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After resting on Absalom Station for some time, Arnold Rimmer is once again called upon by Starfinder Forum Member Chiskisk for help with a 'small' task, via a holo-message that is played back to you just after you enter the Drift on your way to your destination.
"Hello old friend! How have you been since the Kishalee debacle?
Several years ago, Pact Worlds explorers discovered an inhospitable little ice-planet of a planet that they named Jedarat. A group project cosponsored by
AbadarCorp, the Xenowardens, and a start-up company called New Horizons Luxury Retreats began terraforming Jedarat to turn it into a wintry resort world. As they worked, scientists and engineers uncovered pieces of some ancient technomagical facilities buried within the ice. AbadarCorp xenoarchaeologists began exploring the accessible portion of the ruins, even as resort construction efforts continued apace.
Recently, a team investigating the ruins of Jedarat stumbled upon a tunnel leading to a larger section of the facility deep underground. They accidentally restored power to this part of the facility, and its computers interfaced with the nearby terraforming equipment, creating climatic chaos. The team became trapped within the facility by powerful automated defense systems and a fierce blizzard in the valley above them. The corruption of the terraforming equipment threatens to spread throughout the planetary network, putting all corporate progress on Jedarat in jeopardy. The organizations invested in Jedarat’s future have much to lose, and an old friend of mine at AbadarCorp reached out to me.
Ancient and dangerous technology seems to be your area of expertise. Moreover, the Starfinder Society has a vested interest in investigating the planet of Jedarat - according to the xenoarchaeologists on the ground, the ruins exhibit “potential similarities” to the Drift Rock previously investigated by you.
I want you to explore the ruins on the Society’s behalf, prioritizing the analysis of architecture and technology. I would like a full report of any findings, including your professional opinion about whether Jedarat’s ruins are connected to either the kishalee or sivv empires. Of course, you well be handsomely rewarded - for useful data, I am authorised to compensate you to the tune of 100,000 credits!"
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Rimmer learns the following:
New Horizons Luxury Retreats was relatively unknown in the Pact Worlds until they cemented a deal with AbadarCorp and the Xenowardens to terraform Jedarat into a winter resort. This joint project began 7 years ago and is nearing completion.
New Horizons Luxury Retreats recently recruited several ex-employees of Paradise Resorts, the company responsible for the disastrous VIP resort opening of New Elysium in the Diaspora that lead to guest deaths and injuries. The similar employee rosters have spurred nasty rumors that the “curse” of Paradise Resorts now plagues New Horizons.
AbadarCorp saw potential in the remote world. Together with the start-up company New Horizons Luxury Retreats and the Xenowardens, AbadarCorp purchased construction rights and began terraforming Jedarat only a year after its discovery.
While Jedarat isn’t home to any known indigenous sentient life, mysterious ruins cover the surface of the planet. The architecture and materials found within these ruins don’t match any records of known ancient civilizations. A series of AbadarCorp xenoarchaeology teams have explored the ruins, but the ruins’ origins and purposes remain a mystery.
Conspiracy theorists believe Jedarat was once home to a powerful ancient civilization whose technology far exceeded that of the Pact Worlds. Depending on who’s asked, different conspiracists believe this alien species might have designed all life in the Pact Worlds, conquered many systems in the Vast before ultimately destroying themselves, or simply hid away in the subterranean structures beneath the ice.
Few facts are known about sivv anatomy or culture, save that they were a nonhumanoid species who relied heavily on technomagical devices and weapons. They were conquerors who perpetually warred with another mysterious species known as the kishalee, and their civilization apparently declined long before the Gap.
As you enter Jedarat’s atmosphere and prepare for landing on the icy world, you can spot the project’s significant progress, complete with efforts at commercialization. Cheerful holo-billboards rising from the snowy ground feature several picturesque wintry scenes: quaint villages nestled among snow-capped peaks, sapient species partaking in winter sports, and ads for cozy log cabins equipped with state-of-the-art home upgrades.
Partially constructed communities dot the planet’s mountainsides and valleys. Vast forests of cerulean coniferous trees surround these idyllic villages, and ski lifts traverse the frozen hills. However, the constant blizzard raging over the planet’s surface obscures much of this winter wonderland.
Even though you have been given planetary coordinates for a landing site (near a chalet converted into a disaster relief HQ), fierce winds whip at your starship, drive blinding snow into the viewports, and obscure scanner readings, all of which make navigation more difficult than usual.
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Rimmer easily lands the ship, as if there was no inclement weather around at all!
Rugged mountain peaks covered in lush forests rise from Jedarat’s frozen surface. Sprawling construction sites nestle within the mountains and valleys, the heavy equipment and incomplete structures nearly indistinguishable beneath mounting snow drifts. Glimpses of a luxurious log-and-stone building perched on the edge of a steep valley appear through the torrential snowfall. The chalet radiates warmth and inviting golden light from its glass picture windows, and sword-like icicles hang from its eaves.
As you get closer, you see that the structure is a beautifully constructed, two-story alpine lodge with gleaming solar panels integrated into its slanting rooftop. A stone path lined with evergreen shrubs leads to the building’s main entrance: a polished wooden door adorned with an intricately carved wreath of interwoven pinecones and antlers. Throughout the grounds, holograms of pale elves engage in a playful snowball fight while service bots in the shape of burly humanoid mountaineers greet passersby and offer directions.
The festive theme continues inside the chalet. Evergreen wreaths decorate the building’s polished log interior, and stone fireplaces crackle with warmth and light. Instead of housing cheerful vacationers, however, the chalet’s lobby teems with besuited corporate workers anxiously chattering into comm units. The nearby gift shop was recently converted into a first aid station, and the upstairs recreation center currently serves as an emergency conference room.
It is there that you meet with the ranking AbadarCorp executive running the operation here.
Eisyfina Nott is a tall, elderly human woman with umber skin and a cybernetic optical implant in her left eye that gives her the appearance of heterochromia. She wears a slate-gray suit with AbadarCorp’s logo on the lapel. Her silver hair is styled into a sleek bob. She carries a slim white datapad and wears a matching wireless device affixed to one ear.
Ms. Nott invites you into a spacious upstairs loft lit by a roaring fire. The walls and floor of the room are constructed of unfinished wood, and its only furnishings are a few folding camp chairs near the impressive stone fireplace. Floor-to-ceiling picture windows provide a view of the incessant snowstorm outside. Ms. Nott greets you politely, but it’s clear that beneath her polished exterior, she’s gravely troubled about recent events. As she gives you an outline, a young human male assistant arrives and silently offers steaming mugs of spiced cider to the meeting’s participants.
Eisyfina Nott grips the snowflake-patterned mug tightly and takes a sip. She sighs at the momentary pleasure and raises her cup toward her guests, gesturing for them to follow suit. She glances around the room to make sure she has everyone’s attention and speaks candidly for the first time. “The ruins were always a problem. This planet is chock full of them. When resort construction started, we decided to build around the ruins instead of razing them. The idea was to add a bit of local color to the project.” Ms. Nott laughs ruefully. “Of course, we did our due diligence and sent teams in to explore. The teams found nothing of interest, and we still have no idea what ruins are, or who—or what—built them.
About a week ago, we discovered another set of ruins in the valley below. This structure was different. It was a walkway surrounding a passage that led deep underground. We immediately sent a team in. None of us expected them to find anything unusual, and New Horizons started drafting plans for an interactive museum incorporating the structure. The last communication we received from that team was disturbing, to be frank. I’ll send it to you.” Ms. Nott pauses and taps her datapad. The simultaneous chiming of multiple comm units instantly signals the file’s delivery.
“Talla, the team leader, reported that one of her squad somehow activated a piece of machinery within. That’s when our terraforming equipment went berserk. Before the comms went dark, Talla said the site’s defenses were back online. I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound good. Topside, we haven’t been able to disconnect or hack into whatever’s causing the disturbance.” She furrows her brow and takes a long drink from her mug. “We haven’t heard from them in over a week. They had plenty of supplies, but they’re researchers, not trained combatants. I’m afraid something might happen to them long before they run out of rations.”
Ms. Nott gently sets her mug down on the stone hearth and types another command into her datapad. She turns the device to display a detailed topographical map of a valley with a set of coordinates marked in red. “This is the team’s last known location. I realize you might have other motives in accepting this contract. Rescuing the team and shutting down whatever’s causing this storm is my only concern. If you succeed, AbadarCorp will compensate you for your efforts.”
Ms. Nott also informs you that the team consists of Talla, a female quorlu; Ariad-N5, an agender android; and Nifri Zamas Gidren Sye, a male kasatha. She insists that they’re professionals who have had no problems exploring other ruins in the past.
The short video-clip that she sent you is fairly grim viewing.
The shaky footage pans a circular room crowded with machinery. Lights link from what appear to be computer consoles, though the technology differs from anything found in the Pact Worlds. The camera’s operator flips the device to reveal herself as a quorlu bundled in heavy thermal gear. Two other humanoids huddle in a corner behind her. “We woke it up,” she whispers in Common. A warning klaxon howls in the distance. “Dear Gods, the defenses are back online!” The camera shakes violently, and the footage ends abruptly.
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Ms Nott nods, and clicks her fingers.
Immediately, a hovering aide brings her some gold-embossed AbadarCorp letterhead, upon which she writes a brief letter of introduction, before affixing her personal hologrammatic seal to it.
"It should not be a problem, but just in case, that should serve as suitable identification to prove that you are a fellow contractor."
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The section of ruins where the xenoarchaeologist team disappeared is located 2 miles away from the chalet serving as a disaster relief command center. Power outages make using nearby ski lifts impossible, and visibility and landing concerns rule out air travel. Subzero temperatures , deep snowdrifts, and powerful winds turn what would otherwise be a brisk but scenic hike into a dangerous expedition...
About halfway to the ruins...
...the snow that you are crossing crumbles away, revealing that it was a delicate snow-bridge over a *deep* chasm!
Fortunately, Konkrud manages to scramble out of the way just in time, whilst Rimmer is saved from reaching near-terminal velocity by the fact that he has Mk II Force Soles installed, leaving him standing on thin air over a positively abyssal chasm.
At the foot of the slope, the supposedly hard-packed snow proves to be a deep snowdrift, and Konkrud sinks into it like quicksand, with a startled yelp!
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It takes the better part of ten minutes, but an exhausted Rimmer finally manages to free his plucky Space Goblin companion, who only managed to survive thanks to his Environmental Field Collar.
Having survived this final obstacle, the comedy duo is finally able to make it to the 'disappearance' site.
Hardpack Valley is a sprawling construction site populated with cabins in varying degrees of completion. The cabins surrounding the village square at the center of the valley are completely built, while the buildings on the community’s outer edges are little more than foundations.
The village’s predominant architectural style is a quaint alpine design with a modern twist. A-frame log structures are augmented with walls constructed of metal and glass, and silver solar panels adorn the roofs. The cabins have open plan rooms, and each housing unit is equipped with a wooden deck.
As you approach the village square, you walk past heavy construction machinery, abandoned and barely identifiable beneath a blanket of fresh-fallen snow. Snowdrifts also conceal piles of lumber, metal, and other construction materials.
The impression of a sleepy village of modern log cabins is spoiled by the blizzard raging through the valley. The buildings surround a towering, blue-needled coniferous tree bristling with long, silver pinecones at the center of an otherwise empty promenade. Metal sculptures of cavorting squoxes stand beneath the tree’s snow-laden
boughs, and a nearby plaque bears the Common text, “Snowdrop Village, Est. 320 AG.”
A group of holographic elves with pale skin and flowing white hair gather around the tree and sing through the storm in faint voices. The simplistic but catchy carol about wintery wonders echoes ceaselessly throughout the village square, mercifully drowned out by the intermittent howling of the wind.
Konkrud pays more attention to the carolers' merry song as it repeats, and notices incongruous phrases in the lyrics, such as “protect the nexus” and “victory over the kishalee.”
Kokrud also spts a loggerbot—like the ones seen outside the command center chalet—wandering around the incomplete cabins to the west, apparently malfunctioning. This robot looks like a female dwarf with twin blonde braids whose chassis resembles a red-and-green checkered flannel outfit. The robot hacks at the side of a building with its axe, abruptly stops, and walks into a wall for a few seconds before finally correcting itself and wandering behind a nearby cabin.
Konkrud is positive that this is definitely unusual behaviour; something is wrong with the loggerbots.
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However, before you can investigate further, a pair of roiling clouds of angry air descend upon the party, and attempt to pound you flat!
Blow, Winds, Blow!, Round 1:
Rimmer (-)
Konkrud (-)
EAE (-, -)
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Even the elemental's renowned resistance to physical attacks is not enough to deal with being unloaded upon by Rimmer's penetrating attacks.
It is left a ghost of itself, before being burned away entirely by Konkrud's shot.
The remaining elemental identifies Rimmer as the biggest threat, and does a fly-by...
...scoring a solid hit, which doesn't do as much damage as it would have liked, thanks to the kasatha's resistance to kinetic attacks.
Blow, Winds, Blow!, Round 2:
Rimmer (-14)
Konkrud (-)
EAE (-)
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Most of the cabins are unfinished, being little more than shells.
The building directly east of the village square is a finished version of the cabins located throughout Snowdrop Village, used for tours and brochures advertising the future vacation community. A cedar double door decorated with a festive wreath faces Snowdrop Village’s promenade to the west. Rear doors open onto two spacious wooden decks to the north and south. Inside the cabin, plush faux-fur rugs cover the lacquered wooden floor, and a stone fireplace adorns the building’s southern wall. The cabin’s decor features a warm color palette and kitschy decorations meant to emulate a lived-in, rustic atmosphere.
The state-of-the-art kitchenette in the northern part of the cabin features marble countertops and stainless-steel kitchen appliances.
Rimmer (Konkrud understandably doesn't understand what is considered 'normal' for a kitchen) indentifies a piece of equipment that doesn’t belong in the kitchen: a sleek control panel designed to control the holograms and robots outside.
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The remnants of a spiral walkway emerge from the snow-covered ground like the fossilized backbone of an ancient beast. This ramp coils downward into a wide tube built into the planet’s surface. Both the ramp and the shaft it encircles are constructed of a spongy, purplish-red material reinforced with sheets of a polished metallic substance. A translucent dome of shimmering energy covers the opening.
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After a literal hail of bullets, Rimmer overloads the forcefield, causes it to break.
The ramp descends into a circular room surrounding a transparent, cylindrical chamber filled with a blue, plasma-like substance. A hinged panel built into the central tube bears a block of holographic pictograms. The walls encircling the area are mottled red and purple with brown, scabby patches festering at random intervals around the chamber. This material is reinforced with panels of glossy metal. Arcane symbols inscribed on these panels glow and gradually fade before appearing elsewhere around the room. The only exit from this room is a sealed circular aperture to the west.
The only other exit from the room appears to be locked with a biometric lock.
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Neither Rimmer nor Konkrud have any idea of the purpose of the room.
When it comes to the biometric lock, on the other hand, Rimmer pops it as if it was not there...
...which is just as well, since as soon as he *does* that...
A deafening klaxon sounds, and begins an audible countdown in a language you do not understand...
...however, the words separated by pauses *definitely* sound like a countdown...
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Rimmer and Konkrud make it through the door not a moment too soon, as a disintegration beam bathes the entirety of the entrance chamber in a 'cleansing' glow.
The space the duo has escaped into is a circular hallway surrounding the central hub of the nexus. Three unlabeled doors protected by more biometric locks exit this space.
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Rimmer discovers no trap, and easily opens the door.
This room’s vibrant purple walls subtly expand and contract in a motion eerily reminiscent of a living organ. A network of metal pipes connects three free-standing metal cylinders along the chamber’s northeastern wall. Three metallic examination tables with circular indents at one end occupy most of the room.
However, before you can explore the chamber properly, two of the metal cryo-cylinders explode, disgorging horrifically mutated bodies, covered in tentacles and mouths oozing strong acid...
...and they turn to look at you hungrily.
Echoes Of 'Research' Long Gone, Round 1:
Rimmer (-14)
Konkrud
PM (-, -)
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Rimmer and Konkrud fight off the worst of both spells, and although Rimmer's first shot misses, his second deletes the first creature from existence.
Only one of his subsequent shots hits the other, which distracts it enough for Konkrud to land a hit.
Letting out a mournful wail, the remaining creature charges Rimmer.
Echoes Of 'Research' Long Gone, Round 3:
Rimmer (-26)
Konkrud
PM (-40)
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Each of the examination tables has an integrated data-terminal, which can be hacked. Unfortunately, the text within is in a language that Rimmer does not understand.
Curiously, a very thorough search reveals a trap on a seemingly unremarkable section of wall...
...however, with Konkrud's assistance, it is revealed to be a secret door!
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Rimmer handily disables the trap.
Cracking door open...
Orange lights blink and displays flash from the array of computer consoles and machinery. Unlike the other rooms, the walls of this chamber are composed entirely of metal, making it difficult to distinguish individual pieces of equipment. Rectangular consoles jut out from the walls and floor around the chamber’s perimeter. A large, hexagonal workstation stands alone at the center of the room. Each of its six sides consists of a panel of switches, buttons, and keys. A holoprojector atop the device displays a three-dimensional topographical map of a mountainous planet.
Of more immediate concern, however, are the disheveled, tired, cold, hungry, and frightened trio huddled against one wall: A quorlu, an android, and kasatha.
The first of these pipes-up:
"Who are you, and why are you here?"
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Rimmer determines that the planet holographically displayed at the center of the room is Jedarat. In addition to Jedarat’s mountain ranges and valleys, the map displays the entire infrastructure of what was once a planet-spanning installation. All wings of the facility save for the nexus at its center flash orange, indicating the extensive damage dealt to those sectors.
Rimmer's first attempt to hack the computer ends in failure, thanks to him not being familiar with the language used to program it, which sets off a shock grid.
Fortunately, his second attempt is more successful, granting Rimmer access to the system, allowing him to turn off the system (including its automated defences).
A detailed dig through the system allow him to learn that these ruins are the nexus of a planetwide facility built by the Sivv Dominion, and that the malfunctions top-side are due to a Sivv virus infecting them, and trying to take control.