wall, she presses a panel, and the wall swivels open to reveal an ovular vault built of smooth red stone devoid of any edges or angles. A sealed metal and glass sarcophagus stands at its center.
Felise hurries over and, examining the pod’s controls, then quickly adjusts a few dials. The pod slides open with a hiss, revealing Heraxia’s sleeping form. As Felise reaches for her hand, the dragonkin’s eyes open. “At last,” Heraxia murmurs, taking Felise’s hand.
“At last,” Felise echoes, beaming. Through her tears of joy, she glances back at the Starfinders. “We are together again. We can’t thank you enough for your help. If you ever need anything at all, please don’t hesitate to call on us.”
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"Nothing like a love story," Kneepuncher sighs as Heraxia and Felise get reacquainted. "Especially when I get to punch a few monsters from out of time along the way."
Once they turn back to the Starfinders, he steps out of his armor and approaches. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Heraxia," he says, offering a hand to the towering dragonkin. "And welcome back to Akiton, circa exactly when you need to be. I don't want to interfere with your reunion, but it would be an honor if you would call on me in a week or so, perhaps? I know a lovely tea shop."