Troivayan advances, Varuthalla changes her loadout again, and Sefel fires. But Dispassion dodges both of the newer shots.
Initiative
Kosigan 0/108 SP, 35/60 HP, hasted
Gil-Oloth 24/45 SP, 18/48 HP, fatigued, arcane sighted, hasted
Dispassion stays where he is.
You faith in astrology is misplaced. My will is stronger than yours.
Initiative
Kosigan 0/108 SP, 35/60 HP, hasted
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Kosigan is designed to absorb punishment, but this is more than it usually bargains for. With its target choosing to stay put, it can unleash its full fury upon the ratfolk.
vs. KAC
(can be half/all converted to cold, electricity or fire)
plus bleeding 1d6 (Fort DC 20 negates)
vs. KAC
(can be half/all converted to cold, electricity or fire)
plus bleeding 1d6 (Fort DC 20 negates)
It then carefully moves up to level with its foe.
Kosigan' flies about Dispassion and tries to keep up the pressure. Their first swing is dodged by the assassin, but their second just manages to smack into the Laoite!
Bleeding and starting to look quite bruised and hurt, the ysoki's tail waves wildly around the khizar as he intones.
Finally, you are showing some fight. Perhaps you may deserve answers.
He then unleashes a flurry of stabs at the plant.
for
for
for
for
Or, maybe not he adds as Kosigan slumps and starts to drift as they fall unconscious from the combined blows.
The assassin now turns towards the rest of you. Her injuries continue to bleed and he’s looking poorer than before. But then again, so are you…
Initiative
Varuthalls 9/62 SP, hasted
Gunnz (cloak up) 81/110 SP, hasted
Troivayan 0/144 SP, 59/88 HP, hasted, fatigued, full gravity attunement, miracle-worked weapon
Kosigan 0/108 SP, 0/60HP, hasted, unconscious
Gil-Oloth 24/45 SP, 18/48 HP,fatigued, arcane sighted, hasted
Sefel 0/50 SP, 42/54 HP, hasted
Seeing Kosigan drifting slowly upwards , Gil-Oloth's comfortable drone races up to meet the khizar while the elf brings them starting back to consciousness.
Looking down, both can see Gunnz line up another shot, but narrowly miss with her sonic blast.
But Gunnz isn't the only shooter. Overriding her weapon's fusion's safeguards the slyph fires a crackling line directly at Dispassion. He tries to dodge out of the way, but gets caught in its arc and badly shocked!
Bleeding, bruised, cut, and scorched, the assassain looks down at you all and nods. His body seems to dissolve - fading into wispy shadows that spread and vanish into the surrounding gloom. As his cloak, armor, and dagger drop down to the cavern floor his voices echoes about the room.
Very well. You have defeated me in combat, and I intend to keep my promise. So: what do you want to know? Who Datch is? What she’s going to so? Why she’s doing all this?
Get on with it, there isn’t much time.
Why I am helping her? Dispassion seems almost surprised at the question. Datch is one of my students. One of the best assassins I have ever known, though not in the traditional ways. the voice says, a hint of pride in its tone. She was the weakest in her crop at all the physical trials I placed before them, but she persevered. And when I gave my initiates the final task of their training - to assassinate one of the Directors of AbadarCorp - she alone did not begin to prepare their arsenals or schedule her hit. Instead she merely sat at her computer and surfed, checking and typing on social-media spheres.
My other initiates began to make their strikes. Datch merely kept posting. A month passed and one by one my trained Laoites' assassinations failed one by one. Then the director was killed in an accident. A protest about a new data-privacy law on Verces caused the director's motorcade to be re-directed. As it moved through an area already suffering from an energy crisis, a riot erupted, and the director was slain in the chaos. A tragedy. But a planned one. Datch showed me her work: fermented unrest in the region about thasteron prices, rising opposition to the legislature's lobbying, unearthed offensive posts resulting in the dismissal of an AbadarCorp driver. Even examples of how she had used social media and digital tools to delay the schemes of her fellow initiates.
I could not be provider of Datch. A true Character Assassin. She moves in small ways to achieve great results. And her masterstroke is coming. For all her games against you and your group, her true goal is to remove the current executive Archdirector for AbadarCorp.
Abadar is a God, but one of, structure and order. AbadarCorp is his greatest institution, but true to His own nature it is bound by its own rules. Datch is already embedded within the corporation's leadership. With the Archdirector removed there will be organizational chaos to fill the gaps. Chaos that my student is primed to use. She will burrow herself into the corporation's very structure, subverting it from within into something only for Abadar, but for Grandmother Rat herself! It will be a her opus - corrupting one God's very foundation into yet another tool of Lao Shu Po.
Simple? To subvert a God's own crafting to work against them will be a theft of legend. And one with material impact and takings even beyond the certain earnings of Grandmother Rat's favor. Dispassion retorts.
To Gunnz's question his voice replies: Her workers and trolls have been working hard here. Their servers and drives will certainly have some of the data and 'evidence' you seek. Though not all I'm sure: Datch has covered her tracks well. Besides, there isn't much time for that in any case.
Her maneuvers to position herself in the needed place required an antagonist. Dispassion explains. A force to be rallied against, a scapegoat to be used to catapult herself to higher levels of acclaim. I know she considered several groups: the Aspis, the Xenowardens, the Three Crowns. But then your group worked with Zo! To explore some moon and find some dwarves…
The program was a special. Preempted the usual broadcasts. It shunted one of Datch's favorite vidcasts to a different time slot, which led to its views dropping, and then its cancellation. Dispassion pauses for a moment, then the voice exhales sounding slightly amused and slightly annoyed. That was reason enough for her. It is exactly how petty she can be.
At Kosigan's final question the Laoite states: Because it is time for you to leave. I already triggered the self-destruct sequence. Obvious bitterness drips from his voice. You defeated me fairly, but I do not intend to be captured by your Society, nor tried by you or the Stewards. I shall go to join Grandmother Rat. Goodbye.
Moments later, each of you hears an ominous beeping sound echoing through the room and the tunnel you came through. A female ysoki voice starts announcing from unseen loudspeakers 'Hi all! Just a heads up that self-destruction of this place is imminent. Please evacuate the facility and proceed towards the exit. Thanks!
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That was reason enough for her. It is exactly how petty she can be.
Varuthalla gives her best "are you kidding me" stare, and then just shakes her head. "Of all the stupid reasons..."
Momentarily taken aback, she snaps out of it when the countdown begins. "Well, this has been fun, but it's time to get the hell out of dodge. Dispassion, I hope you find what you're looking for with your Grandmother. I admit, I was not expecting you to be quite so honourable." She'll give a Damoritoshan battle salute to a worthy foe, and then moves to the exit.
"We need to hustle, team, if we're going to swipe those servers on the way by. No time for anything fancy - just grab the drives and let's book it!"
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"Don't get me wrong, I'm not nominating Dispassion for the Four Honoured Tooth Medal or anything. But he said he'd spill the beans if we beat him; and we did, and he did. Not only that, but he accepted his death in combat. Plus, he told us the base is going up. In combat, it was all his personal skill at arms: no poison, no lackeys, no disadvantages at all, really. He didn't have to do any of that. Honestly I was expecting more trickery and bullshittery from a Laoite assassin," Varuthalla explains while keeping up a brisk jog.
Debating Laoite ethical frameworks as you hurry back down the tunnel its only a few minutes before you reach the operations room. The hackers and coders are already scrambling as you arrive. Some are furiously typing final commands into keyboards while others stuff items hurriedly into satchels. Strangely not all of the grabbed material seems to be work-related: in addition to data-sticks a few of the agents are grabbing miniatures and tchotchkes. One is even clutching some vinyl as he prepares to leave.
Upon seeing you all of them pause for a moment. then they immediately raise their hands in surrender. “Oh sweet grandmother of all rats, they’re here!” one whispers. Another, a female brown-furred ysoki yells "yup we give up, you got us. Just take us with you! We've gotta get out of here!"
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"Come with us, we'll get you out. But you'll be telling us the full story on the trip back to Absalom station." says Gunnz
She eyes up the team trying to gather data, but ends up just yanking a pair of severs from a rack as she starts to herd the yoski character-assassins-in-training down the corridor.
"Try not to trip over the cables.." she calls out as a whole variety of them trail along behind her.
The 'techies' of the party connect and rush-download as much as they can while the rest of you yank as many key-looking hard drives and servers as you can. The hackers meanwhile literally fall over themselves to agree to Gunnz's terms. yeah yeah sure everything but let's gooooooo
You all scramble back through the maze of tunnels, tracking your earlier path in reverse (with some of your newly acquired evacuees correcting you when needed). Dispassion's voice echoes terrifyingly through the tunnels as you run, a maniacal laughter that is increasingly intercut by the sounds of explosions and ominous rumbling.
Breaking through to reach the surface you can look around the asteroid to see fiery explosions already rocking the rock. Your Drake sits where you landed - far too far away given the speed and increasing size of the bombs ripping this base apart. Suddenly, a starship emerges from behind the asteroid’s shadowy horizon, making a skillful landing just in front of the entrance. First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo greets the PCs through their comms: “Get inside! Quick!”
As the ramp lowers the hackers pour into Luwazi's craft while Starfinders shepherd you into the ship. The last of you barely steps onto the ramp before the craft is already taking off. The engines roar as it guns away and through the hold's viewports you soon see the entire asteroid crack and explode into fragments drifting out into the Diaspora. Luwazi herself comes down to greet you all with reflief plain across her face. "You made it out alive. Thank the Gods. And not alone," she adds, looking at the terrified and pale-looking Laoite hackers who fled with you.
"What happened? Were you able to learn anything before the base blew? What is Datch doing? What's her plan?"
Luwazi takes in Sefel's and Kosigan's explanations grimly. "So, it's not just about us. Datch is going for the big one: AbadarCorp. If she is in charge of the largest institution in the galaxy..."
The First Seeker shakes her head. "No! We'll stop her. I'm not sure what you've found is concrete enough to have the authorities brought against her yet, but it's the best we've gotten yet. Datch's plans are coming to fruition soon, but with this we have a grounding to get allies against her. Now its up to us to use what you've found to make sure that rat doesn't get the votes she needs to oust the executive Archdirector."