The Stellar Degenerator

After the Gap - March 15, 317 @ 18:25 
 
Coming down from the mountaintop observatory, Nict, Yiris and Bratrizik are faced with a dilemma. With a rapidly falling night, they can either fight Panelliar the undead monk guarding the Temple of the Twelve and hope to gain access to the structure, or continue down the staircase back to the Forsaken City and retire to their shelter from the previous night to regain their strength and stamina. After a heated discussion, they follow the trail back to the ruined city, arriving back in their lodging just as night darkens.

After building a small fire, Nict prepares a delicious meal of local grubs, while Bratrizik spends his last spells and casts mystic cure on himself, healing fully. Yiris places herself in sleep mode, while the vesk takes the first watch.


After the Gap - March 16, 317 @ 7:38

The night is uneventful. Feeling refreshed and ready for action, the three of them depart their shelter of fortune, hoping not to have to return for yet one more night, and they head on the path climbing back to the Temple of the Twelve. Once on the plateau, they are once again confronted by Panelliar.

Nict is the first one to engage as he shoots and hits Panelliar. Bratrizik follows the shirren's attack with his favorite spell, mind trust, while Yiris adds an arcing surge. Panelliar closes the distance and releases his supernova solarian power, hitting the vesk and the shirren. Nict is able to dodge out of the way, but in a rerun of his previous encounter with the undead monk, Bratrizik enjoys the full blast of the undead's attack. The assault continues, and though a worthy foe, the ancient elf monk is eventually defeated. 

As he dies, Panelliar thanks them for releasing his soul from bondage but warns them of a trap. His body disappears in a pile of ashes, leaving only his equipment behind. Bratrizik carefully packs the armor so that he can either sell it or offer it to historians for its archeological value.

Now standing at the front door of the Temple of the Twelve, the party discusses how they should proceed. Bratrizik suggests looking through the stainglass windows. Yiris tells him they've already done that, and that they are at least 10 feet off the ground. Bratrizik says he will use his jump jets. Yiris and Nict agree to wait for the vesk. Flying around the Temple, he finds Dr. Solstarni in a room that appears to be the sanctuary. Dr. Solstarni is evidently reading something on a column. Bratrizik knocks softly on the window, but she can't hear him.

Meanwhile, back at the front door of the Temple, Nict notices that a trap has been laid. Explosives have been disguised and were nearly invisible to the casual observer. Designed to collapse the entire doorway, the trap would most likely have taken their lives. Taking a closer look, Nict realizes that this trap hides an even deadlier one. Any attempt to disarm the charges on the outside would set off explosives inside the doorway. The sheer quantity would have demolished the front half of the Temple.

Returning to the front of the building, Bratrizik proposes they look at the windows to see if they are trapped. A thorough evaluation reveals that they have not been trapped. Climbing the ledge to the window, they carefully break one of the stain glass pane, and they enter a study room once used by scholar priests and astronomers of the Temple but now in ruins. 

The adjacent rooms are also old study rooms. Opening another door, the android stumble upon five cultists piling explosives against two columns inside a large room. Everyone is surprised, but Yiris is the first to react. She casts caustic conversation, hitting one of the cultists square in the chest. Bratrizik fires at another, while Nict is also able to land a few blows as well. The cultists fire back, using automatic weapons, spraying bullets everywhere. Bratrizik and Yiris are both hit.

One of the cultists takes this ocasion to run towards the explosive to trigger it, but is killed off by Yiris' desperate attack. One by one, the cultists die. Nict disarms the explosives. 

In the next room, they locate Dr. Solstarni, who had taken refuge behind a large piece of furniture. After identifying themselves, she greets them and they escort her to one of the study rooms where she takes shelter. Returning to the sanctuary, the party proceeds carefully. They are attacked by lore guardians, but manage to eliminate both of them without too much difficulty.

Lore Guardian

In the inner sanctuary, they discover a library containing books that are thousands of years old. A large staircase leads to a platform atop the Temple, providing an excellent observation post. Bratrizik climbs the stairs but is shot. He uses his jumpjets, and rockets to the top as Tahomen, leader of this particular group of cultists and the lashunta the vest encountered at the observatory, throws a grenade. Bratrizik returns it to sender, but Tahomen had some magical protection on him and the impact of the attack is redirected straight at the vesk. Thrown off, the vesk grasps Tahomen and manages to hold on to him as he plummets back down to the floor, crashing down with the cult leader landing on top of him.

An epic battle ensues, and in the end the three of them are victorious. 


After the Gap - March 18, 317 @ 10:11

After two days of conducting research in the library with Dr. Solstarni's help, the party discovers several interesting pieces of information. The ancient elven monks that built this temple were astronomers who sought a quiet environment to study the stars. Through their stargazing activities, they discovered a strange constellation of 12 stars that formed a perfect circle. As they pursued their examinations over the decades, the monks began having strange dreams, including visions of a language unknown to them. Eventually the monks, in their mind travels of the galaxy, encountered Ibra, and with her help discovered that the constellation they now called the Gate of the Twelve Suns was in fact the construction of an impossibly advanced race, and what it was in fact a gateway. 

Strange and powerful energy pulsated from the other side, and though several theories were presented, the most widely accepted one was that behind the gate was a weapon of such incredible power that it could destroy entire star systems. Dubbed the Stellar Degenerator, it was posited that this weapon drained the energy of a system's star and used it to eliminate planets or other gigantic solar bodies. Unfortunately, the ancient elves never recorded the location of the Gate of the Twelve Suns, but, based on the records found in the Observatory, Yiris thinks that she can pinpoint the location with some accuracy. 

Unfortunately, so could Tahomen, and they recall the large communications array atop the Observatory. Nict heads up there, and is able to retrieve the communications the cult leader sent. In these communications, Tahomen stated that the Gate of Twelve Suns is in fact the access point to a demiplane that shelters a superweapon, and that the Drift Rock is a small section of it which was pulled in the Drift. He also recommended that the Cult of the Devourer should hasten to locate and retrieve this weapon to bring about the end of the galaxy. Nict retrieves the coordinates to where the communication was sent, and discovers that it was in a stretch of several hundred asteroids in the Diaspora. The mechanic also notices that the equipment belongs to DT43.

Using the communications' array, Nict contacts Professor Muhali back in Qabarat and reports that Dr. Solstarni is safe and informs her about what has happened to them in the last few weeks. She contacts the authorities on Turhalu Point and they send a shuttle to pick the party and Dr. Solstarni up. After hot showers and a short period of rest, they return to Qabarat where Muhali thanks them personally for their rescue of Dr. Solstarni. 

Armed with the knowledge that the Cult of the Devourer is actively seeking to get their hands on the Stellar Degenerator, they now face a stark choice. Go after the Cult, or walk away and possibly leaving the galaxy at the mercy of a superweapon ...

The Constellations Map

After the Gap - March 15, 317 @ 08:25 
 
The night does wonders for Bratrizik, who manages to heal enough from his encounter with Panelliar on the previous day. After a hearty breakfast, they discuss their options. They don't know who is left in the Temple of the Twelve, but the undead elf monk continues to guard the place and they will need to confront him again if they wish to get inside. After careful consideration, they decide to bypass the Temple and head up the second set of stairs up the mountain. BARGO must remain behind, so Nict instructs it to stand guard by the history pillars.

Departing the Forsaken City, the party ascends the mountain and returns to the plateau where the Temple stands proudly against the background of tall peaks, and take the set of stairs that continue to to climb the mountain. The steep staircase follows the ridge and enters a perpetual snow zone, and by mid-morning they catch a large snow-covered structure sitting atop Alhuenar Spire, the largest peak in this area of the Singing Range. 

Carefully coming close, they find a small landing with the well-preserved ruins of what appears to have been an observatory. The building is of the same material as the Temple, and is as well preserved. Two large wooden doors bar the entrance to the building, but they are not locked. Quietly opening them, Bratrizik surprises two Devourer cultists inside a large room, moving large crystal tubes of various heights and colors from one of the four corner altars to another. 

Surprised at the party's appearance, the cultists immediately take shelter behind overturned altars, and begin firing. Yiris uses overheat, while Bratrizik uses his trusted mind thrust to quickly dispatch the male lashunta cultist. Nict, meanwhile, fires back at the remaining cultist and scores a hit. Yiris launches an arcing surge, which weakens the last enemy, but does not achieve it. Nict successfully lands the death blow on the second cultist.

Bratrizik searches the bodies and finds a few credsticks but not much else of value. and piles them against the only door out of the building, preventing anyone from entering from the outside and surprise them. Examining the remaining two standing altars, they find crystals of various heights and colors placed randomly on each altar. Bratrizik takes a closer look, and realizes that they were trying to replicate the same pattern on the four altars. 

Aside from the altars and thousands of the crystals spread all over the floor, there is only a small wooden door in the corner opposite the entrance doors. The floor itself is made of a constellation map similar to the one Bratrizik noticed in the Temple of the Twelve and to the one they saw on the ceiling of the Stargazer.

Yiris opens the door and finds herself in a small room with a staircase heading up. From her vantage point, she can see the open sky, indicating the staircase leads to an exposed platform. Worried about a possible trap, she returns to the main room. Bratrizik decides to explore that staircase. He ascends to the first landing, where he is shot by a sniper. He returns to the main room, and closes the door.

While Bratrizik is busy being shot, Yiris moves crystals around. After several fruitless attempts, she reproduces structures similar to the seven pillars by the Temple on each of the altars. The constellations on the floor come to life, and form a three-dimensional map of the stars as viewed from this observatory. By adding other crystals, the android is able to manipulate time forward or backward. Playing with the crystals, they discover that the constellation of twelve stars was built about 150,000 years before the beginning of the Gap. Bratrizik videotapes the constellations.

Readying themselves to leave, Yiris melts water, then pours it on the door, effectively turning it into a large ice cube. This should stop the sniper from following them. As they head back down the mountain to the Temple of the Twelve, looking for answers to their questions, they notice the shadow of a large satellite antenna built on top of the platform where the sniper took shelter. That's what the communication gear they spotted on the video of Paqual's party before their departure of Qabarat was. Who did the cult of the Devourer contact?

The Temple of the Twelve

After the Gap - March 10, 317 @ 14:03 
 
Hoping to regain some stamina and health, the party decide to rest following their eventful encounter with Salask, the shirren sniper. They return to the Hall of Instructions, and prepare some defensive measures. Bratrizik completes the construction of the puppets with the dead cultists and position them by the door. Yiris adds several spent casings to each puppet, so if they are disturbed in the night the casings will drop to the ground and make a noise, alerting them.

Nict drops down to the ground in his sleeping gear and is immediately out. Not needing heavy sleep and having taken little damage in the previous day's encounters, Yiris plans on standing guard all night. Bratrizik eats some trail rations, then also lays down and close his eyes. 

Attracted by the dead broken shirren, two ksariks enter the clearing of the Stargazer. They then notice that there are more humanoids inside the statue. One of them, attracted by the vesk's scent, enters the Stargazer from the base and stealthily climbs the staircase. It launches its tentacles at the guarding form of Yiris, knocking the puppet guard down and dropping the shells on the ground. This alerts Yiris, but she's also taken aback by the stealthy attack of the creature. Nict is immediately awoken, but Bratrizik takes more time to regain his wits.

Nict and BARGO fire at the ksarik, and Yiris hits it as well. Bratrizik finaly shakes the grogginess from his eyes in time for him to be hit by the ksarik's dart attack. They all remember what happened to a victim of such a dart attack, so they renew their assault. Just as they chase the first ksarik, the second one, which climbed to the Stargazer's head, comes down the stairs and joins the fight. The ksarik hits Bratrizik, and the vesk collapses to the ground. Both Nict, BARGO and Yiris turn their attention to this second intruder, and they unleash a volley of fire on it, forcing it to retreat.


Following the battle, they hunker down again, and this time the rest of the day and night passes uneventfully. Before going back into sleep mode, Yiris uses her ability to recharge two batteries.


After the Gap - March 11, 317 @ 07:12 
 
On the ninth day, Bratrizik casts remove affliction on himself twice, taking care of the carrion spores germinating inside him. Nict wakes but does not feel rested. The shirren coughs up some of the spores he inhaled during the moldstorm, and he remains flat-footed for the day.

They return to the trail, and realize that their encounters of the previous day have set them back some and they are now about two days behind Paqual's group. They press on and soon the path begins to ascend into Ukulam's Singing Range, a chain of mountains that divides the continent in two. Over the next two days, the party continues to pursue Paqual but don't make much progress in catching up. The other group has also picked up its speed.



After the Gap - March 14, 317 @ 11:43 
 
On the twelfth day since their departure from Turhalu Point, they finally reach a large plateau nested between tall peaks covered with snow. They soon discover several hundreds of low pyramids ranking between 2 and 25 feet in heights and spread over a half mile. These ruins were identified by Halkueem Zan as the Forsaken City. Paqual's group continued through here and did not stop, so they press on. The path takes them through another pass and eventually to a staircase, and, as they crest a ridge on the path, it slopes gently downward to a small plateau. They see in the distance a domed building of of elegantly sculpted stone, with marvelous stain glass reflecting the light. Bratirik records a video.

As they cautiously come around a corner of the staircase, they spot an adolescent mountain eel making a meal out of a cultist. Bratrizik launches a mind thrust against the creature, while Yiris follows with a jolting surge. The mountain eel takes a bite of Yiris and realizes the android is not really food. It spits it out and switches its attention to the vesk. Nict shoots it, and BARGO delivers the killing blow.

Mountain eel

 
Walking up the last steps, the party find themselves on a large plateau, with the building standing a few hundred meters away. Seven pillars of stone stand on one side, with extensive images carved along the surface of each column, chronicling past eras and incorporating several astronomical maps and phemonena. Yiris examines the artwork and identify several elven figures. Clearly they have reached what Halkueem Zan referred to as a great temple. The android also realizes that the pillars themselves form the same constellation as the one they first saw in the Stargazer.


A medium-height humanoid emerges from the shadow of the closest pillar to the temple. Bratrizik notices that the humanoid is elven and wears antique gear. Closer inspection reveals that it is undead, but it appears intelligent. The vesk relates this information. Yiris wonders if it is an Eoxian agent, but based on the equipment, Bratrizik is certain this undead is from Castrovel. The undead positions himself between the party and the temple's doors, and assumes a relaxed yet is clearly ready to fight if needed.

Panelliar the undead warrior-monk of Ibra

Bratrizik, Nict and Yiris discuss among themselves what course to take. Bratrizik convinces them that it is probably safe to carefully move forward. When the vesk gets within 5 meters of the undead, it raises its weappon and blocks the path. It solemnly greets them in elven, and when it realizes none of them speak this language it switches to celestial. Bratrizik speaks celestial, so he translates to the others.

The undead introduces himself as Panelliar, a warrior-monk in the service of Ibra, ancient goddess of the universe's infinite, distant cosmological mysteries. He has remained here all this time to protect this holy structure, and he informs them that they cannot enter. As Bratrizik attempts to convince him to let them through, Nict and Yiris begin walking around the structure, looking for another entrance.

Bratrizik questions the undead, and soon discovers that Paqual's group arrived almost two days ago, and that the leader of the group somehow took control of Panelliar, most likely through a command undead spell. Though he wasn't able to break the monk's will, he was able to order it to prevent anyone other than the cultists from entering. Bratrizik proudly displays the symbol he picked up at the Stargazer, claiming to be a cultist. Reluctantly, Panelliar allows him to enter, but also no longer talks him.

On one side of the building, Nict and Yiris find stain glass windows about two and a half meters off the ground. Nict climbs on top of BARGO and takes a look inside. It appears to be a study room of some kind, but no one is here.

Bratrizik enters the Temple, and immediately notices that the floor shows a map of the constellation, similar to the one on the ceiling the Stargazer. Large doors lead elsewhere into the Temple. Not wanting to tarry in case cultists notice his entrance, Bratrizik comes out and tells Panelliar that he has failed in his mission to prevent him from entering, as he is in fact not a cultist. Panelliar reacts angrily with his mission having been interfered with. The elven monk engages the vesk in combat. Bratrizik casts a mind thrust, but he soon falls prey to the monk's own mystic powers.

Alerted by the sounds of combat, Yiris and Nict find the undead Panelliar standing a few meters away from the vesk's body, keeping a wary watch. The two of them approach carefully, and retrieve the body. Dragging an unconscious Bratrizik with them, Yiris, Nict and BARGO return to the Forsaken City and pitch camp for the night.

Temple of the Twelve