Khonnir speaks again to the heroes.
The Treasure you sought, the fragment of AI that Meyanda sought when she attacked Torch the first time. Have you found it?
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Khonnir nods at his "daughter" I agree with you. The League must be destroyed. Why are you here? Last I heard you had went far to the West, to the Scar of the Spider. Tell me, have you found what you've sought?
Lanyssa and Seven's might and magic combine to destroy the rest of the metallic foes. All is quiet in Torch. After several minutes a strange wind blows in....Seven hears the voice of her "Father" Khonnir Bane Seven, we've taken to the caves. I am coming out to meet you.
An hour passes, and then another, then Khonnir Bane appears, he looks haggard and drawn. Seven! Thank all the gods. As you can see. Torch has seen better days.
Seven's thunderstorm zaps a robot
Round 6
Round 7
Seven's thundercloud blasts the robot , then she opens up with some magic missiles
Round 5
Round 6
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Seven hastes her allies
Round 3
Round 4
Seven casts Wall of Light, several robots are hampered
Round 2
Round 3
Good guys are up. Several of the robots are blinded.
Lanyssa's example is exactly correct. A +1 endless ammo longbow costs the same as a +3 longbow, but only gives a +1 to attack and damage (as well as the endless ammo)
Seven casts Wall of Light, several robots are hampered
Round 2
Round 1
Round 2
Initiative:
Surprise
Round 1
Khonnir's home is empty. There are signs that things were hastily packed... Perception DC 20: Something is coming this way. [ooc] Roll initiative and act in the surprise round
Seven leads the heroes towards the town, and now that you are closer you notice that it bears the telltale signs of attack. There are scorch marks on walls, stains that might be blood or some other bodily liquid darken the ground. However, nothing moves. Seven quickly spots a Gearsman, and upon closer examination it looks....off, as if someone or something deprived it of a power source. Kn:Engineering DC25: There are items and spells that can deactivate robots. Khonnir Bane knew a few....
Wand yes
Chain Lightning yes
Seven flies above Torch and through the smoke she can see that Torch has recently been attacked.
Perception DC14 Seven:
You spot several unmoving metal figures in various locations throughout the town. Gearsmen, the soldiers of the Technic League. No doubt the League itself has attacked Torch. Perception DC 24: Is one of those Gearsmen moving ever so slightly? Yep.
The trip to Torch is uneventful, the Dusklight makes for easy travel and few nefarious denizens of Numeria would dare molest the technological marvel. The familiar outskirts of Torch appear on the horizon after two short days of travel. However, something is amiss....there's smoke clouding over where it shouldn't be. The town is some mile or so off....do you approach in the Dusklight or do you exit and approach on foot?
At 2nd look, i noticed it is not possible too. You mentioned Cl 7, while endless required Cl 9. I'll look for some other item when i'm home again. For making items don't worry so much about CL. You can craft items outside of your CL.
Err. If you take an item from a +2 to a +4 you pay the difference in cost....So if its a +1 Bow, and you add Endless Ammo it becomes a +3 bow, you pay the difference in cost between a +1 bow and a +3 bow.
Skill chip yes
Altouna speaks We may have a solution. To confront Unity you need access to the Silver Mount, that means you need to get through the Technic League. They control all access to the Silver Mount, they are the only ones that know the codes to enter.... Casandalee cuts in If you find the location of the Divinity I can get us access. Unfortunately my memory is a bit hazy on the location of the exit. Isuma says I remember the Divinity. For me, it was like I was there just a few months ago. Altouna nods at them both and continues The problem of the Technic League remains. I have assets in Starfall still. My agent is named Mockery, he has been active in creating an insurgency in the Capital. Once you arrive in Starfall make contact with him. I've refrained from contacting him directly, since the League has been monitoring magical and technical communication lately. My hope is that you can create enough chaos in the capital that the League, and the Black Sovereign's forces are thrown into disarray. This will allow us to take back Torch, and perhaps more.
Guaire?
Cloak yes
Casandalee answers. I am. I believe that Unity has somehow taken control of the Technic League. If they penetrated far enough into the Divinity, er Silver Mount, they would come into contact with Unity through its minions. We must somehow gain access to The Divinity. Only there can we confront Unity, we must destroy it's aggregate, and then the hard part, we must invade the Godmind, the virtual world that houses the AI.
MARKETPLACE
37500 right?
Ok, so we are gonna reset the campaign here. Everyone should be level 12 with lvl 12 WBL. If you are over, pare it down a little if you are under we can talk about what it is you want in the discussion thread. Assume stuff from CRB/Tech guide is available, other things will be case by case.
The trip back to Hajoth Hakados takes some days, but Omo does the majority of the driving. The little ratman chatters away with Casandalee most of the trip. Isuma remains sullen, withdrawn. She spends most of her time cleaning or otherwise fiddling with her weapons.
Soon the walls of Hajoth Hakados come into view and nothing looks any different really...until you enter. You immediately see that this is no longer the cosmopolitan trading city it once was, it has fully mobilized for war. Soldiers march about in the streets, the shops and traders that once thronged the main thoroughfare are almost nonexistant now. Everyone stops and stares at the Dusklight, which crowds the street but fits well enough. Omo, through Lanyssa and J-12, has been permission to drive the Dusklight right into town and park it at the compound of Lady Altouna. As the heroes exit the Dusklight they are greeted by several familiar figures. Cythrul, his lower arms now showing as he makes no effort to hide his alienness, waits with....Hellion? or at least he carries a compact AI core with Hellion's visage the shiny stud of the inhibitor facet is connected to the core. Greetings. It's been too long. the Witchwyrd says as Guaire Seven, Jarreck and the others pile out of the Dusklight, he audibly gasps as Isuma exits. So, the rumors were true. A true pleasure. Cythrul says in Common to Isuma as he bows, and while she probably understands him she doesn't really respond except to nod. Slighly behind Cythrul is the Lady Altouna . Next to the Ruler of Hajoth Hakados is a familiar sight, the formerly deranged Android Seerath who hovers protectively close to the Lady. Flanking Lady Altouna on the other side is the Guard Captain Keryo, who Guaire had some dealings with. The biggest response however is reserved for when Omo pulls out the Compact AI core containing Casandalee. Seerath grabs her head and moans. Hellion begins screaming, but it seems his volume has been turned down because it is barely audible. Cythrul regards Casandalee as someone might a priceless artifact. Lady Altouna gasps in wonder. The unflappable Keryo merely places his hand on his swordhilt and stares. Casandalee's visage regards Hellion and it silences. Then the Lady Altouna says We have much to discuss. Much indeed. You have succeeded, and perhaps our cause is not lost. J12 and Lanyssa:
Lady Altouna pulls you aside and thanks you profusely. I know you have lost much. I know that you have sacrificed. We are ever grateful. The heroes are led into the compound and given secure rooms. There are guards everywhere, where once there were almost none. Seerath never leaves Altouna's side. You get the sense something has happened here, perhaps an attempt on Altouna's life. Lady Altouna invites the heroes to a meeting after they have cleaned and fed themselves. The heroes arrive and see the same beings as before (minus Hellion) plus the Ironpriest Bricius and a stocky Dwarven woman you've never met who introduces herself as Dronkar, Master of the Syntheriad. Altouna speaks The war has not begun well. Torch has been lost. The enemy even now turns its eyes towards us here. Our allies in the Scrapyard have promised assistance, but it may arrive too late, and may not be enough. However, there is renewed hope now. The driving force behind this war is the Technic League, but...we believe that something sinister lurks behind these more aggressive actions, something entirely other. Casandalee holds the answers to what this is, why the Technic League has shifted from simply hording knowledge and extorting Starfall to aggressively conquering the surrounding lands. The AI Hellion has told us much, revealed something about what lives in the Silver Mount. Casandalee has said she might be able to assist in somehow neutralizing whatever it is. It is not a God. Not yet, if it were we would already be destroyed.
Sure. Also, I don't know what happened to Jarreck. He sorta disappeared.
Casandalee replies I don't know if Unity can be depowered now. We must find a way. The Technic League...can they be fooled with magic and disguises? Isuma nods grimly. You've noticed a change in the alien since you left the Hive. She was never talkative, but now she's almost mute. She is learning the Common Tongue, but her responses lapse almost unconsciously into her native tongue. You all eventually arrive at the Dusklight, Mort greets you all and fires the engines up.
Isuma thinks about it for a while. This...Hajoth Hakados. This, Lady Altouna, you trust her? Yes? I trust YOU, so if you say she is good. She is good. I have no thoughts now, no home. I will go. Casandalee fills you in on Unity. She spent the majority of her former life in service to the AI known as Unity. Unity:
During an encounter between the Divinity and the Dominion of the Black, the Dominion's alien weaponry crippled the ship, forcing it to flee across an unexpected wormhole to Golarion's solar system, and spread insanity among the ship's crew and AI. As the crew descended into anarchy, the increasingly unstable AI gained control over more of the ship. The last sane crew members decided to scuttle Divinity on the closest inhabitable world before the AI could seize control over life support systems. They hoped to retreat to an inhabitable world after the ship failed, but the crash on Golarion was more devastating than they expected and none of the crew survived. After the crash, the AI survived and found itself trapped within the ruined ship's central processor. With little to no way to contact the outside world, it took the name Unity and decided to pass the time by creating countless simulated worlds with itself as a ruler. Each time, it played out the genesis, evolution and destruction of worlds in different ways. After about 4,500 years, Unity realised that the simulated minds had become free-willed and worshipped it as a god. Intrigued, before restarting the simulation, Unity preserved the minds of its favourite worshippers and allowed them access to systems outside the main system. Unity found that its divine powers continued to function, yet only within the deepest layers of Silver Mount. In the following years, Unity tried in vain to expand its influence outside of Silver Mount. It tried to send robots out, but once a drone left Silver Mount, Unity lost direct control. Its methods of remote control only confirmed that its divine powers had no effects outside Silver Mount, and it became aware that science was not sufficient to extend them. Just over 3,500 years later, Unity had a breakthrough: one of its dreams found its way into the slumbering mind of the android Casandalee, who sought it out and reached its resting place. Unity converted Casandalee to its faith and ordered her to find a way to transfer its consciousness to a mobile body, but once she found out that Unity was little more than a petulant intelligence eager to enslave the world as its plaything, she sabotaged its escape attempt and stole a few pieces of technology it had originally built in hopes of extending its influence beyond Silver Mount. The enraged Unity realised that allowing its subjects free will was a mistake and sent robots to pursue Casandalee, and although she was defeated, the necessary technology could not be retrieved, forcing Unity to start again. Hellion, Casandalee explains, was simply a small portion of Unity that achieved a separate consciousness when it moved far enough away from the Silver Mount.
Seven, with her previous experience with the power core, is able to rig the entire thing to go critical and explode in less than an hour. The heroes depart the Dominion Hive with the Compact AI core that is Casandalee. Before you go, Isuma requests you assist her in burying her dead kin. She truly is alone on this world, there are no more of her kind left. Peytr will not travel with you, the Scar of the Spider is his home, and he plans on remaining vigilant and cleaning the corruption of the Dominion from the Scar once and for all.
Isuma relaxes a little and lowers her cryo rifle fractionally. She mutters something unintelligible and moves to take watch further away.
Seven sockets the two facets and Casandalee's face disappears from the screen, and reappears a few moments later. Casandalee replies It did. Please, tell me about yourselves. How did you come to find me here? How long have I been trapped here by the Foul Agents of Chaos J-12 and Lanyssa continue to follow the path of destruction through the Hive they pass through an area with bubbling vats containing strange biological material and then they survey a vast battle that occurred in the horrifyingly awful operating room the bodies of several alien foes lay in this room. They come to the Plasma Pits , and decide to investigate the further room . A four armed creature holding a technnlogically advanced weapon stops them, she speaks in a language they do not understand....but its clear she wants them to stop as she holds up one hand in the universal language of "Halt" while she levels her Zero Rifle with her other two arms. Behind the Kasatha lays a flickering portal Everyone else hears Isuma shouting at them from beyond the portal....which is still active.
Casandalee looks out at Seven curiously and instantly her lips change color to a dark blue. To Guaire she replies It has been some time since I was in the service of Unity. You would know better than I....
The thoughts begin to fade from Lanyssa and J-12's mind, they hear Ah! The others have freed the construct. That's a shame...I had use for that. Nevermind, this Hive is yours. I'll find something else to occupy my time. and the sound of a large body hitting the floor in the big room. If Lanyssa or J-12 investigate they find the corpse of an Adult Green Dragon....with its head split open as if something had just crawled out. To Seven and the others, Casandalee explains There were once several parts of my core processor that were taken from me. Have you retrieved them?
If no one else has anything to say to Casandalee, we can handwave over to meeting with J-12 and Lanyssa.
Seven recognizes the woman as the android Casandalee, former protoge and worshipper of Unity, and also, former owner of the body that Seven's soul now possesses. Seven sees that he biomechanical apparatus that the compact AI core is sitting on is...harming the compact AI core. As Jarreck explained earlier, the Dominion's plan was to crack the AI's mind until it would spill the knowledge it held...and potentially use future AI cores to gain a virtually unlimited amount of power with artificial "brains". Seven sees a way to remove the Compact AI core and removes the screen from the biological machine designed it break its will. The image of Casandalee goes blank for a few seconds, then comes back, her expression now free of the pain it showed earlier. I know you not, but I recognize you as akin to what I once was:
This way. Come. and Lanyssa feels a psychic tug for her to head towards the left. It's dark and the dim light available doesn't expose much except for an open sphincter some 60' away.
J-12 and Lanyssa move further into the Hive, they pass the Ugothokra incubator ... and still further in they pass the Hive's power supply which they note is not operational. As Lanyssa and J-12 walk in silence down a long corridor, they come to a T in the corridor...they "hear" something in their minds. Creatures. You seek the others? Come. I wish to parlay. I can show you where they went.
Jarreck leads the heroes to the teleportation chamber and through a deft series of runic activations he manages to operate the arcane/biological device. As the heroes step through they see The walls of this room are made of cut stone polished to a mirrorlike sheen. On one side of the room sits a low platform of dark brown metal supporting a one-inch-thick pad of yellow glass.
Peytr nods to Jarreck and his Staff glows as he casts a spell of restoration on Seven. INT
My staff is depleted lad. No more until it has time to recharge... Jarreck recalls that there was a Teleportation Pad that he knows how to access now.
J-12 and Lanyssa have been travelling for three long weeks across this blighted landscape. Their party of travelers was once somewhat larger, but there were losses along the way. The original group of mercenaries and retainers was sent to recover what they could from the group that Lady Altouna called "The Heroes of Torch". The Lady of Hajoth Hakados has been pushed to the brink of open revolt against the Black Sovereign and she fears conflict is imminent. Whatever the Heroes of Torch have uncovered has made the Technic League much more aggressive towards the mostly independent town of Hajoth Hakados. Altouna and her loyal adviser Cythrul have determined that they should assist the Heroes, even if conflict with the Technic League and Kevoth-Kul erupts as a result. The retainers and mercenaries were given one task. Escort the Heroes of Torch back to Hajoth so that Lady Altouna may speak to them and discern the nature of their quest. If the Heroes have fallen, discover what they were seeking in Iadenveigh and the Scar of the Spider. J-12 and Lanyssa are all that is left, they've followed the trail left by the Heroes to the Scar of the Spider and then into the Scar, and then deeper into the Scar. Finally they arrive at the hideous Dominion Hive just in time to see a monstrous creature appear and fly away. The ruined annihilator robot at the entrance to the Hive leads them to believe their quarry is nearby....
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