Ajithu ceases to use his energy to speak over the comms, instead reaching out to his teammates' minds.
This dry wasteland is trying its damnedest to consume us...
He didn't think the lack of wetness would make him hate the weather so much, but it's really affecting his ability to think.
Ajithu and Arc try to navigate through the snowstorm, but upon almost colliding with what looks to be the exact same boulder for the third time in a row, its starting to feel like you're well and truly lost. Thankfully, Achlyss hears and is able to hear and guide you away from a sheet of ice falling from a cliff you were passing next to. The icicles stab deep into the snowdrifts with dull thumps.
You're bound to stumble across your destination eventually... right?
Lost? Or going in circles. I'm unsure which is worse right now.
He again pauses with Arc and Achlyss to go over what they've tried before, and how it's gone wrong.
Confident she's better as a lookout, Shocca keeps her eyes peeled for danger. "How we doin back there?" She pulls out her starstone compass and shakes it in frustration.
She walks up behind Ajithu and pats him on the back. "Don't worry, you'll get it." A soft needle pricks his fishy skin, injecting a little bit of go-go juice to help him find his way.
With all the group working together to navigate, and with Shocca keeping eyes and ears open for any potential hazards up ahead, you weave your way from snowdrift to snowdrift. Four minds prove better than one, and after dodging a hidden pitfall, you find yourselves getting back on track. Just as you start seeing some more blocky shapes off in the distance, the storm begins to thin, and before long you're walking among the half-finished buildings of another idyllic resort village.
Abandoned construction equipment peeks up through the snow near a sprawling array of cabins that are in varying degrees of completion. The cabins surrounding a village square in the center are almost completely build, while the remaining buildings along the outer edges are little more than foundations and a frame. Snow continues to swirl across your view, but the conditions are not quite as bad as they were on the way over. A metal sculpture of a cavorting squox stands in the center of the village underneath an artificial tree, eerie amid the darkness and howling winds.
Alerted by a sudden shift in the pitch of the howling winds, you all look up and notice two large patches of swirling snow that seem to be moving in defiance of the predominant direction of the wind. Ajithu immediately recognizes them as two elder air elementals, and they appear to be heading your way!
-
|||| INIT ||||
Shocca
Arc
Achlyss
Ajithu
Elder Air Elementals
Ajithu-Ko expresses more and more jubilation as their travel corrects and they finally arrive at the abandoned village. His helmet is bubbling by that time. Then he looks up and sees the air elementals...
I suppose they do not share our celebration of success.
Shocca looks up in alarm and dives away from the group towards the cover of the construction equipment. Pulling her rifle as she moves, she shakes her tail and moves it to touch her ring-device to the loaded dart.
A small bit of chemical solution is inserted in the blink of an eye. The ikeshti squeezes off a quick shock at the air elemental, which goes wild in the storm. A bit of magic transports the dart back to her rifle's chamber.
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Arcalinte breathes a sigh of relief as the village comes into view.
"Looks like we won't have to dig a shelter after all," he comments. He takes in the eerie scene and holds up his blade. "This feels familiar...be on your guard."
When they spot the elementals, he turns towards Achlyss.
"Just as expected. We hold the line and let them come for us, or do we go on the offensive?"
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Achlyss smirks at Arcalinte.
"Hold the line when we can catch them off guard? I'm going in!" he bellows.
His powered armor propels him forward, though he carries no weapon in his hand. He reaches a clawed hand toward one of the elementals. Though he doesn't touch it, entropy channels through his hand and extends ten feet toward the elemental.
"I am an agent of destruction!" he boasts.
The two air elementals reposition, each lowering to 40 feet above ground level. Both then ripple in incredibly quick succession, manipulating the winds around them. Blasts of focused wind jet toward Achlyss and Shocca. Achlyss easily stands his ground against the blast, but Shocca is bludgeoned and thrown through the air!
|||| INIT ||||
Shocca (23 dmg)
Arc
Achlyss
Ajithu
Elder Air Elementals
Yes, move a little closer. Ajithu urges the elementals. When they lower he rushes forward, not quite under one of them but close enough to get within range of his ice carbine rifle.
Let's see if this works...
"oof!" The ikeshti lets out a gasp of surprise as she is picked up by the violent air and away from the cover of the construction machinery. Her eyes are drawn to the equipment, mind working. No, my needles are more effective than an excavator. Brain over brawn, Shocca. Her mind works through the Pythagorean theorem quickly, calculating that both elementals are within range of her weapon. Her rifle snaps up, sighting on the elemental targeted by her allies. Yet, the winds blow her needle away once again. A touch of magic pops the dart back from where it lands and into her rifle chamber.
Shocca purses her lips, frustrated, and thinks through how these elementals are knitted together.
These are magic-infused elder air elementals. They have the immunities typical to elementals, being unable to bleed, take critical hits or be paralyzed, suffer from poisons, be stunned or sleep. They can't be flanked. They're also highly resistant to kinetic harm , though elemental energy effects them normally. This particular variety of air elemental is also particularly effective at fighting other airborne creatures, can turn into a whirlwind, can fire blasts of compressed air, and can alter the winds in a local area. Their worst defense is their relatively weak will.
Arc rushes in and earns a bludgeoning blast of wind to the torso for his trouble. That doesn't slow him much, and he's able to slash through the dense mass of wind at the core of the elemental. Achlyss follows with a thrown attack or two, the first of which carves through the closer elemental while the second narrowly misses.
The blue elemental starts to spin and rapidly transforms itself into a massive whirlwind! It flies down toward Ajithu on the ground, passing through Arc in the process.
Both get swept off their feet and trapped within the tornado, bludgeoned repeatedly by currently of wind in the process.
The other elemental repositions and sends another blast of wind at Shocca. The blast once more connects, but this time fails to knock her off her feet. From the angle... it looks like it was trying to knock her into the whirlwind nearby!
|||| INIT ||||
Shocca (54 dmg)
Arc (38 dmg, whirlwind trapped, plus 20 additional damage at start of your turn)
Achlyss
Ajithu (20 dmg, whirlwind trapped, plus 25 additional damage at start of your turn)
Blue Elder Air Elemental (58 dmg)
Red Elder Air Elemental
Shocca begins muttering into the microphone embedded within her helmet, giving the team a professor-style lecture on the strengths and weaknesses of the elementals. As she is about to dive into a comparison of them to various living species, she sees her teammates lifted into the air. "uh-oh! Uh... hold on!" She lifts her tail to her gun again, the microlab spitting out a new formulation into her dart. Let's weaken their will... She fires the weapon but her dart is swept off target again.
The ikeshti runs to put her back against the nearby terrain, cursing quietly.
While Shocca sends another needle off into the whirling snow, Achlyss gets in close and delivers a powerful blow to the blue whirlwind. A disintegrating pulse runs through the creature, though it stays well controlled enough that it doesn't drop Arc or Ajithu.
|||| INIT ||||
Shocca (54 dmg)
Arc (38 dmg, whirlwind trapped, plus 20 additional damage at start of your turn)
Achlyss
Ajithu (20 dmg, whirlwind trapped, plus 25 additional damage at start of your turn)
Blue Elder Air Elemental (96 dmg)
Red Elder Air Elemental
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Not good not good. I don't think we're in... someplace anymore... wait I lost the reference.
The kalo tries to wrap himself up tightly in a vaguely fetal position to reduce the damage of being beaten in the tornado.
Okay, okay. It's not as bad as I thought. I think I can try something from within here...
Ajithu projects the command for the elemental to drop what it is holding: himself and Arc!
----
The whirling blue elemental immediately heads over to try to pick up its victims once more, this time sweeping through Arc and Achlyss.
However, both fighters endure the winds and stay firmly in place as the elemental flies around them! Meanwhile, the red elemental sends a violent pulse of wind at Ajithu. The pulse collides with Ajithu from the side, sending the kalo flying a short distance through the air.
|||| INIT ||||
Shocca (54 dmg)
Arc (58 dmg)
Achlyss
Ajithu (84 dmg)
Blue Elder Air Elemental (125 dmg)
Red Elder Air Elemental
Ajithu grunts and complains telepathically as the elemental spits him out but continues to batter him.
Okay... that is ENOUGH of that...
He throws one hand forward at the nearby elemental, closing his eyes and concentrating to find it's mind.
Seeing the elemental crumple to the ground, the kalo strides away to stand near Shocca.
Shocca seems almost insulted that the elementals didn't target her. What, they don't think I'm a threat? She runs closer to the flying elemental, rifle pointed upwards. Probably more due to my complete lack of aim than my size though... Barely making it within range, she fires her needle at the elemental for the fourth time. Squinting, she tracks it's path. "Did I hit it?!"
-
The elemental strikes back at Arc with two whirling swings, buffeting the solarian with twin gales. He manages to dodge the first, but the second blow lands along his back as he attempts to evade.
|||| INIT ||||
Shocca (54 dmg)
Arc (97 dmg)
Achlyss
Ajithu (84 dmg)
Red Elder Air Elemental (41 dmg, -2 Will)
"Ha! For sun and fury, indeed!" Jumping up and down, Shocca gives herself a mental pat on the back. She brings her custom microlab around again, filling a fresh dart with a splash of liquid. She sizes up the elemental and fires the needle into the elemental's center mass. Seeing it not phase back into her rifle, she smiles. "Ajithu, watch your spells. I just gave big baby an elephant's dosage of analgesic. He's going to be a bit clumsy for a second, but he isn't going to mind a touch of pain either."
Arc and Shocca each score solid hits on the remaining elemental, weakening its winds and leaving it moving significantly more sluggishly .
|||| INIT ||||
Shocca (54 dmg)
Arc (97 dmg)
Achlyss
Ajithu (84 dmg)
Red Elder Air Elemental (96 dmg, -2 Will, flatfooted)
Hmm, that worked pretty well. Let's scramble the other one's eggs too.
Ajithu again closes his eyes and seeks the mind of the remaining elder elemental. He sends it a flood of images of the element of Earth, and frustrations of being stuck in place and not at all mobile and fluid like the wind.
Combat Over!
Although the elementals have been defeated, the gusts of wind and snow continue unabated, leaving the resort village shrouded and your view distance relatively short. Ahead within the village, you see quaint wooden lodges and cabins, as well as construction equipment all about. Everything is buried under a heavy layer of snow. Most of the cabins are unfinished, but a few of them are fully built and are thus protected from the elements.
As you explore, you also quickly spot a dig on the eastern side of town, where an ancient ruin has been partially excavated. Within a shallow pit, a curved wall of violet-colored metal undulates in patterns like a nautilus shell on its side.
Although it isn't moving much, you notice it isn't completely still - it seems to be slowly grinding the edge of its axe against the wooden wall of the building it's leaning on.
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Achlyss lowers his hand as the threat subsides. Nodding in satisfaction that his companions had at least decent combat abilities--maybe better than decent--he surveys the area.
"I came to in a resort village similar to this one--I don't think this is the same one, though," he muses as they explore the area.
To any that are winded or injured, he says "We could rest up in one of these cabins pretty nicely. Though--that excavation area over there seems of interest," he says, pointing toward some exposed metal.
Shocca squints into the storm, not able to see much. Not seeing anything of concern, she doesn't bother to pull out her broad-spectrum scanning kit. "Let's check out the cabins, then take a break before heading down." She looks over at Arc with doubting eyes. "Unless your health is as bad as that pun. Then we should rest up now." The little red lizard smirks.
Ajithu smiles brightly through his watery helmet, beaming at his teammates.
I bet you don't know what I did. They just fell apart, right? I punched their brains...
With relative peace against the whipping winds he takes a quick look around.
He spots something and points at the Northwestern building.
Hey! I see something there. A person? No, a robot. Dressed like a dwarf with blond braids and... a kilt? Was this to be some theme park with animatronic features?
He carefully starts a slow approach to see if the robot will react to his presence.
Your group cautiously approaches the robot Ajithu spotted leaning up against the northwestern-most half-finished cabin. It doesn't seem to notice you as you approach, at least not in any visibly obvious fashion. In fact, it barely moves at all except to slowly grind the edge of its axe against the exterior wall of the cabin. Those of you with knowledge of computers can tell upon observation that the jerky, repetitive motions suggest that something has gone wrong with its programming.
Looking around that cabin, you spot two more logger-bots, all of which are in the exact same condition - seemingly intact and functional, but locked into a nonsensical routine of carving into the wall of the cabin. They don't appear to be making much progress.
Shocca claps her hands together at the sight of the logger-bots. "Adorable! Just like the tourism district on Aballon." She eyes them from a distance. "Mistakes in their programming. Probably locally housed. I've met a few tech-heads who could hack bots from a distance. Not me, though. Better with the living, I am." She looks up at the winds and back at the bots. "Storm messed up the comms, may have forked with their code too." She shrugs. "Shall we check the other cabins before searching for the pits?"
I don't think code can be affected by wind. On the other hand I suffered some strange phenomena while debugging my way to failing my intro to programming course before giving up on tech as anything but a commodity.
He eyes the robots for several moments longer.
Yes, let's try this Northwest cabin first.
Ajithu glides towards the door for that cabin. If it looks safe, he'll slowly and carefully open it.
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Achlyss frowns at the malfunctioning robots, though only one side of his undead face droops.
"They look pretty useless," he says, not knowing much about technology that isn't a weapon or armor.
When Ajithu points toward a cabin, Achlyss reaches into his belt and pulls out length of nylon cord reinforced with carbon fibers--a taclash. He transfers it to his tail and it crackles for a moment with a flash of electricity.
"You want me going in there first," he says to Ajithu. "Make way."
One by one, you enter into the finished cabins starting with the northwest one. Each cabin aren't fully furnished yet, but they do have plush faux-fur rugs atop their polished hardwood floors. A few scattered pieces of kitschy decoration as well as some chairs and tables, sit in a few of the cabins. What most attracts your attention though is the easternmost cabin. This cabin holds a large freestanding computer console that seems to be powered and functional.
The computer-savvy among you identify that the console is intended to control the village's utilities - lights, water, local infosphere, etc. Right now, it doesn't seem to be properly integrated into the utilities. Instead, the console temporarily controls the town's robotic construction equipment - including the loggerbots. You might be able to inspect what's going on with them from here.