Starfinder (317; Abadius 21st - 23rd): Relax (D002/D003)
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Tweak, Nixie, Zett, Radash, and Grinnder / [XP: 10]
Bevin didn’t play; Ruth is on hiatus.
Abadius 21st; 317AG (Continued)
The PCs moved on from the observation dome; passing by an automated massage parlor (which was unoccupied) and a grand staircase leading down to the lower deck. As Tweak passed by the stairs, he though he heard a mechanical biped on the lower deck; rapidly moving past the stairwell from fore to aft.
Each of the control stations on the bridge was locked; and though Tweak was able to briefly gain control of one, SARENA was able to lock him back out again. The AI then spoke to the PCs over the PA…
“Perhaps you aren’t really someone’s escaped pets after all. If you are new passengers, then you must be aboard the Emerald Empyrean to relax. That’s the only reason for anyone to be here. Unless… if you aren’t here to relax, then you are an impediment to the relaxation of my true passengers… and you must be eliminated.”
Moving on to the lower deck, the PCs headed straight for engineering. When they opened the door, a waiting patrol-class security robot opened fire on them. A cybernetic zombie (Kenjaro Chidi; the missing 3rd crew member) then emerged from the hallway to the port-side passenger cabin area and attacked them from the other side. When the robot was finally disabled, the PCs heard another announcement from SARENA…
“Attention passengers. Unauthorized guests are attempting to unlawfully commandeer this vessel. But do not be alarmed; your crew has it under control. In just a few moments, we will be venting the interior of the ship out into space to deal with the problem. You may experience a slight loss in cabin pressure, followed by the exhilarating sensation of zero gravity and unparalleled views of the Drift. We thank you for choosing Trendsetter Excursions. That is all.”
Radash quickly finished off the robot and then ran straight for where the surviving crewman had told them that SARENA’s shutdown switch was. The AI was not heard from again, and the PCs finished off the cyber-zombie before any of them were seriously hurt.
The PCs got control of the bridge, though the passengers were evenly split between returning to Absalom Station and continuing on to Castrovel as planned. Since the authorities and the company reps were probably waiting on Castrovel for the ship to arrive, and since that was also where they needed to go for their third job, the PCs broke the tie and laid in a course for Castrovel.
A quick sweep of the lower deck turned up nothing of interest apart from an emergency box in the starboard airlock ready area which contained 12 spell ampoules with the Life Bubble spell. Radash decided to leave them be, but Tweak later took them.
Abadius 23rd; 317AG
Upon arrival at Castrovel two days later, approach control instructed the PCs to land at the starport of Ship’s End in the city of Qabarat. When they opened the outer airlock door at around 10:00 AM, warm and humid air wafted into the ship.
As the PCs had expected; the landing pad was already teeming with a mix of Stewards, emergency workers, and legal reps for both Trendsetter Excursions and Complier Enterprises. The PCs spent nearly an hour giving depositions to the Stewards, and a few minutes undergoing medical scans and giving feedback to the anacite medics with Compiler; who were thrilled to know that the emergency defrost system worked as intended.
Once they were done, they found a system-wide communications terminal and made a call to Mr. Stone. He answered with video from his office, which was the most disorganized mess that most of the PCs had ever seen.
“Hey, you guys all right? Are you sure? Cause I’m suing the hell out of Trendsetter Excursions regardless; so if you’re not ok, I need to know now.” The PCs spent the next few minutes recapping every unpleasant thing which they’d endured aboard the Emerald Empyrean, and Stone grew more visibly gleeful with each detail.
“Ok, hang on just a sec”, he finally said. “I’m gonna conference us in with your contact…” The screen split, squishing Stone’s feed to the side; and a few moments later, the other half of the screen was filled with the image of a blonde half-elven woman wearing a Steward uniform.
“Hey, Siris”, Stone began. “They just landed, and it’s not their fault that they’re late. Rogue AI on the ship they were on decided to go on an extended sightseeing tour; they’re actually the ones that got everything under control and got the passengers here safe.”
“I know, Stone”, the woman replied; smiling slightly and nodding. “I saw the report; and the delay might actually have been fortuitous. There’s just been a big development.”
“Everyone, this is Lt. Prin of the Stewards”, Stone introduced. “Siris, this is everyone.”
Lt Prin again nodded with a slight smile. “Welcome to Castrovel, ‘everyone’”, she greeted. “I’m sending you a map from Ship’s End to a little coffee shop over in the Brightstreets district; it’s not a very long walk at all. When you arrive, just tell them that you’re there for a meeting. I’ll be waiting there with a couple of other people, and we’ll discuss details at that time.”
The city of Qabarat was beautiful and quite architectural work of art. Ancient stone structures mesh surprisingly seamlessly with gleaming modern buildings, and the entire city was surrounded by even more ancient walls composed of glittering crushed shell.
Very few of the older buildings were present in Brightstreets: the commercial heart of the city; but the modern buildings were all flashy and stylish, and there were planters and fountains all over the place. The coffee shop to which they’d been directed gleamed like all the other buildings, but was more subdued inside; and upon arrival they were directed to a back room.
The meeting room had deep blue carpeting and wood-panel walls; and was mostly occupied by a table which could seat about 5 people on each side. Three people were spread out along one side, one of whom was Lt. Prin. The others were a younger lashunta woman dressed in rather regal and expensive-looking clothes, and a formian wearing greenish armor. The lashunta did almost all of the talking.
“Thank you all for coming”, she began. “I’m Taza Myrith, here on behalf of the city-state of Qabarat. I believe you’ve already been introduced to Lt. Prin of the Stewards, and this is Thi’Kryk; member of both the Xenowardens and the Esowath Conservancy. Please, have a seat.” As the PCs settled in, they were each sent an image of a kasatha female who appeared barely out of her teens.
“This is Tegra Allbba, or at least was her about 57 years ago; which unfortunately is the most recent image that we have. I’ve also sent you a digital extrapolation of what she might look like today. She was born aboard the Idari in 234AG; six years before it reached the Pact Worlds. By 250AG, she was living on Castrovel and had already become something of an icon among environmentalists.”
“Starting around the time she turned 18, however; her rhetoric took on an increasingly hardline, extremist, and hostile tone. In 260AG, she and her followers were officially disavowed by the Xenowardens; and soon after that, the Stewards issued a warrant for her arrest for inciting violence. She was also suspected to be connected to a number of other crimes ranging from harassment to major property damage.”
“Before she could be taken into custody, however, she disappeared; and her whereabouts for the last 56 years can only be conjectured. That said, it is widely speculated that she’s been in hiding in the Solonis System; and many believe that she may have been one of the founders of a now-notorious ecoterrorist group called the ‘Thunder Mandate’.”
“Regardless of where she’s been or what she’s been doing, rumors began circulating late last year that she was back on Castrovel; and possibly planning something big. All three of the entities which the three of us represent want her found and apprehended, but there is one major complication.”
“The fact of the matter is, she’s still quite popular here on Castrovel; maybe even more so now because enough time has gone by that the facts have been forgotten and an idealized character of who she was is all that remains. Regardless; it would be a bad look for any of our respective entities to be the ones to slap her in cuffs and haul her off to prison.”
“And that’s why we’ve enlisted outside help, and why I can’t emphasize to you enough that we want this handled as discretely as possible. If she surrenders or you’re able to capture her, we want you to get her off world as quickly and quietly as you can. You can then take her out to the Solonis System and turn her over to the faction of your choice; I think almost all of them have warrants out for her arrest. Is that right, Lieutenant?”
“All except the ones who are invading from outside”, Prin replied. “And the ones that turned up last year claiming to be from the future.”
“As to where to start”, Taza continued, “there was an attack on Turhalu Point less than an hour after you landed. It’s across the Western Sea on the east coast of Ukulam, but it’s a legal holding of Qabarat. It was originally a military outpost during the war, but was decommissioned over 20 years ago. Now it’s a research station as well as a hub for patrols looking for poachers and other unauthorized visitors to Ukulam; which, if you weren’t aware, is basically a continent-sized wildlife preserve.”
“We still don’t have all of the details; but the short of it is, two big animated trees knocked out a couple of the outpost’s defense turret and then someone prodded a moot of yaruks to stampede through the main gate. No fatalities, thank goodness; but there were several injuries and a lot of damage.”
“As I said; this was only about an hour ago. The investigation is ongoing, we’d like for you to go out there and see what you can find. Of the many aiudara in the nearby Gateway District, there’s a restricted one which leads right to Turhalu Point; and I’m authorizing you to use it.”
“I’m also giving you a conference bridge number, which at least one of the three of us will be available to answer it until this is resolved. So keep in touch as things develop, we’ll let you know how we’d like for you to proceed and do our best to clear a path through the red tape for you.”
Nixie was a little hesitant to work the job. Tegra was now in her early 80s, and it sounded to Nixie like she’d done nothing worse that some vandalism.
Taza repeated that she was wanted for inciting violence, and also stated some of the acts of sabotage which she was believed to have been connected to had resulted in fatalities. She also reiterated that there had just been a potentially-lethal attack on Turhalu Point.
The Gateway District was only a block or so from the western edge of Brightstreets. The broad stone plaza was dotted with dozens of person-sized stone arches; a few of which appeared to be inoperative. Most, however, softly shimmered with prismatic light; and when the PCs glanced through them, it was obvious that they were seeing faraway places and not just the plaza on the other side.
The whole area was fairly crowded with pedestrians and quite a few local law enforcement officers. The gateways weren’t big enough to handle super-heavy traffic, so hefty transit fees were charged to anyone wanting to use one in leu of more conventional means of transportation.
Also, there were a few which are restricted; including the one which the PCs were looking for. Fortunately, Taza had called ahead as promised; and the people who were guarding it recognized the PCs as soon as they entered the plaza.
Though they reached Turhalu Point in an instant, the PCs crossed four time zones in the process; so even though they’d departed Qabarat around noon, it was only around 8:00 AM locally. The sun had been up for less than an hour, but it was already above 90° F and even more humid than Qabarat.
The PCs found themselves in what indeed looked on the surface like it was built to be a military compound, and which also appeared to have been heavily trashed. There was a lot of activity in the immediate area; mostly lashunta soldiers.
Off to the west, the PCs suddenly heard some kind of animal call; a loud baying which sounded like whatever it had come from was very large. “This way please”, one of the soldiers beckoned; and then started off in the same direction.
After just a short walk you, the PCs could see the outer wall of the compound. It appeared as though something had just smashed right through the main gate from the outside; warping it and tearing it right off of its hinges.
The gate was flanked by two big gun turrets, both of which appeared to have been smashed by large trees which had fallen right on top of them from the outside. This was despite the fact that there didn’t appear to be any other trees anywhere near the wall.
Through the ripped-open gate, the PCs could see a grassy field; and milling about that field was a small herd of gargantuan-sized animals with long necks and six legs. Though they appeared to be herbivores, they were large enough to easily kill someone by kicking them or stepping on them.
“So here’s what happened…”, began an officer who approached the PCs. “Just before sunup, two big trees just came walking across the field on their roots; actually running would be more apt, as they were surprisingly fast. The turrets opened up on them, but they’re equipped with weapons meant to be painful while causing minimal injury; and the trees just kinda shrugged it off. They ran right up to the turrets and then just kinda ‘head butted’ themselves into them, and then stopped moving.”
“At the same time, someone with a jet came slowly flying backwards towards the gate. That moot of yaruks was hot on his heels, and he was shooting back at them with some kind of shock weapon; making them madder and madder. One of our snippers took him down about 100 yards out, but by then it was too late. The yaruks kept stampeding straight forward, smashed right through the gate, and then started trashing the place.”
“Jet pack guy is still out there. We managed to get the yaruks out of the outpost, but they’re still out there and they’re still wound up and angry. I’m not sending anyone out there until they settle down or move on; but if you want to go check the guy, please be my guest.”
Grinnder, quite thankfully, had enough experience with hostile fauna to know how to behave around them. The other PCs followed her lead; doing exactly what she told them to.
They found the jet pack guy right where they’d been told he would be, and he appears to be a human male wearing green biological armor. From his knees to his navel, his body had been completely (and gorily) squashed into the ground; leaving his lower legs and upper torso mostly intact.
Tweak quickly noticed that the sniper had not actually killed him; at least not directly. The shot had actually struck the man’s jetpack; disabling it and causing him to fall. It was a yaruk’s hoof which had actually killed him, and had also obliterated his weapon and everything he’d been carrying on his belt.
Zett was the first to notice that there was the slightest hint of a reddish-brown hue to the man’s skin; and a closer look revealed that it was the result of a uniform coating of fine rust particles. It was all over his skin and in his hair, but not in his mouth; nor was there any on his clothing or equipment (apart from what had obviously rubbed off from his skin).
In short, it appeared as though the guy had deliberately emersed himself in very rusty water. The PCs bounced some speculations about; the most prominent being that perhaps he’d been reconnoitering some industrial facility which had been releasing rust into some body of water. With no analysis equipment to check any further, Zett took a little scraping of the rust; then everyone followed Grinnder back to the outpost.
After reporting the finding to the officer whom they’d spoken to earlier, he pulled out a data pad. “As an officer of Qabarat, I have access to a special knowledge repository. We call it the local public infosphere. Let’s try… ‘Castrovel’… ‘rust’… ‘bath’…” Moments later, he sent the PCs a link to an article regarding a statue called the ‘Stargazer’.
The Stargazer was an ancient and enormous metal statue of an androgenous elf; laid out on the ground with one hand reaching towards the sky. Most of the interior was hollow, and the temple complex within included a chamber with a ceremonial pool; which was fed by rainwater channeled through metal pipes. Though structurally sound, the statue had become quite tarnished by centuries of neglect; and the water in the ceremonial pool was full of rust and other contaminants. Located in the middle of a broad valley in the Singing Range, it was less than 100 miles due west of Turhalu Point.
While certainly not a completely solid lead, it was the best lead that the PCs had; and they placed a call to Taza Myrith. After waiting on hold for about 5 minutes, she got back to them.
“Ok, I’ve contacted Turhalu Point and instructed them to loan you a grav sledge. I’m sending you a more detailed map of the area around the Stargazer; let me know when you’ve got it.”
“As you can see, it’s in the middle of a big round valley in the Singing Range. On the east side, there’s a narrow pass through the mountains which leads right to it. On the map I just sent you, there’s a point near the outer end of the pass which is prominently marked.”
“That, I’m afraid, is as close as the Esowath Conservancy is willing to allow you to land; and to be fair, even letting you take a vehicle that far inland is a big bending of the rules. From there on foot, you should be able to reach the Stargazer in a couple of hours.”
Title Inspiration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh4tHpUflDA
Tweak, Nixie, Zett, Radash, and Grinnder / [XP: 10]
Bevin didn’t play; Ruth is on hiatus.
Abadius 21st; 317AG (Continued)
The PCs moved on from the observation dome; passing by an automated massage parlor (which was unoccupied) and a grand staircase leading down to the lower deck. As Tweak passed by the stairs, he though he heard a mechanical biped on the lower deck; rapidly moving past the stairwell from fore to aft.
Each of the control stations on the bridge was locked; and though Tweak was able to briefly gain control of one, SARENA was able to lock him back out again. The AI then spoke to the PCs over the PA…
“Perhaps you aren’t really someone’s escaped pets after all. If you are new passengers, then you must be aboard the Emerald Empyrean to relax. That’s the only reason for anyone to be here. Unless… if you aren’t here to relax, then you are an impediment to the relaxation of my true passengers… and you must be eliminated.”
Moving on to the lower deck, the PCs headed straight for engineering. When they opened the door, a waiting patrol-class security robot opened fire on them. A cybernetic zombie (Kenjaro Chidi; the missing 3rd crew member) then emerged from the hallway to the port-side passenger cabin area and attacked them from the other side. When the robot was finally disabled, the PCs heard another announcement from SARENA…
“Attention passengers. Unauthorized guests are attempting to unlawfully commandeer this vessel. But do not be alarmed; your crew has it under control. In just a few moments, we will be venting the interior of the ship out into space to deal with the problem. You may experience a slight loss in cabin pressure, followed by the exhilarating sensation of zero gravity and unparalleled views of the Drift. We thank you for choosing Trendsetter Excursions. That is all.”
Radash quickly finished off the robot and then ran straight for where the surviving crewman had told them that SARENA’s shutdown switch was. The AI was not heard from again, and the PCs finished off the cyber-zombie before any of them were seriously hurt.
The PCs got control of the bridge, though the passengers were evenly split between returning to Absalom Station and continuing on to Castrovel as planned. Since the authorities and the company reps were probably waiting on Castrovel for the ship to arrive, and since that was also where they needed to go for their third job, the PCs broke the tie and laid in a course for Castrovel.
A quick sweep of the lower deck turned up nothing of interest apart from an emergency box in the starboard airlock ready area which contained 12 spell ampoules with the Life Bubble spell. Radash decided to leave them be, but Tweak later took them.
Abadius 23rd; 317AG
Upon arrival at Castrovel two days later, approach control instructed the PCs to land at the starport of Ship’s End in the city of Qabarat. When they opened the outer airlock door at around 10:00 AM, warm and humid air wafted into the ship.
As the PCs had expected; the landing pad was already teeming with a mix of Stewards, emergency workers, and legal reps for both Trendsetter Excursions and Complier Enterprises. The PCs spent nearly an hour giving depositions to the Stewards, and a few minutes undergoing medical scans and giving feedback to the anacite medics with Compiler; who were thrilled to know that the emergency defrost system worked as intended.
Once they were done, they found a system-wide communications terminal and made a call to Mr. Stone. He answered with video from his office, which was the most disorganized mess that most of the PCs had ever seen.
“Hey, you guys all right? Are you sure? Cause I’m suing the hell out of Trendsetter Excursions regardless; so if you’re not ok, I need to know now.” The PCs spent the next few minutes recapping every unpleasant thing which they’d endured aboard the Emerald Empyrean, and Stone grew more visibly gleeful with each detail.
“Ok, hang on just a sec”, he finally said. “I’m gonna conference us in with your contact…” The screen split, squishing Stone’s feed to the side; and a few moments later, the other half of the screen was filled with the image of a blonde half-elven woman wearing a Steward uniform.
“Hey, Siris”, Stone began. “They just landed, and it’s not their fault that they’re late. Rogue AI on the ship they were on decided to go on an extended sightseeing tour; they’re actually the ones that got everything under control and got the passengers here safe.”
“I know, Stone”, the woman replied; smiling slightly and nodding. “I saw the report; and the delay might actually have been fortuitous. There’s just been a big development.”
“Everyone, this is Lt. Prin of the Stewards”, Stone introduced. “Siris, this is everyone.”
Lt Prin again nodded with a slight smile. “Welcome to Castrovel, ‘everyone’”, she greeted. “I’m sending you a map from Ship’s End to a little coffee shop over in the Brightstreets district; it’s not a very long walk at all. When you arrive, just tell them that you’re there for a meeting. I’ll be waiting there with a couple of other people, and we’ll discuss details at that time.”
The city of Qabarat was beautiful and quite architectural work of art. Ancient stone structures mesh surprisingly seamlessly with gleaming modern buildings, and the entire city was surrounded by even more ancient walls composed of glittering crushed shell.
Very few of the older buildings were present in Brightstreets: the commercial heart of the city; but the modern buildings were all flashy and stylish, and there were planters and fountains all over the place. The coffee shop to which they’d been directed gleamed like all the other buildings, but was more subdued inside; and upon arrival they were directed to a back room.
The meeting room had deep blue carpeting and wood-panel walls; and was mostly occupied by a table which could seat about 5 people on each side. Three people were spread out along one side, one of whom was Lt. Prin. The others were a younger lashunta woman dressed in rather regal and expensive-looking clothes, and a formian wearing greenish armor. The lashunta did almost all of the talking.
“Thank you all for coming”, she began. “I’m Taza Myrith, here on behalf of the city-state of Qabarat. I believe you’ve already been introduced to Lt. Prin of the Stewards, and this is Thi’Kryk; member of both the Xenowardens and the Esowath Conservancy. Please, have a seat.” As the PCs settled in, they were each sent an image of a kasatha female who appeared barely out of her teens.
“This is Tegra Allbba, or at least was her about 57 years ago; which unfortunately is the most recent image that we have. I’ve also sent you a digital extrapolation of what she might look like today. She was born aboard the Idari in 234AG; six years before it reached the Pact Worlds. By 250AG, she was living on Castrovel and had already become something of an icon among environmentalists.”
“Starting around the time she turned 18, however; her rhetoric took on an increasingly hardline, extremist, and hostile tone. In 260AG, she and her followers were officially disavowed by the Xenowardens; and soon after that, the Stewards issued a warrant for her arrest for inciting violence. She was also suspected to be connected to a number of other crimes ranging from harassment to major property damage.”
“Before she could be taken into custody, however, she disappeared; and her whereabouts for the last 56 years can only be conjectured. That said, it is widely speculated that she’s been in hiding in the Solonis System; and many believe that she may have been one of the founders of a now-notorious ecoterrorist group called the ‘Thunder Mandate’.”
“Regardless of where she’s been or what she’s been doing, rumors began circulating late last year that she was back on Castrovel; and possibly planning something big. All three of the entities which the three of us represent want her found and apprehended, but there is one major complication.”
“The fact of the matter is, she’s still quite popular here on Castrovel; maybe even more so now because enough time has gone by that the facts have been forgotten and an idealized character of who she was is all that remains. Regardless; it would be a bad look for any of our respective entities to be the ones to slap her in cuffs and haul her off to prison.”
“And that’s why we’ve enlisted outside help, and why I can’t emphasize to you enough that we want this handled as discretely as possible. If she surrenders or you’re able to capture her, we want you to get her off world as quickly and quietly as you can. You can then take her out to the Solonis System and turn her over to the faction of your choice; I think almost all of them have warrants out for her arrest. Is that right, Lieutenant?”
“All except the ones who are invading from outside”, Prin replied. “And the ones that turned up last year claiming to be from the future.”
“As to where to start”, Taza continued, “there was an attack on Turhalu Point less than an hour after you landed. It’s across the Western Sea on the east coast of Ukulam, but it’s a legal holding of Qabarat. It was originally a military outpost during the war, but was decommissioned over 20 years ago. Now it’s a research station as well as a hub for patrols looking for poachers and other unauthorized visitors to Ukulam; which, if you weren’t aware, is basically a continent-sized wildlife preserve.”
“We still don’t have all of the details; but the short of it is, two big animated trees knocked out a couple of the outpost’s defense turret and then someone prodded a moot of yaruks to stampede through the main gate. No fatalities, thank goodness; but there were several injuries and a lot of damage.”
“As I said; this was only about an hour ago. The investigation is ongoing, we’d like for you to go out there and see what you can find. Of the many aiudara in the nearby Gateway District, there’s a restricted one which leads right to Turhalu Point; and I’m authorizing you to use it.”
“I’m also giving you a conference bridge number, which at least one of the three of us will be available to answer it until this is resolved. So keep in touch as things develop, we’ll let you know how we’d like for you to proceed and do our best to clear a path through the red tape for you.”
Nixie was a little hesitant to work the job. Tegra was now in her early 80s, and it sounded to Nixie like she’d done nothing worse that some vandalism.
Taza repeated that she was wanted for inciting violence, and also stated some of the acts of sabotage which she was believed to have been connected to had resulted in fatalities. She also reiterated that there had just been a potentially-lethal attack on Turhalu Point.
The Gateway District was only a block or so from the western edge of Brightstreets. The broad stone plaza was dotted with dozens of person-sized stone arches; a few of which appeared to be inoperative. Most, however, softly shimmered with prismatic light; and when the PCs glanced through them, it was obvious that they were seeing faraway places and not just the plaza on the other side.
The whole area was fairly crowded with pedestrians and quite a few local law enforcement officers. The gateways weren’t big enough to handle super-heavy traffic, so hefty transit fees were charged to anyone wanting to use one in leu of more conventional means of transportation.
Also, there were a few which are restricted; including the one which the PCs were looking for. Fortunately, Taza had called ahead as promised; and the people who were guarding it recognized the PCs as soon as they entered the plaza.
Though they reached Turhalu Point in an instant, the PCs crossed four time zones in the process; so even though they’d departed Qabarat around noon, it was only around 8:00 AM locally. The sun had been up for less than an hour, but it was already above 90° F and even more humid than Qabarat.
The PCs found themselves in what indeed looked on the surface like it was built to be a military compound, and which also appeared to have been heavily trashed. There was a lot of activity in the immediate area; mostly lashunta soldiers.
Off to the west, the PCs suddenly heard some kind of animal call; a loud baying which sounded like whatever it had come from was very large. “This way please”, one of the soldiers beckoned; and then started off in the same direction.
After just a short walk you, the PCs could see the outer wall of the compound. It appeared as though something had just smashed right through the main gate from the outside; warping it and tearing it right off of its hinges.
The gate was flanked by two big gun turrets, both of which appeared to have been smashed by large trees which had fallen right on top of them from the outside. This was despite the fact that there didn’t appear to be any other trees anywhere near the wall.
Through the ripped-open gate, the PCs could see a grassy field; and milling about that field was a small herd of gargantuan-sized animals with long necks and six legs. Though they appeared to be herbivores, they were large enough to easily kill someone by kicking them or stepping on them.
“So here’s what happened…”, began an officer who approached the PCs. “Just before sunup, two big trees just came walking across the field on their roots; actually running would be more apt, as they were surprisingly fast. The turrets opened up on them, but they’re equipped with weapons meant to be painful while causing minimal injury; and the trees just kinda shrugged it off. They ran right up to the turrets and then just kinda ‘head butted’ themselves into them, and then stopped moving.”
“At the same time, someone with a jet came slowly flying backwards towards the gate. That moot of yaruks was hot on his heels, and he was shooting back at them with some kind of shock weapon; making them madder and madder. One of our snippers took him down about 100 yards out, but by then it was too late. The yaruks kept stampeding straight forward, smashed right through the gate, and then started trashing the place.”
“Jet pack guy is still out there. We managed to get the yaruks out of the outpost, but they’re still out there and they’re still wound up and angry. I’m not sending anyone out there until they settle down or move on; but if you want to go check the guy, please be my guest.”
Grinnder, quite thankfully, had enough experience with hostile fauna to know how to behave around them. The other PCs followed her lead; doing exactly what she told them to.
They found the jet pack guy right where they’d been told he would be, and he appears to be a human male wearing green biological armor. From his knees to his navel, his body had been completely (and gorily) squashed into the ground; leaving his lower legs and upper torso mostly intact.
Tweak quickly noticed that the sniper had not actually killed him; at least not directly. The shot had actually struck the man’s jetpack; disabling it and causing him to fall. It was a yaruk’s hoof which had actually killed him, and had also obliterated his weapon and everything he’d been carrying on his belt.
Zett was the first to notice that there was the slightest hint of a reddish-brown hue to the man’s skin; and a closer look revealed that it was the result of a uniform coating of fine rust particles. It was all over his skin and in his hair, but not in his mouth; nor was there any on his clothing or equipment (apart from what had obviously rubbed off from his skin).
In short, it appeared as though the guy had deliberately emersed himself in very rusty water. The PCs bounced some speculations about; the most prominent being that perhaps he’d been reconnoitering some industrial facility which had been releasing rust into some body of water. With no analysis equipment to check any further, Zett took a little scraping of the rust; then everyone followed Grinnder back to the outpost.
After reporting the finding to the officer whom they’d spoken to earlier, he pulled out a data pad. “As an officer of Qabarat, I have access to a special knowledge repository. We call it the local public infosphere. Let’s try… ‘Castrovel’… ‘rust’… ‘bath’…” Moments later, he sent the PCs a link to an article regarding a statue called the ‘Stargazer’.
The Stargazer was an ancient and enormous metal statue of an androgenous elf; laid out on the ground with one hand reaching towards the sky. Most of the interior was hollow, and the temple complex within included a chamber with a ceremonial pool; which was fed by rainwater channeled through metal pipes. Though structurally sound, the statue had become quite tarnished by centuries of neglect; and the water in the ceremonial pool was full of rust and other contaminants. Located in the middle of a broad valley in the Singing Range, it was less than 100 miles due west of Turhalu Point.
While certainly not a completely solid lead, it was the best lead that the PCs had; and they placed a call to Taza Myrith. After waiting on hold for about 5 minutes, she got back to them.
“Ok, I’ve contacted Turhalu Point and instructed them to loan you a grav sledge. I’m sending you a more detailed map of the area around the Stargazer; let me know when you’ve got it.”
“As you can see, it’s in the middle of a big round valley in the Singing Range. On the east side, there’s a narrow pass through the mountains which leads right to it. On the map I just sent you, there’s a point near the outer end of the pass which is prominently marked.”
“That, I’m afraid, is as close as the Esowath Conservancy is willing to allow you to land; and to be fair, even letting you take a vehicle that far inland is a big bending of the rules. From there on foot, you should be able to reach the Stargazer in a couple of hours.”
Title Inspiration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh4tHpUflDA