GM Cwethan's page

The sense of menace recedes before Dawn and Sajan's ritual, and the licks of noisome mist curl back into the corners of the room, dormant for now.

With the mist bears held at bay, you're able to quickly search the house, gathering the beautifully made statuettes, one of which is the darkwood one that you seek.

The rest of the house seems mostly empty, but you do find a map drawn on a piece of tanned leather, indicating in shaky Hallit where the woodcutter found the diseased tree that first infected the Farheavens.

Rather than tempt the mist bears further, you return to the town square. With all the required totems for the ritual, you turn to the shrine of Dolok Darkfur. It's overgrown and sorely in need of maintenance, but the shrine would still be immediately recognizable even without Amelia as your guide.

Near the center is a toppled statue of a bear, standing on its hind legs and looking both regal and fierce. Tatters of a once-brilliant cloak are still nailed to the shoulders, no doubt ripped off at the same time the statue was toppled and slashed, with four long gouges across the face. In front of the statue sits a low bench, now broken in two, that once held totems, offerings, and other items.

If you're ready to call Dolok Darkfur, you'll want to right his statue first. Presumably with Athletics, but if you have other thoughts then go for it!

This building, the largest in the village, was once painted white, with light-blue beams and window frames. Intricate carvings wind around the vertical supports, depicting bears and humans enacting scenes are familiar to Amelia as coming from somewhere in the Farheaven Clan’s history. Now, many of those carvings are covered by plants, the wood in many places is rotten and water stained, and the whole place smells faintly of mildew.

Despite the building’s disrepair, the only entrances remain doors on the northwest and southeast corners, preceded by short flights of rickety-looking steps. The doors are simple and unlocked. Inside the smell of mildew and dampness heightens. Thankfully the battered remains near the east wall don't add to the smell, just clean bones.

Nine small wooden carvings surround the body staring at it, each of them resembling a standing bear about a foot tall. Before you draw much nearer, Kalla notices hints of a sickly yellow fog curling up in the corners, and Laszlo feels a hot, snuffling breath at the back of his neck.

Because you learned about the Mistbears from the Skorvlovs you were able to notice the warning signs of this Haunt before it fully manifested! If you're trained in Religion you can attempt a check to ward yourself from evil, and anyone can try to lull the savage beasts with Performance... Or you could leg it!

"They were appearing in the big house, first as a foul mist, and then as claws and terrors besides. Perhaps they are the minions of the big bear who has fallen in the shrine. Perhaps they are being the trapped ghosts of his victims. Maybe the gods of the little idols are free."

"він насправді не знає, тому він просто загадковий," Klara adds with a smile to Kalla.

Kenner sighs. "The little idols are being in the big cursed house with the mistbears. The bowl- Of course they are wanting the bowl." With a sour smile he gestures, and Adula trots off to fetch it. She quickly returns from the house, carefully carrying a large silver bowl with a ring of soapy residue showing its current purpose. "You may have it. Besides, it is only fair. You don't happen to be bringing a large bowl either though?"

Kenner seems a bit surprised by the offer, but slowly nods. "We are knowing this place well by now. But we can be sharing our food besides. You were mentioning your own questions as well?"

The man looks piercingly at Kalla, then seems to come to a decision. "I can tell you what I am knowing of this place. I am Kenner Skorvlov, and my daughters are- Oh. Адула? Клара? Ви можете вийти. Принесіть кроликів."

A pair of young women appear from amidst the pines, longbows in their hands and field dressed rabbits at their belts. They're probably not twins, but the family resemblance is very strong.

"These are my my daughters, Adula and Klara. We have been living here since early last spring. It's a good place; we haven't been seeing almost anyone either. Besides, we do not know the people here who have died. Your people?" he asks Amelia. "You are having my sympathies."

The man curses under his breath in Hallit, then pokes his head out from behind the corner of the building, answering in Taldane, his accent thick with disuse. "I am not needing no help. Besides, such well armed folk don't need none of the help either, I am thinking. What are your questions so you can be going?"

In addition to the ritual necklace, Dawn also finds two other necklaces of hemp and leather, one set with garnets, and the other with stones of jade. Worth 9 and 7 gp respectively

You pause in your search to allow Dawn to commune with her spirits, but before she is finished, Sajan spies movement near the refurbished house. Creeping towards the back of the house is a middle-aged human man, armored in thick hides, and bearing a knobbly staff so new picked that it still has green leaves and vines wrapped around it. It doesn't seem that he's realized Sajan spotted him sneaking.

What do you do?

It takes sometime to gather enough fuel for such a fire, even if its purpose is more ceremonial than wholly practical. The woods surrounding are no longer carefully coppiced, so one of the easiest sources is the surrounding houses themselves.

...Which, Laszlo notices, you are not the first to draw on. Much of the simplest to remove, or most intact boards from the surrounding houses seem to have already been carefully taken. As you go through the town green collecting bodies that have been felled by either plague or brutal violence, Rising Dawn notices that the home of Tolvaj, who always used to experiment with new dyes, seems to be their recipient. Though the building still looks to be in disrepair, there are signs of careful, recent upkeep.

While Sajan keeps a weather eye on that home, the collapsed walls of the storage house near the shrine make it easy to search without losing sight of one another. In the storehouse, Dawn finds both a polished stone with a mottled pattern and a jar with a bee etched into the clay before it was fired - still full of unspoiled honey.

The next house on Seelah's list presents a new problem. More overgrown than some of the others, sheets of tangled ivy block off the different entrances, and just before she presses on nonetheless Laszlo recognizes it as itchleaf. It would be possible to get through without touching it, but not easy. Still, peering through the small gaps in the foliage, you can see several handcrafted necklaces hanging from strings run across the ceiling - including the one you seek.

Acrobatics could help you squeeze through without touching the itchweed, but there's of course other possibilities if you wish

The ruins of the old village are in the southern reaches of the Finadar forest. Even with what hunting trails you find, and a guide who has been down this path at least the once, it's almost a full week of determined travel beneath the dark pines before Amelia tells you that it's near.

You come across a dozen or so outlying buildings over the last miles before the town center, clustered more tightly together as you draw closer, but all of them almost completely reclaimed by the Finadar, with bushes, vines, and young trees poking through roofs and doorways. The center of the village is less overgrown, set in a clearing amid the close-grown pines. There is no doubt that the heart of it is what Amelia still recognizes as Dolok Darkfur's shrine, a large stone edifice surrounded by several other buildings whose once brightly colored paint has faded and chipped. Amelia also clearly remembers the God-caller's house; the place where she and Nelket dwelt with their mentor Roga while they were in training, the names of most of her former neighbors who dwelt so close to the shrine do not escape her either.

Bodies still litter the area, the ones you can still see on the ground nothing more than scattered bones.

The house closest to you and to the east is more overgrown with tangled ivy, but otherwise there is little to distinguish the old homesteads from here.

"You are kind, but... I would rather keep it."

It seems to Seelah most reminiscent of a heretic's brand, or a mark of justice - a punishment for broken faith

***

The buildings outside the walls of Mishkar aren't quite so nice, but they are still a neighborhood, not a shantytown, and you can feel the tenor of the neighborhood change as you draw closer to Amelia's home. The scattered effigies and marks of ritual that Sajan had noticed throughout the town are thicker here, particularly one symbol, easy to draw. Doors and walls are studded with eyes composed of angles and lines, watching, guarding against ill luck or baleful intent.

Amelia's home is easy to identify. There are the pears Nesket spoke of, and the purple door, but the dozens of eyes carved across her walls and door by different hands would surely have drawn your attention nonetheless, each of the eyes struck through the center with a blinding line.

"What family I have are all here," Nelket sadly smiles. "Like I said, there's nothing to hold us together as a clan anymore. Our home is gone, both homes. I can't do it alone." She nods in understanding as Kalla speaks too of the point of no return.

"Dolok Darkfur is very ferocious, as all good guardian spirits are. I hope that he will see there is nothing more for him to guard from you, but if he is lost to madness... There will be danger. That is why I cannot come," she pulls aside the shoulder of her dress, revealing an angry red brand that looks as if it has scarcely stopped bleeding. "If I come, he will know. There will be no time to give him gifts, to soothe his fury with rituals from better times. He will know." She pauses as if uncertain what she should divulge. "Amelia has a different bond. I will not speak of it further."

Sajan (and Kalla), You know that Dolok Darkfur and other gods like him are dangerous, but not on the same order as a greater deity like Irori, or even a demigod or demon lord. However, they can much more easily manifest and take direct action on behalf of their worshippers or against their foes. So many years with the center of his power plagued, his clan scattered, and no worshippers to give him offerings have almost certainly left him weakened.

Kalla, you also know that few gods escaped the Worldwound untainted and alongside their people. Many withdrew to realms beyond this one, and any that persisted beyond their homeland would have to have an incredibly strong bond to their people and culture.

"Dolok Darkfur is- was the god of the Farheaven Clan, our guardian. He appeared to us as a bear who walked and spoke as a person. He had been with us for generations, serving as a guardian and advisor to my clan until the plague came. I don't think it infected him, because of his divine nature, but I think it drove him mad in the end anyway. Watching us die from an illness no one could cure, one after another... By the end, maybe putting the sick out of their misery was the only thing that made sense to him?"

Nelket smiles carefully at Laszlo's offer. "She won't be able to help just by herself. Roga was waiting to teach us all of Dolok Darkfur's rites until we were grown, but in case of disaster he entrusted us each with half of a calling ritual for the god so that his death would never sever our bond. I know which talismans and offerings must be used and given, but he entrusted the prayers and chants to Amelia. She always had a better head for memorization; he said I extemporized too much." For the first time her carefully held grief truly shadows her face.

She breathes deeply through it and intones, automatically falling into some half-remembered rhythm as she describes what must be done. "There was an... idol, born of darkwood - a carving of a standing bear; a leather necklace strung with bear claws and black feathers; and a bowl, hard-earned silver, engraved with our people and our past. A stone, mottled with-" She flinches.

"Damn. I've seen the stone; it had a pattern on it. I think it had to be that specific stone, but I can't remember how Roga described it... I could draw it for you though, if you have the paper. The rest too, if that would help. Oh, honey! You need honey."

She collects herself and continues, "One must wear the necklace and place the bowl on the altar with the rock upon it. The honey must be placed to the left of the bowl and the bear carving to the right. You have to drip a bit of honey on the stone and then pour water over it until you fill the bowl. After that, recite Amelia's prayer and then wait. Dolok Darkfur should appear, unless he’s become so lost in his madness that he can no longer be reached."

She smiles sadly. "I haven't seen her in a few weeks... No, months I suppose. Amelia's place is outside the southern wall, near the stand of pear trees. Purple door, lots of crossed out eyes. I hope she'll help. She's kept those prayers jealously, and I fear it would be dangerous for her to return."

The Jolly Hag is a small but cozy tavern, lit by a pair of clean windows on either side of the door and a fireplace near the back. Counters and stools line the wall, with a few small tables in the center of the room. Not yet opened for the day, the front of the house is empty except for a woman in a modest, functional green dress and off-white apron, who looks up from the bar at the back of the tavern as you enter. She's only in her midtwenties, but she looks and carries herself as if she were older, exuding a sad air of buried loss and resilient strength.

"We're actually not open ye- Oh!"Laszlo's face catches her by surprise, and then after a moment Kalla's concealing glasses get a piercing look. "Are you the Pathfinders then? I haven't had dealings with you before, but I'd heard your agents were-" she glances at Laszlo again, but doesn't elaborate. "I'm Nelket. I suppose I should say of the Farheavens since that's what you're- Maybe, once of the Farheavens? Jorsal- sorry, Captain Jorsal's letter said he wanted to learn more about my clan and past, but I didn't really understand why anyone would care..." She looks up at Kalla again, eyes searching. "Are you Kalla, then? He said the one who was urging him on was of Sarkoris, and the rest of you don't really have the look. Did you lose your clan too?"

She flinches, perhaps fearful she's poked a sore spot, and quickly carries on to fill the infinitesimal pause. "Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot to tell you. I'm one of only a handful of survivors of the Farheaven Clan; most of us perished in a plague about fifteen years back. We had a small village south of here in the Norinor, where my ancestors settled after fleeing the demons unleashed by the Worldwound. I was scarcely more than a child when the plague came; I served as one of the apprentices to our god caller, Roga, at the time.

"The plague hit fast, taking the elders and even infecting Roga near the end. He urged my cousin and I to gather the children and leave the village before we became sick as well, but it wasn't until I watched our god, Dolok Darkfur, rip the life from Roga that I gathered the children and fled."

She pauses for a moment to gather herself and then sighs and shrugs, continuing her story. "Maybe he'd gone mad? Maybe he thought he was helping? I don't know. I led- Well, my cousin Amelia and I, the other apprentice, led the younger children through the woods as best we could. Even if the children didn't really... Amelia can be... We did our best, her too.

"There are lots of people scattered about the Norinor Forest; they like their privacy and don't interact much with others, but they're not cruel, and they helped us where they could. Eventually we made our way to the Noyrus River and followed it north before heading for Mishkar, and we've been here ever since."

Nelket sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose before finishing her story. "Whatever remains of the Farheavens besides the few of us here is in that village. I have the closest connection to the old ways—to our god—but I barely remember these things. The others remember even less, if anything. Amelia turned to... other things. Some of the little ones could barely speak when we fled. I tried to keep us together, but it was hard, and all I could try to put at our center was... me. They didn't, don't trust Amelia. I wasn't enough by myself. I'm still Auntie Nelket to them, and to their children. Some have asked me to give their children their Names when they were old enough, but even if we might be a family, we're not a people anymore.

"If you want to know more about when we were, the only one left with answers would be old Dolok himself. "

Nothing further from your hobnobbing

Even in a town not given to priests and paladins, a Champion of Iomedae does still read as trustworthy, and Seelah and Laszlo are shown back to a room of old books, and even scrolls where the records go back far enough.

It's not the most coherent layout - like is commonly with like, but not uncommonly next to something entirely else - however, you're able to find recent records. However, for Nelket they are fairly scanty. She's lived here for about fifteen years, but owns no property, has no possessions or impact on this town great enough to be taxed in ledgers and notations instead of by coins and tolls. The only thing that makes her more than incidentally findable is that she's on the books as a former guardian of dozens of Farheavens.

"That answer your questions, errm, dear? I'm not supposed to just leave people with the books, and I haven't got all day to stand here."

"See that symbol the darker ones had on their compasses? Pathfinders. Guess the rumors about the company they keep are true..."

Strangers coming in from the woods and hills usually provoke a little healthy suspicion even in lands less plagued with ill-luck, and Kalla's glasses after all, do nothing to hide Laszlo's monstrous features. However, aside from a few cold looks and whispered comments, you don't face much trouble, at leas so long as there's nothing immediate to blame on you.

Laszlo will need a (diplomatic?) attendant to get access to the records, but will probably be able to help search. Kalla's efficient at hobnobbing around, so she'd be able to do both. Seelah's not likely to get more out of the rumor mill, but it is possible.

Sajan can't find any temples throughout the town, though he notices a good number of effigies, markings, and one or two ritual fertility objects that have been left out that seem to have religious purpose.

There is however a small shrine down against the walls of the caravansary just off the market. No priest keeps it, but a small altar to Desna awaits the faithful.

***

Nelket seems to be well known in town, and actually, generally well liked. However, Kalla and Dawn do notice that there's no pushback or surprise when Kalla claims to be her friend. She may be well liked, but no one expects that they would know that she has friends from Away.

Maybe it's her job? She manages (not owns), a small tavern called the Jolly Hag, even though "Didn't she used to be a molfar? A, uh, godtalker?" explains a very trailworn trapper at her booth. "Not here in Mishkar, but back in... where's she from again?"

Kalla, Laszlo, Rising Dawn, Sajan, and Seelah

It's early in the morning, just a few hours after sunrise, the ground still hard with the Iobarian chill when your long, long journey nears its end. The town of Mishkar sits atop a hill, surrounded by walls that are old but well maintained. People, mostly humans, stream in and out of the gates, watched over by sharp-eyed guards. Past the gate is a bustling market that draws most of the traffic, and beyond it is a town of low wooden and stone buildings. Most of the construction looks fairly new and of human design, with no sign of the cyclops remnants upon which most Iobarian settlements are built.

So where are the Farheavens..?

***

Before the long march:
Jorsal of Lauterbury had looked up as you entered. Even now, at peace, in his study at the heart of the Starrise Lodge the Venture-Captain is armored; his sword is still always within reach.

"The Worldwound is closed, in some small part due to the efforts of our own Society, and in the wake of that victory, we have discovered a number of old Sarkorian sites about that had once been too deep in the Worldwound to even attempt to investigate. Those areas are long twisted by contact with the Abyss, but one thing I had from my old mentor Drandle, and you'll learn if you become agents," here he nods ruefully at Seelah and Sajan. "There are always more ways to the truth."

He spread a map across the table, putting a pin in the shape of Iomedae's Sword and Sun to the east of a tremendous forest.

"At Ms. Kalla's recommendation, we are trying to track down some of the original inhabitants of these sites, or their descendants, in the hopes that they will be able to shed some light on the history and significance of these locations." The light of excitement shows in his eyes. "Perhaps we could even help them resettle their old lands! It is to that end that I am dispatching you to the town of Mishkar in Iobaria, where our agents have discovered that at least one survivor of the Farheaven Clan is said to dwell. According to our sources, she goes by the name Nelket, and it is my hope that she can speak about her clan's history, or point you to someone who can. Learn what you can, and bring the information back to the Society. If you can convince Nelket or some of her kinfolk to come to our Lodge and speak with us, all the better."

Faintly smiling at Rising Dawn and Laszlo he adds, "I know that you would take this task seriously without my request, Ms. Dawn, Mr Csoka but this would be an excellent chance for you to show your quality. Return with this information, and I will support a Field Commission to the Society for you both," he looks back to Kalla. "For you as well, if you would rather see our task through past this first expedition.

"I do not expect you will face much difficulty in this task. However, Iobaria is a wild and dangerous land, so be on your guard. Inheritor's grace be with you."

***

You haven't been able to establish a set meeting time or even a place to find this Nelket, but there should at least be plenty of people here to ask.

And we're on our way! Diplomacy is generally a good way to Gather Information, but if you have any other thoughts, or if you've got any last minute things to buy at the market, now's the time!

I expect discussion to mainly route through Discord, but it never hurts to have the thread exist

Just putting this up for dotting

The confirmation gave me more than a bit anxiety at the end with the last encounter. I don't know if that's the same every time, but I'd rather not go through it again if possible.

There are aspects that change, and others that remain the same. If I'm guessing correctly, the encounter that made you anxious is one that doesn't change.

So this was working for me earlier, but appears to no longer be visible information...

Is it stashed somewhere else now? Am I just staring right at it?

You get your chronicles right Here!

Please sing out if there's any issues or if you have any questions - I'll close down the thread in a couple days, but I'm just a PM away after that.

Thanks for being such a fun table!

Charlie? Quentin? Any discounted purchases?

Okay, I've got that Rally was planning picking up Descent Thrusters with Zo!'s discount - anyone else want to snag something at 10% off? You'll have an extra 720 + any Day Jobs. And speaking of which, Rally, if you could please give me a Day Job roll :-)

And congrats to Charlie-X!

If you could go ahead and PM me your e-mail address I'll get that boon in the works :-)

Well y'know you can fit a cooperative ysoki just about anywhere with enough squeezing ;-p

Quentin retrieves some secret-laden files to present to the statue, and as he does, the floor begins to rumble. A series of clicks sound, echoing through the corridors behind you, and when you go to check the doors, you find them unlocked and unshielded - with minutes still to go, you've made it back to the lobby!

Datch pulls another apple from somewhere as you await the elevator back to your ship, banal covers of Akitonian blues adding an odd counterpoint to regular countdown notifications. "Y'know, you should all really be grateful," Datch quips, "Look how competent you all wound up being. You really think you'd be this sharp without the proper whetstone?"

We're in the waning moments here, so I'll be prepping chronicles tonight - double check whatever info you've provided if there's anything else you'd like jotted down!

Every file Pamatea opens looks interesting, filled with the secrets of people and organizations who are strangers to her, but none look immediately relevant.

Rally and Pamatea don't find any other clear clues to the statue - no credsticks, no food, no dripping dagger - but there must be something that she would find important as an offering!

Okay moving things along down south - just sing out if there's any other business

The only remaining doors that down't head out into the cold vacuum of space lead into what is clearly a grand temple to honor Lao Shu Po; its décor represents a drastic departure from the aesthetics of the surrounding complex. The transparent ceiling forty feet above exposes a spectacular view of space. A twenty-foot-tall statue of Grandmother Rat presides over the room atop a stone plinth. The steps, plinth, and statue are carved jade, and the statue's eyes are flawless rubies. Velvet drapes of purple and green hang behind the shrine, and a patterned rug partially covers the ivory floor tiles. Candles are the only illumination in this room.

Pamatea notices a control panel hidden away in the great statue, but none of you notice any traps, yet, but would Datch really let the temple of Lao Shu Po stand unguarded?

Still shielded

You should be able to secure some interesting files, but they're laid out in a fairly unintuitive manner. Unless you can get Datch to help, you probably wouldn't be able to quickly find a particular target.

She stays mum about Iroiveth as well.

Continue to investigate/interrogate here? Press on?

Iroiveth sways aside from Charlie's first jab, but the following cross splays them out across the ground!

The augmented assassin lies almost suspiciously still, but upon any examination it's very clear that they're dead, some sort of toxin tracing the veins of their body in a silvery-green hue.

"Maybe I'm glad you were the ones to come abduct me after all," Datch drily quips.

The rest of the cabinets in this room contain hundreds upon hundreds of kilos of loose-leaf files on all kinds of august, and not-so-august, personages and organizations throughout the Pact Worlds.

Hey everyone I've got an Aid Token coming in hot for you!

No boosts, but still plenty of useful uses!

While focusing on using their implants to douse the flames, Iroiveth is unable to parry any of the incoming shots and rocks back as Quentin and Rally open fire, and they're driven to one knee by Charlie's powerful punch!

Iroiveth tries to retaliate in kind, but clearly even their extensive augments aren't enough to keep them powering forward through the fray!

Curve Blade: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 8 - 4 = 7
Piercing: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Curve Blade: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 8 - 4 = 5
Piercing: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Curve Blade: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Piercing: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Dim Lighting inside the chamber
The Bold may go!
Quentin
Pamatea
Charlie 0/16 SP, 16/18 HP
Rally
Iroiveth -39, Get 'Em! -3RP
Iroiveth

Iroiveth casually flicks aside Pamatea's needle, but is unable to do the same to Quentin's searing bolt, hissing in displeasure as their gear catches light! Charlie seizes on their distraction, hurtling forward to smash into the elf with a sickening crunch!

Iroiveth sways back from Charlie's blow, slicing a thin line down the side of his face, but as they keep moving, faster and faster, arcane sigils burn along their limbs and pneumatic hisses suggest other more chemical assistance for the mysterious assassin as well.

Blade blurring far faster than any normal humanoid could manage they whip their blade around Charlie's guard, driving it deep through the meat of his thigh. Quentin's fires burn fiercely, but when Iroiveth is unable to quickly extinguish them, the sigils change and their skin takes on a strange artificial sheen that the fire is unable to combust!

Curve Blade: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 8 - 4 = 15
Piercing: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Curve Blade: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 8 - 4 = 11
Piercing: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

On Fire: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Not be on fire?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Curve Blade: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Piercing: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Dim Lighting inside the chamber
The Bold may go!
Quentin
Pamatea
Charlie 0/16 SP, 12/18 HP
Rally
Iroiveth -18, Get 'Em! -2RP
Iroiveth

You head back towards the central chamber, where an intricate mosaic awaits you again. However, Pamatea's keen eyes notice a subtle difference in the heights of the paneling - it's rigged with pressure plates!

You can try to disable those if you want, or you can probably just walk around...

As you'd seen earlier while walking the central corridor, there are six doors there, but now with some idea of what to watch for, you once again spot that several of the doors are carefully sealed because they just lead to the void beyond!

The other three doors lead into a cavernous chamber with a towering forty-foot-high ceiling. The vault-like room is lined with black metal filing cabinets that feature heavy duty locks, and the area is dimly lit. At the center of the room a single figure stands waiting, their features initially obscured by shadows. They are a tall androgynous elf with inky eyes and bluish-purple hair and a jet-black armored suit.

Datch gives a delighted smile upon seeing them. "Iroiveth! I thought you and your employers might want to catch the Starfinders while they're extended."

"You misunderstand," Iroiveth answers, their face devoid of expression, "My instructions are to ensure that nothing that carries information leaves this complex. Not files, not Starfinders, and not you."

As they finish speaking they heft their pistol and a wickedly curved blade while Datch's jaw drops open in shock!

Dim Lighting inside the chamber
The Bold may go!
Quentin
Pamatea
Charlie 9/18 hp
Rally
Iroiveth
Iroiveth

You hear the sound of doors opening down the hallways once more as your fellow Starfinders manage to de-power another wave of forcefields!

There are two more doors that have unsealed down this corridor, and six more that have unsealed down the central drag, and one more in the corridor on the other side of the ring, but the doors to the lobby (and the elevator/escape route) are still sealed!

Where to?

::Waggles Hand:: Not quite 30 minutes. Yet. It's supposed to be ~real time, but moving realtime to PbP adds another layer of abstraction :-)

The other hallway is in many ways a mirror of the one just explored: It ends in a shielded door, but allows access to the center chamber, and along the curve of the hallway are a pair of doors into other rooms...

...or as Pamatea points out - one door into another room, and another into low-Verces orbit!

Assuming no one wants to attempt a spacewalk or go to the room you just opted out of...

The door opens up into an office room with a nearly identical décor and layout to the previous one. Another brass statue of a rat presides over an alcove to the southeast. Unlike the previous two this one is devoid of material offerings, though it is speckled in dried blood and holds a curved dagger in its teeth.

The door that leads back to the central chamber is now unsealed, but the other is still covered over in a forcefield. You can either head across that central chamber, or head back to check out the other secret door

Rally's searing bolt scorches open a path to the robot's central processors, and Charlie dives in after them, smashing his fist straight through and leaving the robot as only so much junk on the floor.

Datch looks a little bit disappointed, but, under Pamatea's watchful eye, doesn't make any attempts to escape or repair the robot. [smaller]"Well they're really supposed to be fielded in pairs anyways..."

You're feeling particularly relieved at the robot's destruction, giving you the energy and resolve to keep moving forward! The Second Wind condition lets you spend an RP right now to restore your stamina without actually sitting and waiting for 10 minutes in the self-destructing space station...

"So... you've destroyed a perfectly good robot, but haven't really made anything else of your opportunities. Typical really, for Starfinders."

What do you do? (And see Discussion)
Also, I said everyone got blasted, and put the potential damage totals in the initiative block, but only actually told Pamatea to take a save (my bad)

Rally Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Quentin Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Current Health
Charlie 0/16 SP, 7/18 HP
Pamatea 3/10 SP
Quentin 0 SP 9/10 HP
Rally 0 SP

Okay, this time we didn't beat everyone else to the Checkpoint, so let me ask - do y'all want to follow on other Starfinder's heels, or try to undo the forcefields/puzzles yourself.

Both are totally fine with me, but I'll need at least 2 votes to skip ahead. Just let me know!

Dense carbon plating warps and shatters under Charlie's sustained pummeling, while Pamatea and Quentin chip away at it from range, but the robot persists in its destruction!

Withdrawing from Charlie once more, it blasts away at the crowd again. "Now see, that's the kind of voltage that R&D was promising..."

Electricity: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Lighting is good, cubicles grant cover
The Bold may go!
Pamatea -7/4 Reflex Needed
Charlie 0/16 SP (8/11)/18 HP
ROBOT -42, Get 'Em! AC-2
Rally -6/3
Quentin -7/4

1d4 ⇒ 2
Pamatea's Reflex: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
You're out of reach at the moment Charlie, I'll nudge you closer and take the first swing without the -4, but add a little damage from momentum since you would've been able to make a bigger move.

The hail of attacks crunches into the robot's armor, but despite the fearsome toll the Starfinders' weapons wreak, it still seems awfully functional... Not from DR, just from many hp

The shoulder-mounted cannon whines as it recharges, but rather than fire, the robot simply slams its mighty metal fists into Charlie, beating the ferran bloody!

Punching: 1d20 + 10 - 4 ⇒ (13) + 10 - 4 = 19
Bludgeoning: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Punching: 1d20 + 10 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 10 - 4 = 22
Bludgeoning: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

Lighting is good, cubicles grant cover
The Bold may go!
Pamatea -1
Charlie 0/16 SP 14/18 HP
ROBOT -18, Get 'Em! AC-2
Rally
Quentin -1

Datch sits back, seemingly completely unconcerned with making a break for it for now. The robot is equally nonchalant as it backs away from Charlie's mighty swing, overloading the arc emitter mounted to its shoulder in a flare an ineffectual spurt of electricity!

Jolting Arc: 1d8 ⇒ 1 DC 13 Reflex save for 1/2, hitting giving a bad hairdo to Quentin, Charlie and Pamatea

Datch's carefully neutral expression creases into a look of somewhat embarrassed dismay. "Well then.

"I'm going to have to speak to Archdirector Milton about that. We really can't afford to have one of our flagship 'bots with such obvious performance issues..."

Lighting is good, cubicles grant cover
The Bold may go!
Pamatea -1/0
Charlie -1/0
ROBOT
Rally
Quentin -1/0

It sounds like that'd really help, though feel free to push from the rear - you can make directional decisions without Quentin being the one to face-check every door and trap!

Not that there are traps.

<_<
>_>
<_<

Pamatea realizes that one set of doors would simply lead out into the vacuum of space! Per the spoilers With only one of the other doorways accessible, the path forward is clear.

The door slide open with a hiss revealing partial concrete walls that divide this large office into several cubicle workstations. A statue in the northwest corner is the room’s most prominent feature: a brass rat crouching defensively over piles of antiquated metal coins, paper currency, and credsticks. The statue extends an empty paw, as if requesting payment.

However, before you can search the room further, a dangerous looking nearby robot activates with a menacing whir!

Lighting is good, cubicles grant cover
The Bold may go!
Pamatea
Charlie
ROBOT
Rally
Quentin

That works for me too, but uh, someone's gotta.

Or at least throw some dice at maybe getting more information?

Pokety-poke-poke!
There are two accessible doors nearby. I'm happy to flip a d2 to decide (1=red door, 2=white), which way you go, but I'm happier with votes!

Alive and snarking :-D

Datch cocks her head in curiosity at Rally's offer. "I had already assumed you were abducting me, but the offer of fairness is very believable. And soothing."

The northern corridor is well lit and of fairly standard construction, but unfortunately your earlier tinkering doesn't seem to have undone all the defenses. Two doors that branch off of the corridor seem to have had their forcefields disabled, but the one that would let you travel farther down the corridor is still active.

Alas! Regardless of the remaining saves, which direction would y'all like to head?

Just checking - what actually disables the red colored forcefields? I had assumed that getting into those corridors did it, but when doublechecking myself I discovered that I couldn't actually find that text...