The Stargazer

After the Gap - March 10, 317 @ 06:21 
 
Following their encounter with the moldstorm, the party decided to rest and recuperate. The heat during the night remained oppressive, forcing the environmental functions of their armors to work overtime and depleting their batteries. Despite that, they manage to spend a quiet night in the trees. When he awakens, Nict feels ill, but he struggles through and gears up.


In the morning of the eighth day, they head back on the trail of Paqual's group, which has narrowed even more to a single file. Soon they near a clearing. In it is a gigantic statue of a female elf reclining with an arm stretched towards the sky, while the other props her head up. Though made of stone, the statue's clothes are made of metal that has weathered over the last thousand years, with several spots having completely corroded away. The hand stretches about a hundred and twenty feet in the air. Around the edges of the clearing are a number of ruined buildings that have collapsed over the centuries, leaving nothing but rubble.

Stargazer statue in Ukulam

As they emerge from the clearing, Yiris notices a sky fisher diving from the sky, and she reacts in time. Bratrizik and Nict are not so lucky, however, and do not notice the predator in the sky. All three of them are hit by the sky fisher's lasso attack, entangling them. Yiris replies with an arcing surge, severely damaging the creature, while Bratrizik adds to its misery when he casts mind thrust. Nict and BARGO also shoot at it. The sky fisher attacks a second time before it is defeated. Nict notices that Bratrizik has been shot in the back left shoulder during the combat, and that the bullet wound indicates it is from a large caliber. Bratrizik did not feel a thing, however. Where did the shot come from?

With the sky fisher dead, they make their way to the Stargazer's door. Both Nict and Bratrizik are shot multiple times as they attempt to determine where the attacks are coming from. Rushing the door, they quickly enter, and Nict spends a few minutes to regain some stamina. Inside this room they find a small cleansing pool, with several bas reliefs showing elven monks and priests doing ablutions. On the ceiling are several star constellations, with many of them not observable without advance telescoping equipment, something the ancient elves of Castrovel did not possess when this statue was built. One of them in particular seems very peculiar, but no one is able to voice why they find it strange. Bratrizik cleanses himself in the pool, while the others choose not to do so.

Two cultists ambush them as they climb the stairs. Yiris casts jolting surge and kills one of the cultists, while Nict shoots the remaining one and Brat breaks him by his last mind thrust . They loot the bodies and grab two defiant longswords, scatterguns, shells, field rations, and credsticks. They also find symbols of the Cult of the Devourer on the clothes of the cultists. Bratrizik removes one of the patches, and puts it in one of his suit's many pockets. Now they know who's backing Paqual's group.

Cult of the Devourer

Nict climbs the staircase to the Reflection Room, followed by Bratrizik. Both of them are shot by a sniper again, and Bratrizik takes significant damage as he gets hit in the chest and falls down the stairs. They gather their wits at the bottom of the stairs, and take the time to heal themselves. Bratrizik comes up with a clever plan. He will use the bodies of the cultists as puppets to draw the sniper's fire. They will use the longswords to maneuver them in place, hoping that they draw the sniper's fire.

Unfortunately, as they prepare to implement Bratrizik's plan, a grenade is thrown down the stairs and explodes. Angry, Bratrizik storms up the stairs, returning to the Reflection Room. The sniper must be in the extended arm of the statue, so he rushes up, closely followed by Nict. The vesk is shot one more time, but finds a shirren atop the outstretched hand. The shirren attempts to drop another grenade, but Bratrizik uses telekinetic object to deflect it. Yiris attempts to daze the sniper, but fails. Nict fires a few shots on the enemy shirren. Bratrizik's last mind thrust attack staggers the sniper. 

Salask, shirren sniper

Salask is captured. Nict takes Salask's specialist coil rifle, which sports a weapon fusion. The 22 bullets also have a fusion on them. Yiris takes her secured comm unit. Bratrizik then shoots her, and Yiris hits her on the head, dealing the killing blow. They throw the body off the statue, and return to the relative safety of the Hall of Inscriptions to recuperate.

Stargazer clearing

Ukulam's strange fauna

After the Gap - March 7, 317 @ 18:46

Finding themselves at the landmark Halkueem Zen identified as the ruined obelisk, the party agrees to take a closer look at the ruins. Nict begins clearing some of the foliage that covers the structure, while Yiris stands guard. Bratrizik uses his jetpacks to go higher and get a better view. Clearing the tree tops, he takes a look around him and sees the mountains in the distance. They are still eight to ten days away.

With much of the obelisk cleared, Nict finds a few ancient Elven letters. Using his computer's translation abilities, the mechanic determines that the ancient Elven appears to be some sort of warning, about “Loskialua, monastery of starsong, embassy of the spheres, and Temple of the Twelve.” Several other series of Elven runes are nothing but fragments that refer to paying respect, messengers from beyond, an academy, and “interpreters of the beacon.”

With the sun setting in the distance, Bratrizik uses his jetpacks to  return to the ground. As he lowers himself, he catches a glimpse of something shiny. He lands back near it, and finds what appears to be a ruined estex suite I of a fairly recent vintage, with several large lacerations on the chest and arms, rending it unusable. As he bends closer to inspect, he is attacked by a strange plant, and his environmental suit is damaged. Yiris determines that the plant is a vracinea. The android casts arcing surge, severely damaging the vracinea. Nict and BARGO, his drone (Battle And Roving Ground Operations) are unable to score hits, while Bratrizik casts mind thrust. The vracinea is finally killed.

vracinea

Noticing another shining reflection about twenty feet near the armor, Bratrizik rushes in and stumbles into another vracinea. Thinking himself outside its reach, he casts mind thrust and inflicts some damage, followed by Nict and his drone. The plant fights back, however, and Bratrizik was not in fact out of its reach. It shreds another part of his armor. The combat is quickly over, and Bratrizik takes this opportunity to heal himself. Near the root of this vracinea is a frostbite-class zero rifle with a chewed battery. Nict takes it and replaces the battery. The rifle is operable but will need a good cleaning.

Bratrizik spots one more shiny object. This time, Yiris heads carefully and shouts a ray at the area, hoping to trigger a reaction. There are none. The vesk walks over and finds a silvery credstick holding 290 credits laying on the ground. The kaukarikis have exploded in shouts of anger following the deaths of the plants, but increase the distance between themselves and the party. They decide to spend the night here so that Bratrizik can fix his suit as best he can, while the others heal the damage they suffered during their confrontation with the Vracineas

 
After the Gap - March 8, 317 @ 6:21

The night passed quietly, and as soon as they pack camp the party resume their chase of Paqual's group. The trail left by the larger group remains fairly obvious, with large cuts through the underbrush. The fourth day is quiet, but the air is infected with millions of mosquitos, though they are still trailed by the kaukarikis who periodically pelt them with small stones and rotten fruits.



After the Gap - March 9, 317 @ 9:04
 
 On the fifth day, they begin feeling like they are spied upon. Yiris is the first to notice that a ksarik is trailing them. She recalls that this is a semi-intelligent aggressive plant, but she cannot recall specific details about its diet. Brat takes a picture. The kaukarikis give it a wide berth.

Find a clearing, they walk the edge and set a trap. The ksarik fires a blob of acid at Bratrizik. Yiris casts arcing surge and wounds it, which is enough to scare it away. Within an hour, however, it has returned to trail them. They set another trap. The ksarik enters and seems to sniff the air, but this time its attention seems drawn to Bratrizik. Yiris casts two arcing surge spells and manage to slay the beast. Nict uses his medical skills to pull the thorn out without doing much damage to the vesk.



After the Gap - March 10, 317 @ 11:55

On their sixth day on the trail they come across a humanoid laying down on the edge of the path, in the middle of a clearing. This female lashunta is badly sun-burned and has suffered the bites of thousands of mosquitoes. She is also clearly wounded, having been gored by some large animal. She can barely breathe, and it is clear she has not much time left to live. 

Bratrizik questions her. She identifies herself as Ralkawi, a member of Paqual's group, and she confirms that Dr. Solsistarni is still with the group. Yiris asks her what happened, and she tells them she was attacked the night before by a ksarik and left behind by Paqual because she had become a liability.
 
Nict attempts to heal her, but is unable to do more than alleviate her suffering. Bratrazik suddenly notices that her eyes roll back in her head. Another ksarik emerges from the jungle and charges the group. Nict receives a thorn during the combat. They successfully wound the ksarik, which runs away back in the jungle. Bratrizik pulls it out, and heals the mechanic. A loud moan emerges from Ralkawi's lips, and they watch with horror as ksarik seedlings emerge from her stomach. Yiris fires her gun, while Bratrizik uses a flare to kill the seedlings, but Ralkawi dies in the process.

ksarik

Continuing their pursuit of Paqual's group, they soon notice that the wounded ksarik is still following them, but at a distance. Soon, however, it begins moving closer again. This time Bratrizik proposes to lay a trap. When they find another clearing, they hide on the fringe, and wait. Soon the ksarik enters the clearing, and they open fire. Bratrizik is hurt by by a thorn, which penetrates his armor, but this time they are able to kill the creature.



After the Gap - March 9, 317 @ 12:41
 
Midway through the seventh day, both Nict and Bratrizik begin to feel their skins erupt on fire. They use antitoxins to attempt neutralizing the ksarik seedlings inside them, without success. That afternoon, the wind shifts direction, carrying with it a tangy scent. The kaukarikis which had been following them since the Rune Obelisk scatter through the canopy and hide in large flowers, wrapping themselves shut. The first pink flakes begin to fly through the skies. Yiris identifies this phenomenon as a moldstorm, a particularly deadly strain of mold. They all climb the trees, and wrap themselves as much as they can in the flowers.

Yiris’s internal clock tells her about an hour and a half has gone by before the kaukarikis emerge from their shelters and begin their chatter again. They spend some time looking for the party, but not being able to find them, the monkeys return towards the obelisk. Only then do Yiris, Nict, and Bratrizik emerge from their flowers, and they move on. Nict feels a little off, and he notices that the holes in his environmental suits are covered in pink spores.

As evening falls, they are attacked by a renkroda which has been rendered mad by the moldstorm. Bratrizik is badly bit before they are able to defeat it. The party decides to shelter for the night and attempt to shake off the effects of the storm and of the ksarik attacks.

Renkroda