|
The exposed circuitry embedded in the walls of the technocrèche
releases chaotic concentric waves of lights, causing the wall to
resemble a pond hit by electronic raindrops. The building’s factory
floor is sectioned into large vertical bays, most of which are
empty except for the occasional component held up by rigging.
Magnetic conveyor belts snake through the floor, connecting
the bays to the production facilities located in the center.
Manipulator arms move erratically along the line, attempting to
assemble material that’s no longer on the conveyor belts.
Across the room, a stray mass of nanites hastily adopts the
form of scuttling insectile appendages on the base of a massive
robotic head, only partially constructed in an assembly bay.
With a loud screech, the robot’s cross-slitted face glows red
and it lurches to life, pulling free from the assembly bay on its
makeshift legs and surging forward.
|
Defend when your enemy is strong, attack where your enemy is weak. Sturmvanger's old trainer hammered that into him again and again when he was learning to fight. If this robot can shoot then shooting is of only minor tactical advantage and Sturmvanger is better up close.
He spreads his wings, leaping and beating them to close the distance. As he comes to land, he takes another shot.
After all, his trainer also always said "it never hurts to shoot a monkey flanker."
|
|
The Starfinders work together to finish the robot.
Searching around your find a database. It contains various plans and diagrams. Among these schematics are plans
for truly massive, dangerous hybrid robots, clearly intended
to both kill living things and destroy large structures. These
robots have a variety of body plans, notably a monstrous
spider-like being of light and technology, a kilometer-long
segmented robot with a head plate and overlapping plates
covering its body, and a winged monstrosity with probes and
a hexagonal mouth fitted with a large cannon.
In the basement you find a massive locked door, with a receptacle that
matches the shape and indentations of the Eternity Drive. Someone has tried to hack into this lock and clearly failed repeatedly.
Science check:
to open the door increased in violence, from targeted plasma cutting
to forceful strikes which barely left a mark on the door
|
Blitniz also investigates the "corpse" of the robot, in case it has any components that can be salvaged and useful.
"So, the attempts on this door got progressively more ... intense. They started with targeted plasma cutting, but at the end they were just trying to hack and bash into it, but with little success."
He points at the indentation. "Looks like we found what the Eternity Drive opens. Time to report back, then?"
|
|
Blitniz takes pictures of the door with his comm link, to include in the report, including any symbols and text.
Back with First Seeker Sarmak, Blitniz nods. "Yes. There were hostiles at both locations. One was building some sort of giant plasma cannon at the first location. We met a robot called Postulant Call 07, who said they were part of a group called Those Who Call, but they didn't like the constraints the group works under. They wanted to call the First Ones, somehow, and were willing to dissect other robots for parts as part of their goals. We eliminated that particular robot, and it seemed from what we could tell to be working alone, perhaps even in conflict with its group in some way ..."
"Then at the technocreche, we ran into a giant robot that attacked. We eliminated it, and then massive locked door in the basement, which looked like the Eternity Drive could somehow be plugged into it." He sends the images as an appendix to his verbal report.
|
|
Sturmvanger asks Kinpopo to perform any analysis possible before they leave the locked door. He briefly contemplates trying to break in, but it takes only a few moments of considering the force already unsuccessfully applied for him to know he doesn't have the right tools for the job. Not to mention the fact that the right tool IS available not far away.
"Blitniz's report is correct," Sturmvanger added. "There is evidence that the facility was designed to create doomsday weapons. My recommendation is that all data be copied and moved to a secure location then purged from the original site. Anyone who finds it will be able to created devices of extreme destructive potential.
"On a personal note, I would like to commend my two fellow agents on their performance. Without their skills and knowledge we would not have discovered half as much as we did."
|
|
Blitniz nods. "I similarly would like to say that Sturmvanger was an excellent and stalwart companion on this expedition. Without his assistance and protection, we likely would not have made it back with this information."
He motions to Raia, "And, to second Sturmvanger's praise, Raia's technical expertise was essential to uncovering the secrets of these locations."
|
|
Raia blushes slightly at the praise. I concur with my fellow agents, I would also recommend we looking into this 'Those That Call' group as it looks like thy are prone to violence to achieve their objectives. I'm fairly sure that the anacite we encountered was building a plasma cannon.
She hands Samak a datapad. That's everything I was able to copy off that weapons database sir. And there's some really nasty looking stuff in there.
|
|
"Yes. I think we should try it. If for no other reason than that it's going to bug me not knowing what's on the other side," Sturmvanger says, extending his big hand to take possession of the Eternity Drive.
"Do you guys feel up to it? I think we've done pretty good, so far."
Maybe he's getting a bit cocky but he grins at the Seeker. "Abyss, tell us where this other site is and we'll check it out, too."
|
|
"Solar planet destruction?" He sends a comm to Sarmak. "Please confirm that with this translation, you still want us to open this door."
Upon presumably receiving a confirmation from the boss, Blitniz shrugs. "Well, I guess orders are orders ..." He takes the Eternity Drive and tries to insert it into the location on the doorway.
|
|
He takes the Eternity Drive and tries to insert it into the location on the doorway.
The door opens revealing an elevator.
Collapsed walls and steel panels box in a settlement
without any of the exposed circuits, cold metal, or imposing
superstructures of Eternity. A few of the surviving buildings
have exposed metal bars and roofs made of a transparent
glass-like material overburdened with rubble. A wide road
embedded with flickering lights leads to a section that is still
traversable, while all other paths are cut off abruptly by rubble,
or an artificial barrier covered in glowing circuits. A dead
creature made of segmented metal plates lays
stiffly on its side, its entrails hungrily devoured.
|
|
You guys learn the following;
The city has suffered extensive damage, all purposefully
inflicted by powerful weaponry and other wanton acts of
destruction.
The entire city is penned in on all sides by metal barriers,
many of which cut right across a road or through a
building. These barriers reach from the floor all the way
to the lofty ceiling fifty feet above and are clearly the
handiwork of the First Ones. This makes it impossible—at
present—to determine the true size of the site. There is
no way past the barriers.
• You discover strange creatures, which vaguely
resemble pillbugs the size of cats, although they are
wider and have a flexible carapace with a metallic sheen.
This hard carapace is clearly a defensive adaptation,
meant to protect them from predators. These creatures
(called kurunukkus) are not aggressive and pose no
threat to you.
• Some of the city’s structures look like they may have
once incorporated plentiful flora or made space for
domesticated fauna, although by all accounts, Aballon
has never had a natural biosphere.
The wanton destruction of the undercity makes it
difficult to determine its original purpose, although it
does appear to have living spaces, commercial buildings,
and public gathering areas. Whether this is a false city
created by the First Ones as a testing site, or is a true
city that the First Ones built atop of is unclear. However,
according to history, there were no inhabitants on
Aballon before the arrival of the First Ones.
- - - -
As you move deeper in the complex:
The remaining walls of this building are covered in parallel
scorch marks, with some sections burned and warped, some
destroyed by shelling, and a few completely disintegrated.
The remains of a gargantuan robot slumped against the
southern wall peers through the original roofline of the ruined
building. The robot’s frame is covered in dents, holes, and
ancient scars. Scratches and claw marks crisscross its original
circuitry, disrupting their regular patterns. Similar scratches
appear on a few exposed rebars emerging from the wall.
• The wanton destruction of the undercity
|
|
Blitniz takes pictures and video with the comm unit built into his armor. "This place is pretty messed up. It potentially calls into question everything that we know about Aballon's history. Definitely warrants further study." He takes pictures of the scratches and claw marks.
He looks around. "So ... Sturmvanger, can you fly up above these buildings and get a look around? If we're sure the streets are clear, I guess we can begin searching the individual buildings. Start with the ones near the elevator and then move through the part of the city we can access?"
|
|
"Is it possible the First Ones weren't actually the first ones here? I don't know if that would make Those Who Wait happy, or angry," Sturmvanger comments as revelations follow.
He nods at Blitniz's suggestion, taking wing to get up onto the top of the nearest building (unless they're really, really tall.)
|
|
Blitniz fires his laser pistol, also toward the reddish one. "Let's try to take this out ... you know, before it devours us."
"Armor, calibrate defense against lateral target."
"Confirmation. Defenses calibrating," the armor's voice responds, plating and shielding shifting to provide greater defense against any attacks from the bluish one.