Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets you plus up to one willing creature per 3 levels, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Greater Command has a range too, but is probably too simple to accomplish much.
IFF it isn't willing for telepathic bond, there is also Dominate Person. This could actually be really nice, forcing the Aqlath to take Ajithu back to his body and his friends.
You can send a short telepathic message and hear simple telepathic replies. Any living creature within 10 feet of you or an intended recipient also receives your telepathic message if it succeeds at a DC 25 Perception check. You must be able to see or hear each recipient.
Beyond that I think I'm out of options.
"Wellllllllllll, I have a headache and I don't like my odds of putting my skills against my ability to resist this flasher." Shocca follows out to the hallway. "I'm sorry, I think we need to search for him. I'm confident that he's been body swapped with some sort of cow-like being. Given technological constraints, I'm hoping the cow's body is nearby." She shrugs, fighting off melancholy.
Ajithu wriggles unhappily in Arc's grasp, but quickly realizes its not in immediate danger.
Shocca will stand by the northwestern door and stab first herself then Arc with a needle. Her needle has a swirling blend of multicolor ingredients. "breach, breach, breach!"
Shocca and Arc ready themselves for trouble and then open the next door. This room appears to be a medical clinic of sorts. It contains an unusually shaped capsule with a rounded lid in the center. Racks of medical supplies line the western and northern walls, while a wall of opaque spheres in cradles line the eastern wall. Directly across from the room’s only entrance is a cabinet about three feet square sitting atop a shelf. The cabinet’s front hatch is missing, and it’s partially filled with a gross greenish paste that’s spilled out its hatch and stained the counter beneath it with a nacreous green trail of slime. An armored hulk of a humanoid crouches behind the room's central capsule, though its bulk means that it isn't much of a hiding place. Glowing shackles of force hold it bound, though there's enough slack for it to move around most of the room. You immediately recognize that the creature is an Aqlath, one of the furred humanoids you saw and then eradicated in one of the Sivvan simulations.
Its eyes are wide and it watches you warily, but its evaluating gaze is clearly intelligent. It tenses as it awaits you to make the first move.
|
Arcalinte looks back at the aqlath. Since Ajithu-Ko was not there to speak to its mind directly, he'd have to resort to the only other communication he could think of: the language of their enemy. He keeps Skyndi sheathed and raises his hands in a gesture of non-violent intent.
"We saw what the Sivv did to your people, noble aqlath," he says in Sivvan. "For what it's worth, I am sorry. And I am sorry that I can only speak to you in their tyrannous tongue. I am Arcalinte Soter, we fight against the Sivv. What is your name?"
The aqlath shows no sign of having understood your words, and the mismatch between Arc's open palmed gesture and the harsh sivvan tongue seems to leave the alien wary and confused. It flexes a hand and a golden staff teleports into its grasp. It raises the weapon defensively... One wrong move might lead to hostilities.
Shocca a hand up in front of her tentatively, but stutters as she realizes she hasn't the words - or language.
Where eloquence fails, Arc's patient gestures of peace seems to smooth things over a little. However, rather than answering Arc, the aqlath begins to cast a spell - seemingly intending to cast it at the solarian. It beckons Arc into its reach.
Arc steps forward and the aqlath touches him, imparting knowledge of the native aqlathian language. The towering furred humanoid rumbles with tense uncertainty for a moment before speaking again - this time while Arc can understand her "Though you are of unfamiliar species, I take it you are escapees as well? Though you sound like the Sivv, I sense none of their malice in you. You may be one of their servants, but if you are my position can become no worse than it already is." She huffs, cold air billowing from her "Tell me, what of the war? I fear I have been captive for longer than it seems."
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Yes, we are escapees indeed," Arcalinte replies in the aqlath's language this time. "I apologize for addressing you in their language before, but wasn't sure if there was another way to communicate with you that you might understand."
At her question, Arcalinte bows his head.
"I have...both good news and bad news. I'm afraid what little the Sivv tried to make us believe about your people and the war with you did not show its eventual outcome...it has likely been thousands of years since that time, lost to The Gap. The good news is that the Sivv were defeated, their Dominion broken. Those thousands of years I speak of have been free of Sivvan tyranny. This Ark has only recently awakened as a result of the Sivv's greatest weapon, the Stellar Degenerator, being unearthed and destroyed. I know because my hand helped drive a starcruiser into its heart to ensure its power would never be turned on innocent stars, whether by Sivvan tentacles or the hands of modern evils. The automated systems of Ark Prime have brought it to the Pact Worlds, our home, to try and seize the core of Absalom Station, our seat of government, and use its power to conquer the rest of the system and reignite the flame of Sivvan conquest. I won't let that happen, so my friends and I managed to get aboard this vessel and are trying to find a way to disable it from the inside. Will you help us? I will gladly free you as well, no matter your answer. What is your name? As I...crudely indicated, mine is Arcalinte, Arcalinte Soter. This is Doctor Shoccar Nemac, or "Shocca" for short. Our other companion, Ajithu-Ko is...indisposed at the moment, we think a Sivvan security device may have...swapped his consciousness with that of an animal kept somewhere on this floor."
As he speaks, he begins trying to locate a control panel or computer that may release the prisoner.
Shocca is happily surprised that things were able to be resolved peacefully. She moves in, nodding in thanks at her introduction. "Hello, nu-friend. How long have you been shackled? Do they rub, are you injured?" If welcome, she moves in to examine the aqlath for wounds. "Wait, why are you armored? What hell did you escape from?" She nods along with Arc. "Yes, we hold no love for the Sivv. We are looking to save our companion from their devious trap, then stop the Prime before it destroys our society."
The aqlath is quiet for a while, taken aback by Arc's story in more ways than one, but eventually she says "I am Kalthlo, war-leader of A'nth, bearer of memoirs. The news you bring is... disturbing. I knew the Sivv invaders had strange magic that could trap people in time, but to think it would hold for thousands of years? In that time, even if the line held against the Sivv, my people will be as alien to me as yourselves, I expect." Her eyes bead up with ice crystals "My love long gone, surely."
She takes a moment to mourn her lost past, but not too long before she says "I will gladly help you if you aim for the ruin of the Sivv. I escaped from stasis myself several moons ago, discovered that this place serves as the Sivvan seat of power aboard this vessel, and attempted to infiltrate it. To my shame I was captured once more and bound here, I suspect because there is no more fitting prison in this part of the vessel." She points to the medical pod "The sivv that bound me tapped that device many times until these bindings secured me. I have tried many times myself, but have not been able to undo the effect."
"As for your ensorcelled companion, I am afraid I have seen little more than this room for the past several moons."
"Well, I do have some experience in tapping devices..." She moves in to the device. "War-leader of the A'nth, you say? Unfortunately, I must agree. I have not heard of your dignified people. But I'm sure they lived many generations of success away from the Sivv horrors."[b] She continues to speak - more or less comfortingly - as she types.
[b]"Well, my working theory was that his brain would be one room over from his body. If you haven't seen a cow-like being that is suddenly displaying signs of brilliance... must not be in here." After rescuing Kalthlo, she takes a minute to review the shelves for anything of technical or medical value.
The controls on the med-pod's restraining devices are a little hard to parse, but Shocca's technical skills are more than ready for it. In just a short time she has the glowing shackles released. As she works she notices that the med-pod seems to function on similar principles to the healing equipment within the simulation you all went through. By entering, a creature could be submerged in the same breathable healing fluid you encountered previously. This particular machine has only enough fluid stored for one more usage.
Further exploration of the medical programs reveals that this place not only was used to treat minor injuries on the deck, but was also the site of experiments conducted by one of the lieutenants working on the deck. This sivv researcher captured a variety of small or tiny aliens from among the conquered worlds and was hoping to conduct extremely long term experiments that would have run while most of the sivv are in stasis. It seems these were never fully set up, but the captive aliens are still being kept here in perpetual animation within the force-globes along the eastern wall.
In addition to that unpleasant revelation, Shocca notices that the med-pod has one other function. It appears to have the capability to synthesize various exotic compounds that might be used to produce truly extraordinary serums. Shocca feels she's on the cusp of understanding exactly how she might use those. .
Finally, Shocca checks the shelves and finds a small hoard of medical supplies, including a spell gem of regenerate, two spell gems of greater remove condition, three spell gems of remove radioactivity, and four life fluid hypopens.
...but the captive aliens are still being kept here in perpetual animation within the force-globes along the eastern wall.
...
"Ajithu! AJITHU-KO!" Shocca runs past the hoard of delightful and valuable medical supplies, the medical marvels, the med-pod's hint at further glories and unknown knowledge to find her friend the Cow. She begins to rip into the force globes with abandon.
The series of force-globes rest in niches within the cabinet on the wall, where their conditions are maintained in a stable equilibrium. You can pull them out of their niches with a good tug . All of them are opaque, so there's no telling what might be inside them, and their construction makes them incredibly solid against internal or external harm. For people as well-equipped as yourselves, you likely have the firepower to crack them open. However, it may be possible to deactivate the whole experiment and open up all the spheres via the medical pod's systems.
"Hrmmf." Her mouth twists in agitation. "Nothing's ever easy." She puts the ball on the shelf and turns to the other two beings. "There are likely longterm experiments in these globes. I'll try to let out the creatures inside. Be on your guard. Some may wish to harm us. But hopefully one houses the mind of our friend." She begins typing into the medical pod's system, occasionally muttering to her rubber duck.
Shocca works her way through the system, evading little tricks left behind by the sivvan lieutenant that set all of this up. In a few cunning keystrokes she gets access to the experimental backend and is able to issue a command to abort. Abruptly all twenty force spheres dematerialize and a wave of pale healing fluid that was contained in each one washes onto the floor. Within each niche you find a tiny alien in a wild variety of types, most of which are abruptly scrambling about and panicking in their newfound freedom!
Kalthlo offers an "Oh, dear. Did you intend to do that? What will happen to them?"
Ajithu slathers towards Shocca excitedly, leaving a trail of slime in his wake.
Shocca, Kalthlo and Arc see one of the freed animals, a grey furred snake-like thing with four googly eyes, wriggling its way directly toward you. It moves surprisingly fast for not having legs and being weighed down by its soggy coat.