Session 18: The Stargazer [Jan 13th, 2022]
The heroes scramble to get away from the massive sky fisher that descends from above. Ralkawi, Shiiga, Vashon, and Whaloss manage to get away from the creature and take cover behind a low broken wall. Drozen pulls away and takes a shot at the sniper in the tower. Zaeo, however, finds the sky fisher fly over him and throw down a lasso of silky material that sticks to his skin and wraps around him.
Zaeo is then pulled up by the beast as it tries to munch on him with its inner mouth. Vashon and Shiiga rush out to help Zaeo, with Vashon throwing shards of piercing junk at it and Shiiga blasting it with a powerful mental assault. The sniper takes a few more shots, but then Drozen gets a lucky shot at the mysterious shooter in the tower, causing him to disappear for a few moments. This gives time for Drozen to help shoot at the sky fisher. Shiiga blasts its mind again and the beast lets out a cacophonous psychic scream as it panics and tries to flee. The gang shoots at it, but it manages to disappear into the low-hanging clouds.
Drozen then rushes up against the massive Stargazer monument, trying to get away from the sniper and find a way up to him. Vashon and Zaeo follow and the three of them search the monument for an entrance. They eventually find an entrance between the Stargazers outstretched legs in the north. They cautiously approach the entrance and Zaeo lights a flashlight as they enter. Ralkawi joins them.
The fourhead up the stairs to a small room with a dirty water basin. The walls depict elves washing themselves and the domed ceiling depicts numerous star constellations. Vashon determines that the elves must have had some sort of supernatural ability to see stars beyond the Pact Worlds to detail many of the constellations depicted.
Before the four continue, Vashon then experiences a pop and snap as a spark comes out the back of his head. He then sees a projected message left by Dr. Vanessa Vantish. He learns that he can try to seek her out in a forgotten research lab in the Fields of the Lost in the Diaspora.
Vashon: Implanted Memory
Zaeo and Drozen try to get Vashon’s attention, not understanding why he was staring off into space, or why Vashon then asked them to verify the AHC logo on the small of his back. It is at this time that Shiiga and Whaloss catch up, with Whaloss helping Shiiga walk as the sky fisher poison continues to slow the vesk down.
The Starfinders proceed up the next flight of stairs into a long ceremonial chamber covered with murals depicting elves engaged in ritualistic tattooing and scarification of star constellations. The ceiling depicts twelve elven elders with bright stars on their brows. The heroes are then shot at by two Devourer cultists, the former colleagues of Ralkawi. The heroes jump into position behind the nearby pillars and return fire. The heroes then begin to feel a strange disorientation for have not cleansed themselves before entering this hallowed space.
Drozen charges in at one of the cultists, striking with his plasma kukri. Vashon tries to help out with his energy weapon. Shiiga and Whaloss hang back due to Shiiga’s illness. Zaeo tries to direct his friend’s attacks and makes a few well-placed shots. But then two more cultists charge in with swords drawn. Vashon immediately grabs the cultist and fries his entire body with electricity, before doing it again on another cultist. Drozen takes out the final cultist and the Starfinders move in to take cover as the shirren sniper, Salask, continues to fire at them from down the hall. Ralkawi screams at Salask, calling for his death as she carefully moves towards him.
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Session 19: The Twelve Stars [Jan 27th, 2022]
Ralkawi surges with anger and charges towards the shirren, Salask, screaming at them for leaving her to die in the jungles. However, Salask was ready, and blasts her with their sniper rifle. Ralkawi falls, bleeding out upon the floor of the ancient elven temple. Vashon and Drozen slowly move towards Salask, and Vashon summons a swarm of tiny bug-sized robots to distract and disorient the sniper. Zaeo takes the opportunity to move in and save Ralkawi from death.
Salask retreats up the steep steps at the back of the chamber, and the others slowly follow the sniper, who continues to shoot at them from the top of the stairs. Drozen rushes in, but is hit by a sniper blast and falls upon the stairs. Zaeo moves in and saves Drozen’s life as well. Vashon commands his mini-robots to continue to distract the sniper as he moves in with the others. Ralkawi stays back, nursing her wound and Shiiga and Whaloss very slowly follow the others, staying well away from sniper range. Whaloss continues to help Shiiga move, as the skyfisher poison continues to numb her muscles.
The heroes the charge forward at Salask, with Vashon bravely leading the way with a magical junkbot to protect him. Salask drops their sniper rifle and draws a sword as the heroes charge in towards him. They rush the sniper and are able to take them down.
Shiiga probes the shirren’s mind as the others go through his items. Vashon is able to hack Salask’s comm-unit and finds numerous messages with another unit about his movement over the past few days, where Salask was clearing tracking and harassing the heroes. Vashon sends a false message to the other unit, which Ralkawi believes belongs to Tahomen, the Cult of the Devourer leader. Vashon lies to Tahomen and says that the “targets were eliminated.” Vashon also finds a full season of episodes of the famous reality TV show Survival Deathmatch Extreme! hosted by the Eoxian, Zo!.
Shiiga learns from Salask that they were once a Steward of the Pact Worlds, but became obsessed with death and watching their comrades face gruesome ends. They have now devoted their life to the Devourer. Salask believes that Tahomen wishes to find a mighty weapon at the lost elven city that can destroy the universe. As Shiiga finishes her interrogation, Drozen finishes off the shirren with brutal assaults.
Zaeo and Drozen scout up to the top of the monument’s outstretched hand, finding a clear view of ruins to the north up in the mountains. Shiiga and Whaloss then unearth depressions in the floor of the main chamber that depict twelve stars and more of the alien writing that was found on the Drift Rock.
The heroes decide to spend the night resting and treating their wounds. The next morning, they head out towards the ruins in the north. As they leave the monument, they are immediately assaulted by two hungry ksariks. However, this time the heroes are prepared and they quickly take out the two creatures. However, Drozen is infected by their spores.
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Session 20: The Temple Guardian [Feb 10th, 2022]
The heroes rest a bit before continuing on. They travel for three long days, rising slowly into the foothills of the mountains, closer to the ruins of the lost city Drozen had glimpsed from the top of the Stargazer monument. Drozen recovers from the disease during their travels and as the group rises in elevation, they find the wildlife to be somewhat less dangerous, or at least less confronting.
In the early afternoon of the third day, they reach the outstretched ruins of an ancient Elven city, the remains of Loskialua. However, they find that little remains except the occasional stone pyramid and bit of broken wall where buildings once stood. As they reach the northern end of the ruined city, they see a grand tower on the mountain, close to the top with a nearly endless stair criss-crossing its way up the mountainside.
The heroes reluctantly follow the stairs, finding ancient smooth stones that once held Elven wisdom at each switchback. As they reach close to the top of the climb, they find the remains of a dead lashunta mercenary. Ralkawi vaguely recognizes him as one of the Devourer devotees working for Tahomen. The heroes note that the man’s legs are ripped off and his body eaten and decayed. Zaeo moves in to look for items, but then a great creature crawls towards him from under the cliffside.
The heroes turn in shock to see a large mountain eel, with rows of tiny needle-like teeth in its gapping maw. Shiiga blasts its mind with a torrent of psychic energy as Vashon cuts it with shards of conjured metallic scraps. Drozen fires at it. Zaeo turns around to face it, but is frozen in place by fear and cannot look away. The heroes eventually scare the creature off after it takes many wounds.
Zaeo finds only an old battery on the dead lashunta and the group continues on up the stairs. When they reach the top, they find the majestic Temple of the Twelve before them, but as they move closer, they are stopped by a strange ashen-skinned elf. He at first speaks only in ancient Elven, which Whaloss can barely decipher. However, he realizes they speak “the language of Golarion” and he converses with them. He tells them he is Panelliar, the ancient guardian of the Temple of the Twelve. He has guarded it for many millennia. He even mentions how he scared Halkueen Zan away centuries ago. He then explains that a group of lashuntas and a four-armed alien (likely Dr. Solstarni) entered the temple, but some of them then went up the mountain path carrying a “small shrine to speak with the gods”.
Zaeo tries to explain to Panelliar that they respect the Temple and will not harm it, however, the undead elf expresses that Tahomen has forced him stop them from entering. He then conjures a spear of pure solar light and prepares a combat stance.
The heroes reluctantly defend themselves, pulling back as they take shots towards the undead solarian. Panelliar, however, charges forward and unleashes a powerful solar blast that greatly injures them. He then charges forward again, blasting Ralkawi and Whaloss, knocking them out and nearly killing them. Vashon then empowers his weapon with great magical might and blasts Panelliar with the gun. The energy resonation was much more than Vashon had guessed and the intense blast vaporized Panelliar instantly.
Zaeo rushes to help Ralkawi, and Shiiga is able to stabilize them. They treat their wounds and give them some healing tonics. The two lashunta, however, agree to stay back and avoid danger in their wounded state. The heroes press on, entering the grand Temple of the Twelve. Inside the grand structure, it is covered with astronomical designs. THe heroes head to the left where a magical trap blasts them with miniature stars. They then head into a large chamber at the back of the room, where they find an unconscious kasatha on the ground.
But before they can approach whom they suspect is Dr. Solstarni, they are assaulted by a grenade from the right. Zaeo retaliates with his own grenade, that incidently sets off a series of explosives that the Devourer cultists had just planted. This collapses part of the building and bombards the cultists in falling rubble. The cultists then charge out of the dust and debris, firing shotguns and on fires a massive, rotating machine gun.
The heroes retaliate and try to take out the cultists quickly…
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Session 21: The Stellar Degenerator [Feb 24th, 2022]
The heroes rush towards the cultists as Vashon’s microbots continue to distract them. Drozen moves into to slash and burn with his plasma knife as Zaeo fires at them. Shiiga assists with her mystical powers. Eventually, the three cultists lay dead and the heroes gather some of their items. Zaeo proudly takes Avissa’s battleglove, finding the powered gauntlet and interesting melee weapon.
The heroes move over and awaken Dr. Solstarni. The four-armed kasatha comes to her senses and begins to ask what is going on. The heroes explain who they are and how they came to rescue her on behalf of the Starfinder Society and the Qabarat University. Dr. Solstarni warns them that the cultist leader, Tahomen, went into the inner sanctum and discovered something. He and the rest of the cultists rushed out of the monastery. They knocked her out after she refused to cooperate.
The heroes explore the rest of the temple’s room, finding little else of importance besides more star maps. They then cautiously enter the inner sanctum, where they find a large library with ancient books and scrolls of the Oatia elves. The heroes are attacked by two magical statue guardians, but manage to take them out rather quickly. The heroes then discover a few spell-gems and a magical staff. Dr. Solstarni and the others find many books and scrolls that Tahomen must have read, as they are free of dust. The professor begins to study them with Whaloss as the heroes head up into the high observatory tower.
At the top of the tower, the heroes find broken and unusable telescopes and other equipment, including a powerful psychic projector that would allow one to send their consciousness out into the stars. It explains how the elves were able to explore star systems without space travel. There is a single memory gem in the device that has recorded the hopes and dreams of millions of sentient beings out among the stars. Drozen takes the crystal and studies it, finding it augments his speed and agility.
The heroes decide to rest for the night while Whaloss and Dr. Solstarni study the books left by Tahomen to learn what he was looking for. The next morning, a sleepless Solstarni explains to them what she found. It seems the Oatia elves had discovered that the circle of twelve stars was some sort of powerful gateway created by a powerful ancient species. They believed that a powerful superweapon called the Stellar Degenerator may lie behind its gates. The weapon is believed to be able to drain all the power from a star leaving a dead black dwarf behind. Tahomen had circled this fact, it would indeed be the perfect weapon to end the universe in the Devourer’s name.
The heroes then realize that Tahomen must have found the location of the twelve-star constellation and was up on the mountain with the communication gear to relay that location to another sect of the Cult of the Devourer. The heroes rush outside, only to find that Tahomen has completed his task as he is descending down the mountain with a bunch of lashunta cultists. A battle breaks out and the heroes immediately fire at the cultists as they charge at them with drawn swords.
Tahomen summons powerful mystical energies, blasting Zaeo with a caustic blob that eats into his skin. The mystic then summons numerous discs of pure force and throws them at the heroes, the disc ricocheting to strike them all. The heroes retaliate, working as a team to take out each of the cultist minions before working their way towards Tahomen. Vashon fells a cultist with a powerful electric jolt as Drozen takes one out with his plasma knife, Zaeo and Shiiga provide support and healing.
Vashon then moves towards Tahomen using his magic to empower his gun and overload it. The blast however goes haywire and misses. Tahomen uses his powers to blast Zaeo’s mind and the lashunta drops to the ground, dying. Shiiga then moves in and blasts Tahomen in return, nearly exploding the mystic’s head. Drozen then moves in behind and cuts up the cult leader. Vashon moves in and blasts Tahomen with shards of sharp shrapnel, felling him into a pull of blood. Drozen hears the lashunta’s final whisper, “The Devourer will consume you all…”
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