The snek perks up at the mention of batteries.
The controls at the top of the console are straightforward and seem to control a light show--an observatory?
Potentially more useful is the panel at the bottom labeled "circuit breakers."
”Oh no, duncha gimme thet look. Yer not gettin’ nunna my charges, snek”
Laurel, meanwhile, focuses on the machines…
"I will feed it, hopefully that makes it happy, and a Nufriend!"
Grizzi tries to feed the creature the battery.
Sani patiently looks at Grizzi feeding the snek, wondering if 'five-hand-freddie' is going to be his new nickname.
Laurel discovers that the panel bears an anti-tampering trap, using an old-fashioned manual method. It's a shock grid, which, well, shocks him.
The burst of electricity agitates the electrovore, which hisses angrily. The maintenance robot is also upset, or at least finally takes notice of the party. "Intruder detected!" It drops its broom.
Most of the party notice the robot's sudden shift to hostility before it's even raised its welding torch.
Laurel, Jazz, Grizzi, and Sanity's turns.
Initiative:
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP; DC 13 Reflex vs 4 electricity)
Jazz (AC 18; 17/17 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 14/14 HP)
Sanity (AC 17; 15/15 HP)
Electrovore
Maintenance Robot
Fengsai (AC 17; 16/16 HP)
Zashodu (AC 15; 20/20 HP)
Laurel’s hair catches fire as the volts arc through his entire body.
”YuyuyuyuyuyuyuyuYUYUYUyUYUYuYUYuYuYUuuuuu!”
"Get the Snek!"
◇) Saw it Comin'
◆) Get 'em vs Snek
◆◆) Disable Maintenance Robot
↺) Quip
ENVOY
Trigger You are about to roll initiative in an encounter in which your
asset is one of your opponents.
You read the demeanor, body language, and instinctive tics of your
asset as easily as you read a comm unit, allowing you to react a
moment before those around you and gain an edge in the coming
battle. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your initiative roll, and
you can immediately do one of the following: Interact to draw a
weapon, Step, or Stride.
DIRECTIVE ENVOY VISUAL
You single out an enemy for you and your allies to focus your
attacks on. This concentrated assault weakens that enemy’s
defenses. Select a creature within 60 feet that you can see. That
creature takes a –1 circumstance penalty to AC until the beginning
of your next turn.
Lead by Example: If you attack the target you select before
the end of your turn, you reveal a weak point in your foe’s
defenses. You and your allies gain a +1 circumstance bonus to
damage rolls against the target. As your envoy level increases,
so does this damage. Increase the damage by 1 at 5th, 10th,
15th, and 20th levels.
CONCENTRATE EMOTION ENVOY FEAR MENTAL
Prerequisites trained in Intimidation
Trigger A creature within 30 feet is damaged by an ally’s Strike.
You follow up on your ally’s success by hurling a cunning, welltimed taunt at a foe. Attempt to Demoralize the triggering creature.
Let's see if it responds to cryotherapy
◆ steps towards Electrovore
◆
◆
Laurel stalls the robot, while Jazz and Grizzi destroy it.
Nobody manages to hit the electrovore, but if it had mixed feelings before it seems ready to make its decision.
It backs away from Grizzi, shrieking and spitting electricity.
[ooc]◆ Step, ◆ Stride, ◆ Strike hit for
All PCs' turns.
Initiative:
Laurel (AC 18; 8/16 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 17/17 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 10/14 HP)
Sanity (AC 17; 15/15 HP)
Electrovore (AC -1)
Fengsai (AC 17; 16/16 HP)
Zashodu (AC 15; 20/20 HP)
"Get the Snek!"
◆) Get 'em vs Snek
◆) Stride
◆) Disable Maintenance Robot
↺) Quip
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Hey Jazz, you know that things eats electricity for breakfast, right? Sani says, being quite literal.
Sani unloads on the electrovore, but with cold, cold zaps and low, low accuracy.
◆
◆
◆
"Poor thing, I think it has an electricity leak," Grizzi notes as the skittermander rubs one scorched arm with another. "Perhaps, I can fix it." He approaches the creature, trying to cool it down.
This time the electrovore is surprised to be zapped, and fails to move at all! It looks even more surprised, then, to realize the attack was electrical. Surprised, but unharmed.
Shots and spells rain around the poor beast, mostly harmlessly. Laurel and Grizzi both manage to tag it, though.
All PCs' turns.
Initiative:
Laurel (AC 18; 8/16 HP, DC 16 Ref vs 3 electricity and Glitching)
Jazz (AC 18; 17/17 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 10/14 HP, DC 16 Ref vs 3 electricity and Glitching)
Sanity (AC 17; 15/15 HP)
Electrovore (-10 HP, AC -1, can't Sudden Discharge 2 rounds)
Fengsai (AC 17; 16/16 HP)
Zashodu (AC 15; 20/20 HP)
|
Zashodu shakes his head, one would think as if shaking off sleep. More-so it's because he didn't like his aim at his last attack. He opts for a more reliable, but also more potent spell.
Illusory pain wracks the electrovore.
Success The target takes full initial damage but no persistent damage, and the spell ends immediately.
Failure The target takes full initial and persistent damage, and the target is sickened 1. If the target recovers from being sickened, the persistent damage ends and the spell ends.
Critical Failure As failure, but the target is sickened 2.
Laurel is unfazed. So is his gun. So he fires back!
"Dumb Snek!"
◆) Get 'em vs Snek
◆) Strike
↺) Quip
It does not appear to like pain very much. It writhes as its head whips one way and another.
Laurel also tags it with a laser. It doesn't seem a fan of that, either.
Fengai, Jazz, Grizzi, and Sanity's turns.
Initiative:
Laurel (AC 18; 8/16 HP, DC 16 Ref vs 3 electricity and Glitching)
Jazz (AC 18; 17/17 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 10/14 HP, DC 16 Ref vs 3 electricity and Glitching)
Sanity (AC 17; 15/15 HP)
Electrovore (-20 HP, bloodied, AC -1, can't Sudden Discharge 2 rounds)
Fengsai (AC 17; 16/16 HP)
Zashodu (AC 15; 20/20 HP)
Oh, that's not looking good. Human don't stand electricity so well, Sani says, messes with their brains he adds, making a 'he's nuts' gesture at Laurel, as if to indicate Sani's own brain is very neurotraditional. To illustrate the point, instead of reaching for his IV needle, he reaches for his comm and dials a number.
Immediately after, Laurel's comm unit starts playing a very inspiring ringtone...
♫ Don't cry little friend
and don't you frown
Because the sun is back in town!
If you keep on smiling
and don't look down
You'll be the happiest guy around!♫
◆◆ Motivating ringtone (+5 to speeds, +1 to saves vs fear for Laurel and whoever is adjacent to Laurel at the start of a turn - duration 1 minute)
Grizzi takes another zap and a look of concern grows on his face. "You may need to cool it." He says. [b]"Let me help."[/ooc]
Laurel's sensitive ears are overloaded by the heinous rhyming - he rips his comm unit off his head and chucks it across the room.
Which.
Makes him feel better...
Sanity finds that his comm isn't connected to the net. Not that he needs it for this, but it seems like it's been searching for a signal for a while.
Grizzi's zero knife has gone glitchy and the blade of projected energy is on the fritz. But he still manages one good hit. As does Jazz.
Fengsai magically ages the electrovore.
It spreads its wings and flies a little further away from Grizzi, but doesn't make it too far slowed by Fengsai's field. It turns and blasts some bolts of energy at the party.
The first bolt looks like it could have been a devastating hit to Jazz if it didn't have to arc around the stairs. The next misses Grizzi completely.
All PCs' turns.
Initiative:
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP, +5 Speeds, +1 vs fear 5-foot aura)
Jazz (AC 18; 5/17 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 7/14 HP, all tech Glitching 2)
Sanity (AC 17; 15/15 HP)
Electrovore (-27 HP, bloodied, AC -1, Enfeebled 1, 5 feet up, can't Sudden Discharge 1 round)
Fengsai (AC 17; 16/16 HP)
Zashodu (AC 15; 20/20 HP)
Laurel conserves ammo, but keeps pressure, sticking his tongue out sideways.
◆) Get 'em vs Snek
◆) Strike
↺) Quip
Grizzi presses his issues with the electrovore.
The electovore ignores Fengsai's spell completely, but Laurel and Grizzi are able to compensate most effectively.
The egg-shaped console glitches a little from the electrical surge, but in doing so confirms that this auditorium is a planetarium. A model of the Pact Worlds system blooms into view, filling the observatory. Vivid representations of the planets spin lazily as though orbiting the console, which glows like a miniature sun. The outermost planet (Aucturn) flickers and occasionally goes dark.
A panel beneath the console conceals the wiring and breakers that control the power grid in this area. A circuit labeled "elevator" has gone out.
It can probably be repaired or re-enabled .
Laurel - a lover of the stars - let's out a gasp of pure wonder.
"WHOOOOOOAAAAAAA!!!!"
He spends the next ten minutes at least walking around the room, pointing out the celestial bodies he knows, and verbally wondering out loud about the ones he doesn't, making to ask everyone about all of the ones that he doesn't know, which is most of them!
Believing the others could benefit from some help with the computers, Grizzi puts his hands to work.
Jazz and Grizzi restore the circuit. It looks like it should function... and the party hears a muffled *ding!* from somewhere nearby.
"Happy to help!" Grizzi declares. "And, yes! That should be the elevator...unless someone's toast is done."
The skittermander looks around for the source of the *ding!*.
Or somebody has a very slow heart rate. Sani adds, also trying to figure out the source
Laurel responds to ding.
"Les go!" and rushes the elevator.
"Did them others wanna come too?"
He runs back to the room he thought he left the elevator in, but becomes lost…
It's not from the hallway. A panel lights up near the door on the eastern wall of the planetarium. That door opens to reveal a short hall and then an elevator--not the same one the party came down in, but on the upside this one might not be broken.
It would be quite an unusual place to put an elevator, but among the web of halls and catwalks it almost seems to fit, in a dream-logic-like way. Maybe these really are the Ghost Levels?
In the hallway Laurel doesn't see the tourists (who are probably still hiding in the room they claimed), but he does see someone else.
An android woman--no, she's human, those "circuits" might be tattoos--emerges from another room and looks at him with surprise. She doesn't seem to have been expecting a fight. It's not just that she's not wearing any armor, the clothing she is wearing seems pretty light (and her "fashionable" footwear is completely ridiculous). But she does seem ready for one, with a chakram in her hand, and she looks quite strong.
In any case, she seems intent on starting one! "Perish!" she shouts, loud enough that the rest of the party can hear her from the planetarium, "Praise to the Newborn for this emergent opportunity!" As she begins to charge, Laurel sees several other humans through the open door into the room behind her. Aside from the people, the room seems to be full of iridescent mold.
There's nothing stopping Laurel from falling back, least of all the woman who seems to be too busy shouting her strange prayer to actually move quickly. The adventurers could probably just pile into the elevator and leave, but... not if they still plan to bring the tourists with them.
Laurel and Fengsai's turns.
Initiative:
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Fengsai (AC 17; 16/16 HP)
Red Disciple
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 15/15 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 5/17 HP)
Zashodu (AC 15; 20/20 HP)
Yellow Disciple
Grzzi (AC 18; 7/14 HP)
Green Evangelist
"Aw jeez. Jus my luck. A robot lady" He pops off two quick shots before falling back quick.
◆◆) Strike x2
◆) Stride