Adventurers Amongst the Stars IC

[tonberrian]

Everybody was going off this way and that. And that left Kana Te all alone, with no idea what was going on. She cursed her lack of communicator, and reached out telepathically to her teammates, to ask them all a single question. <What's your status?>

[Quellian-dyrae]

After how he responded to the mind reading attempt previously, it wouldn't be particularly surprising that Tager would not have a particularly positive action to another mental intrusion.

~Eh? Oh. Hey this convenient! Can everyone hear this? Err, can you hear this? Like, am I thinking this right? Err, if you can, I'm still at this camp place. I got the 'Professorman' alone. Trying to get some information out of him. There seems to be some sort of commotion outside but my situation appears stable for now.~

While there were a few Spirit Powered naians with psychic abilities, Tager's understanding of them came largely from popular culture. Naian popular culture on the matter did not differ too far from Earth's. So yeah, he pretty much saw mind reading as an invasion of privacy, mind control as super-squicky, and telepathic communication as basically okay.

[SuperCracker]

Kana'Te gets back a message and a distinct mental image from John.

~Busy.~

[Izzarra]

Kana Te's connection to Pixel has some unusual digital interference as Pixel does not currently have a biological body.

<Provided John with backup.>

[Dodgeson]

Even if he didn't mean a word of it, and Graff had no way of knowing that, Tager's implied threat was all that was needed for the floodgates to open and Graff began to babble. He'd heard rumours about what happened to people who didn't give the Corps what they wanted after they'd signed on, that's how his mentor had vanished and he'd been a Doctorman! Who knows what they'd do to him...?

"It's true! All of it! Everything we thought! The natives confirmed that the temple is of Precursor construction, it is unfathomably ancient and there is something at the centre. I don't know exactly what yet, translating what little I can is taking time." It was at this point that he knew what the next question was going to be and there was no avoiding, all that was left to do was hope that somewhere deep inside the faceless corporate hitman in front of him was a conscience.

"But please, you have to understand, we can't go any further!" He pleaded, throwing himself on to his knees in front of Tager "Everything I have found points to one thing, nobody should have what is inside! It could destabilize the galaxy!"

-----

"Everybody's sidin' with the Weeds huh?" The Malachord grumbled as John's fist bounced of his thick rocky hide and he threw the Cactan aside, its limp body bouncing along the ground before coming to rest in the dirt. With the plant creature lying unconscious several feet away he could now afford to turn his full attention to the Commander, his enormous form towering over him.

"They got any funeral customs on whatever rock you're from or am I just gonna have to wing it?" He asked, energy crackling inside his empty maw.

Spoiler: Initiative

Show

Malachord (1d20+0)[10]
John (1d20+0)[6]
Calla (1d20+8)[12]

Calla's on turn!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Tager sighed. His helmet briefly wobbled, and then flowed like water down from his head, seeming to just seep into the rest of his armor as if it were a sponge. His voice no longer modulated, Tager replied, "That's what I was afraid of."

~So, bit of a wrinkle. Evidently whatever's here is powerful enough that it's freaking the Professorman out. They stopped sending reports because they consider the thing too dangerous for anyone to have. The phrase 'destabilize the galaxy' was mentioned. I'm frankly inclined to believe him. Thoughts?~

Verbally, he said, "Sorry for going all 'Neil Warshawsky' on you," referencing a figure from Naian pop culture. He offered the Professorman a hand up. "I wasn't sure where your allegiances lie. My team was sent by the people who hired you to figure out what went wrong, but truth be told they were as vague with us as I'm getting the sense they were with you. Can't say I didn't have my doubts."

"Here's the thing. If my team doesn't deliver, they'll keep sending people until someone does. So...it seems to me that our best bet is to acquire whatever it is, figure out what exactly it can do, and then determine how to keep anyone from using it to destabilize the galaxy from there. Maybe destroy it if that's possible, or get it to someone who can be reasonably trusted not to use or abuse it. I dunno."

The other thing, he supposed, was that he didn't actually know if his team would be on board with that. He knew John well enough to trust him to do the right thing, but he didn't know the motivations of the others. Fact was they were a mercenary team, and who knew if they wouldn't consider the money worth the risk? Truth was, he'd be lying if he didn't say he was tempted to just get the job done and let matters sort themselves out. That mobility suit for his dad wasn't going to pay for itself.

But every path of justification his desire to get the money led him down ended at a brick wall made up of the words 'destabilize the galaxy'. Some costs couldn't be measured in credits.

"If that's the sort of plan you'd be interested in helping with, I'd welcome the assistance. Otherwise, you should probably get your people out of here. I don't know what our employer's next move is going to be if we don't deliver, and I can't necessarily guarantee your safety."

[metakirb]

There should be a trail of plant life the Malachord stormed through on his way here.

From her tone of... thought? It was clear that Calla wasn’t keen on the psychic communication. Her thoughts on Kana Te’s intrusions into her mind had certainly been made clear earlier. Still, more pressing matters at hand.

The Plant creatures aren’t exactly built for combat. They might be able to manipulate other plants as they see fit. I can’t really get an idea on communicating with them.

Hey rock boy. You ever heard of me before? The Dread Pirate Queen, Calla. You might want to stop this before you regret it.

Spoiler: Scare the rock man.

Show

Rolling intimidate to try and get Malachord to back down

(1d20+10)[15] +5 if he’s aware of Calla’s reputation.

[tonberrian]

To Everyone: <We should regroup at the dig site to see what, exactly, they are digging up. It is as I suspected, an artifact of extreme power, but what to do with it has yet to be written.>

To Tager: <Try to have your... Professorman... lead you to the dig site. I will meet up with you.> She takes off, trying to locate Tager with her MENTAL POWERS.

[Dodgeson]

Calla's bold proclamation gave the Malachord pause for a split-second as he squinted at her, trying to wrack his brains to see whether he'd heard of her name before. At least that's what it looked like he was doing, it was kind of hard to tell what with him being a rock monster and all.

"Sorry lady, I don't watch wrestling." He decided with a shrug before a crackling wave of white energy spewed out from his mouth.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Malachord
Move: Nah
Standard:Attack Calla and John with Wide Beam DC20 Defence and then a DC25/20 Toughness

Adventurers are on Turn!

-----

Graff just stared disbelievingly at the offered hand for a moment before reaching out for it and shakily getting to his feet, he still half expected Tager's other hand to snap his neck any second now...

"Yes, of course!" He finally spoke up, excitedly shaking Tager's hand when no snapping was forthcoming "That's exactly what needs to be done! I would be more than happy to help, I can take you straight to our dig site, just let me gather my things, I'll need to explain it to the natives."

Without waiting for him to respond the diminutive let go of his hand and began to scurry around the room, gathering his armful of brightly coloured papers.

[SuperCracker]

John lifted his arm and formed a shield of warp energy over his right arm and shoulder, splitting the energy wave in two around him. He turned his body and clenched his left fist, energy starting to charge around it.

“I don’t watch wrestling,”

“But I do! So gimme a Hell Yeah!”

Everyone connected to Kana’Te’s telepathy heard an imaginary crowd shout “HELL YEAH!” Thanks, Cortana. And then, with a hard left cross, Stone Cold hit the Stunner on the Rock.

Spoiler

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All-Out + Power Attack for 5: (1d20+10)[20]
DC 30 toughness, DC 25 fort vs. Vulnerable+Dazed/Defenseless+Stunned/Incapacitated

[Quellian-dyrae]

Tager answered with a smile and a nod. While the Professorman went about gathering his things, he said, "I'm Tager, by the way. And you are...?" He had heard the Professorman title but hadn't ever actually heard his given name. "Oh, and just so we're on the same page, what all...actually happened down here? Like, how'd it all go from you guys trying to find the artifact and being guarded by the Malachords to you guys working with the plant folk and breaking with whoever-they-are that hired us?" The more he could learn about what was actually going on here the better.

~I'm going to head to the dig site with the Professorman. Might be a good idea for us to all regroup and head out together; I expect there's a reason they haven't actually retrieved the artifact yet and that reason probably bears a strong resemblance to {closest Naian equivalent of Indiana Jones},~ he sent to the team. While he was at it, he finally took the opportunity to send John his coordinates. He more-or-less no-sold the clear indications of fighting coming through the mindlink, figuring no assistance was likely required.

[Izzarra]

Pixel does not want to hurt the Malachord, so she sets the drones weapons to stun and takes a shot.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Attack the Malachord with the drone's stun gun.
(1d20+12)[17] Affliction 8 (Resisted and Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Ranged

[metakirb]

Guess we’re doing it this way...

Calla ran straight through the wave of energy, her coat easily soaking up all the damage she could have taken, and began slashing at the Malachord with her cutlass.

Spoiler: Slashy Slashy.

Show

Attacking the Malachord with [Photon Cutlass]

(1d20+10)[26] To hit for DC25 + Multiattack against defence.

[Dodgeson]

Outnumbered by 3-1 the Malachord faced down stun rays and photon blades, all the wonders of modern weapons technology failed to so much as slow down the raging rock monster, it turns out what you really needed in these situations was good old-fashioned fisty cuffs and John's left hook sent the alien reeling.

"That all you got?!" He bellowed, lashing out with an enormous stony mitt in the Commander's direction.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: Staggered
Standard: Attack John (1d20+10)[21] DC25 Toughness & DC20 Strength/Defence vs Grab if that hits Hits

----

Once he'd gathered up the papers Graff hurried outside and animatedly gestured to the natives, flashing the papers at them as he explained the situation as best he could in his pidgin tongue. A few minutes later and the pair were off heading towards the dig site and the Professor decided that it was as good a time as any to try and explain the situation.

"It's very simple really, the Malachord's might have a certain reputation for brutishness, but they are by no means dim, once they realised that the structure at the dig site was Precursor in origin they thought that whatever we found would be able to help them in their struggle. Which is where the natives come in, as far as I have been able to work out, they believe the Precursors to be gods and like me they believe that nobody should have what lies within the temple. Once the Malachord's began to make threats what else could I do but throw my lot in with them?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Tager followed along, nodding at Graff's explanation. "I see. So what's the situation like in the ruins? Have you just not retrieved the artifact because for the time being it made more sense to leave it where it was, or are there...obstacles." He placed a certain emphasis on the last word.

[SuperCracker]

The Rock should’ve used the People’s Elbow. The fist slammed into John, denting his armor but not punching through into any sensitive systems or the crunchy, fragile human underneath. As for the attempted grapple, John’s strength was raised to superhuman proportions thanks to the Precursor armor. He shrugged the Malachord’s efforts off vigorously.

“Nope, there’s also this!”

John planted his right foot and spun on it, swinging his left foot up with a roundhouse kick, carrying a powerful blow of warp energy along with it. The instant his foot made impact or missed, John flashed out of existence, gaining a lot of distance from the Malachord. He knew he’d left himself wide open with that attack, best not to be too close.

He then engaged his auto-repair systems. The armor began to repair the dented section, completing the work within seconds.

Spoiler

Show

Standard: Another All-Out/Power Attack.

Warp Strike – (1d20+10)[22] – DC 30+Multi Toughness damage, DC 25+Multi Toughness vs. Wzeaken Toughness

Move: Tactical Teleport – moving 200 feet away.

Free: Switching Nanotech Armor Systems to Auto-Repair. John heals one bruised.

[metakirb]

If the Malachord wanted to ignore Calla and focus on the instigator of their current scuffle then that was fine by her. The captain twirled her cutlass in her hand and flipped a switch on the hilt, causing the already powerful blade to grow in both size and intensity briefly as she unleashed another flurry of attacks.

Spoiler: Stab it better

Show

Attacking the Malachord with [Photon Cutlass], all out attack and power attack at +5 each

(1d20+10)[21] To hit for DC30 + Multiattack against defence.

[SuperCracker]

Well that didnt work... so might as well try something crazier!

John took a running start then jumped into the air in a Superman pose, left fist cocked back and ready to punch. He teleported, twisted around his angle of reentry, and appeared coming the opposite direction with a warp punch to the face.

"And there's this!"

And once again, he teleported away.

Spoiler

Show

Extra effort to surge.

Debilitating Blow - full All-Out/Power - (1d20+10)[23] DC 30 Toughness, DC 25 Fort vs Affliction (Vulnerable+Dazed/Defenseless+Stunned/Incapacitated) (Cumulative)

John is now Fatigued.

[Izzarra]

Pixel takes another shot with the stun gun.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Attack the Malachord with the drone's stun gun.
(1d20+12)[20] Affliction 8 (Resisted and Overcome by Fortitude; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated), Ranged

[Dodgeson]

Working their way through the jungle Professorman Graff chuckled a little with embarrassment "We have made a lot of progress, never would have gotten that far without the natives' help, but there has been something of a snag. We've reached what I believe to be central chamber of the temple but it's blocked by a fortification that our equipment isn't able to penetrate, I was hoping that a concerted effort from our guards might have been able to breach it but that's no longer an option."

"YOU LITTLE #@£$%!!!" The Malachord roared a string of incomprehensible alien swear words whilst the combined efforts of his John and Pixel still failed to put him down for the count as he swung out at the human again, trying to grab him in his rocky grip and snap him like a twig. In fact he was so enraged that he didn't even notice when his former employer showed up along with a couple of new faces.

"Oh my..." Graff squeaked, moving safely behind Tager's larger frame

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move: Staggered
Standard: All-Out/Power Attack +2 John (1d20+10)[25] DC27 Toughness & DC22 Strength/Defence vs Grab if that hits Hits

Adventurers are on turn and the gang's all here!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Oh, good, the others are already here. Tager had kinda lost track of where everyone was, so that was convenient.

Also, they were fighting one of the Malachords. Tager wasn't entirely clear on what the deal with that was, but they totally had grown-up things to deal with right now. And based on what Graff had been telling him, letting the Malachords near the artifact might not go well for folks.

From across the battlefield, Tager turned a glare on the Malachord. An intense, focused stare. It wasn't so much challenging as it was dominant. It was a stare that said, Look. Look right here. These? These are the eyes of the person that is going to crush you.

Which, you know, hopefully would distract the guy from the giant floating hammer sneaking up behind him and walloping him upside the head.

Spoiler

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Move: Startle the Malachord at (1d20+10)[24].

Standard: Attack the Malachord with Gravity Slam at (1d20+10)[20]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness, Fortitude DC 20 vs. Dazed+Impaired+Vulnerable/Stunned+Disabled+Defenseless.

Free: Reconfigure Gravitech Armor to full Gravitic Buffering.

Current Status: Normal.

[SuperCracker]

Ok, maybe heel-era Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wasn’t the appropriate metaphor. In reality, it definitely seemed like the Malachord was a different fictional character. The Malachord could’a been a contendah’!

Hit the music!

And yes… some of that bled through the telepathy. John’s head is a weird place, not helped by how much alien technology and data is using his frontal lobe as a Storage Unit.

“Commander,” Cortana voice echoed, “Laser breath incoming!”

John braced as he took the hit of energy, taking the shot at just the right angle for the armor to disperse the energy without damage. John teleported, moving through created wormholes at will, bending and breaking the forces of reality with ancient alien technology in order to… beat up a rock man.

John appeared and threw a right jab into a left warp hook at the Malachord’s open jaw, followed up by several more body blows. If the Malachord was Rocky, John was Clubber Lang... but a Clubber Lang who doesn't like getting grappled. So he teleported away again, this time on the opposite side of the clearing.

Spoiler

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Move: Teleport

Standard: Attack with Warp Strike, full all-out+power attacl: (1d20+10)[20] DC 30+Multi Toughness, DC 25+Multi Toughness vs. Weaken Toughness

Move Continues: Move by Action to teleport again, 200 feet away.

[tonberrian]

<I did not heal you so you could die here. Please, surrender.> Kana Te calls out telepathically to the Malachord. Perhaps they could avoid further bloodshed.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

(1d20)[12]: Diplomacy (fingers crossed for a narrative bonus...)

[Dodgeson]

Rage and a stony hide could only carry the Malachord so far and in the face of overwhelming odds it was finally the one-two punch of a gravitically powered hammer and an actual punch from Earth's favourite some that finally sent the rocky alien crashing out in to unconsciousness and hitting the ground with a satisfying thud.

When it became apparent that the laser spewing malcontent wasn't getting back up again the archaeologists that had been cowering in the pyramid cautiously began to make their way back out in to the open along with the few plant-like natives that were present on the site.

"If it makes you feel any better." Graff tried to reassure the assembled group "The Malachord's did have the natives classified as flora so that it wouldn't interfere with their mining operation."

[SuperCracker]

The Malachord fell and the crowd went wild! Well, the crowd in John’s head. Cortana, now in a referee’s outfit, counted to 10 and declared a knockout. The bell rung for a victory.

“And that’s the bottom line, cause John Young said so.”

He disengaged the helmet and the armor segmented and peeled away from his face, exposing the alien human to the plants and the Professorman.

“So they’re colonial Europe. Cool. I now classify him as a mineral.” John gave the unconscious Malachord a kick to the midsection for good measure, not hard enough to do any real damage, but enough to make it hurt worse when he finally woke up. John was apparently not bothered at all by beating up the Malachord.

John turned to Graff and the emerging natives. “Commander John Young, UNASA.” He offered a sincere smile. These creatures were sentient, ambulatory plants. It was amazing! A completely different evolutionary path. “I take it you’re the Professorman.”

Spoiler

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Worth noting that since John’s suit is Precursor Tech, maybe Graff knows something or can recognize it as such.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Tager's hammer floated back over to hover behind him again as the Malachord went down. Okay, that was one problem handled. "So, here's the situation. The dig team has encountered a barrier at what they presume is the center of the temple that their equipment is unable to penetrate. Should be something we can get through, I would think." John could teleport, if nothing else. "Once we're in, I think our best move is to try to determine what the thing does, and then...well, we figure out a plan of action from there."

"But...well, I suppose now's the time to ask if there's anyone here who would unilaterally object to altering the mission parameters if it turns out this thing is indeed too dangerous to just hand over to the Vague and Mysterious People who hired us? I'm not saying we have to make a hard decision on that now - maybe the thing is actually some kind of breakthrough medical tech and turning it over to a group of people with the resources to facilitate wide-scale distribution is the best thing we can do or something - but if this thing is or can be used as a superweapon or something, I think we're going to need to consider alternatives. Is everyone on board with that?"

[Izzarra]

"John, in all of your earth stories doesn't the ancient device built by visitors from far away always have some nefarious purpose or controversial problem attached to it?"

[Dodgeson]

The Professorman might not have noticed much about John's armour, his attention was currently occupied by the Malachord lying sprawled on the ground and the idea that he might not be as unconscious as he seemed. Even the fact that he remained utterly silent when the human drove his boot in to his gut didn't completely set his mind at ease, but that didn't mean that nobody noticed...

John had no way of knowing it (though Graff would certainly give that lecture if given half the chance) but to the natives The Precursors were known as the Shining Ones, the gods that came from the sky to build their might temple and well, they had just been saved from a rampaging rock monster from a stranger wearing their armour, what else were they supposed to think?

The plant-creatures approached the Earth man and stood around him in a vaguely triangular formation, their arms held out by their sides whilst the petals on their head shifted to a deep purple and releasing a sickly sweet scent.

"You've heard of me...?" Graff started to reply to John, only to trail off as he took in the strange sight in front of him.

[SuperCracker]

In a quick retort to Pixel, John said: “Every single one of them.” He was glad to hear that someone else was openly voicing the idea of not giving the technology over to their employers. So to Tager and the rest of the group at large, John just came out and was honest. “Look guys, I was never gonna give the Precursor tech to the obviously shady Mos Eisley Cantina mercenary agency and their psychotic pet rocks. Chances are way too high that they’re going to use it themselves or pass it off to someone worse who will use it for reasons that aren’t good. The Peacekeepers want this stuff. I want to study it, catalogue it, take whatever information we can get from it… but I’m not going to pawn it off.”

Tager and Pixel both probably knew that John wanted that tech to maybe try and return home; and that the ancient AI intertwined with his mind wanted John to find and safeguard the technology. It may have seemed suspicious at all that he’d signed onto the job for money to begin with.

John’s discussion died down as the native plant-creatures surrounded him in what certainly looked like something that was hard to place….

“Commander, the native species appears to be performing a group action with some cultural or religious significance.”

Oh, so church. Or a cult.

“Uh… Thank you for the warm greeting.”

[Quellian-dyrae]

Tager nodded as John said his piece. That was more-or-less what he had been expecting, and honestly hoping to hear. Pixel's question suggested that she was on board with the premise as well, so that was good. He was about to suggest a next course of action but...

Tager raised one orange-and-black-striped eyebrow as the florids...what? Surrounded John, sort of, but that didn't seem to have the right connotation. They didn't appear hostile, or to be intentionally blocking the way or sequestering him. It was hard to really judge their behavior, their method of communication being so, well, alien. But the intuitive sense he got was...like a crowd of people gathering around like an idol or celebrity or something.

"...John? Are these guys, uh, friends of yours?" he asked. There was legit curiosity there, but the ever-so-slight lilt in his voice and the hint of a smirk on his face indicated he was more teasing than actually expecting John to know what the bleak was going on.