IC Thread: Behave and Beheld [5E]

[Thrasymedes]

"Is it somewhere we could stage a cutter to?"

B'xli asked not very hopefully, then twitched his eyestalks:

"If not, I would somewhat like to secure the ship better before we go. How far from here is the location and was a time set? I definitely support keeping some of us concealed but am curious what he stipulated and if the area is open or a confined space and how long we have to plan and recon."

[TriciaOso]

"Is it somewhere we could stage a cutter to?"

B'xli asked not very hopefully, then twitched his eyestalks:

"If not, I would somewhat like to secure the ship better before we go. How far from here is the location and was a time set? I definitely support keeping some of us concealed but am curious what he stipulated and if the area is open or a confined space and how long we have to plan and recon."

Xl'va thinks about this. "Perhaps... his faction has taken control of the Q'Rp Observatory, the former Dragnet headquarters. It's surrounded by a large open space, and you might be able to get a small ship in there, much easier than you could take it through the streets. If you could negotiate permission from the air traffic controllers. They do have siege weapons there, however -- that's why the Satyr League has allowed them to hold it this long."

"No time is set -- it is an open invitation to surrender myself to them."

[Seramus]

M'alax floats around in a lazy circle as he imagines the Q'Rp Observatory. Such an impressive looking telescope, surely someone could see to the very edge of the heavens and even beyond! Of course, he had been up close and personal when the heavens shattered on that fateful day, but what had it looked like from the observatory? Perhaps they had recordings of it of some kind, though he wasn't sure what those would look like.

"What about sewers or other entrances? Maybe even secret tunnels from the prohibition days when the Panopticon outlawed fun? Sneaking in seems like a good way to avoid siege weapons, and maybe even give us a chance to disable them while the main group walks into the trap?"

[Thrasymedes]

"That would be very useful. I confess, I do not like the idea of siege weapons against us. Unless anyone here has any private police contacts, I don't think we are going to get the cutter in range since I don't have any contacts in this city among air traffic control."

He floated around in a vertical loop while thinking:

"If we do find a way in, who would want to be in the bait group? I feel like doing this at night or in the early morning might help again."

[clash]

"I volunteer for the bait group on the cutter, but I think that goes without saying. We'll need at least one more for a pilot. Bx'li I assume that means you? I think we should have the bulk of us go inside though if possible. We're just the diversion after all"

Rex looked to Bx'li for his response then to the others to see if they agree.

[sandmote]

"Arrive on the cutter if we can, parking away from the siege weapons. Perhaps saying we've captured you?" Ag'zear motions to Xl'va. "Then once inside we attempt a breakout?"

[Thrasymedes]

"If we all arrive in the cutter, we will have to land out of sight or they will ask about it holding too many people. I would be good with flying it along with Rex. Do we want to try and find the tunnel to see if others can sneak in that way? I wonder if we can convince the ATC to let us fly it by telling them we are getting Xl'va out of their hair so he no longer bothers them."

[Seramus]

M'alax bobs his face sharply.

"I think we've got a good plan, we just need to make sure a tunnel like that or, at least, some kind of second entrance actually exists. Someone should check blueprints for the building, and I can search the nearby buildings for signs of a tunnel or something."

"Then we can arrange clearance for the cutter with the Satyr League, and set up a meeting time with the bad guy himself."

[Sirithhyando]

Spoiler: Brak'ma Xis

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Brak'ma Xis, splatter painter extraordinaire
Lawful Evil Beheld barbarian, path of the battlerager /
STR 18, DEX 15, CON 16, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 8/
AC 16, HP 45/45, INI +2 | Senses (passive): Perception 11, Investigation 11, Insight 9
Save :STR +6, DEX +2, CON +5, INT -1, WIS -1, CHA -1/
Special : ADV on save vs spells and magical effect; ADV on dex vs effects that i can see (while not blind/deaf/incapacitated)
Rage : 3/3 (activation : Bonus action/ Reset on long rest)

---

Of course there's a second entrance, an old tunnel no one really remembers. Its ugly, dark and grey, i painted some of it at some point, not sure how it ended up though, didn't bring enough light to look at the end result. When i wanted to get away for a while i used to go there though i didn't really know where i was, only that others didn't seems to be able to find me when i was there. Good times. Brak'ma smiled reminescing the good times.

---

[TriciaOso]

Xl'va heads out onto a balcony and addresses his crowd of followers.

Spoiler: Speech! Speech!

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"Children of the Great Dragon!" he declares. "I greet you in the name of Bahamut, and his Aspect T'mzeuch, and in the name of my absent co-prophet X'Htd! The time has come for us to depart from you, and journey elsewhere in this great system. By the grace of the Custodian of Melinor, it has been vouchsafed to me to share the good news of the world beyond with you, but now I must depart."

"I call on you to keep this house as a holy shrine to the place where the Three Palimpsests regained their memories, and as the point from which their pilgrimage truly began. From here to N'Bu, and then to M'qa to save our world and very souls."

"Now my own great pilgrimage begins, aided by these agents of the Justice-bringer, sent here to deliver me. Please, lend them what aid you can... we have need of communication devices, if any among you can spare them."

"Remember always that our victory and freedom was bought in blood, paid for in loyalty and in determination. And that the Palimpsests came so that we could live in good order, as citizens of a greater world. Fall not prey to the temptation of hedonism, becoming each your own Demiurge, lost in selfishness and solipsism. This is the great besetting sin of our race, against which we must be ever vigilant..."

It goes on like this for a while.

Some of the crowd are moved to tears; others keep playing telekinetic beer-pong. Some of you (with a Passive Perception of 15) spot a Beheld with the Satyr League face paint in the crowd, and he seems... determined. He shoves through the crowd towards the stairs to talk to you, forcing his way through the clamor of volunteers ready to share their communication devices.

Xl'va distributes the EyePhones among you, and the three of you headed for the tunnels set out. Well, you start to set out. Somehow between the balcony and the door, you get swept up in a raucous drinking game with some of the Satyr League. Ag'zear and M'alax, you disentangle yourselves after a bit, but lose track of Brak'ma in the confusion. You head for the tunnel, hoping he'll catch up.

A moment later, the Satyr League agent catches up with the rest of you. Closer to, you can see his goat's-head is not painted on but tattooed; a more serious revolutionary. He has a thatch of hair weaving through his tentacles and curling ram's horns of his own. He seems more conservative than many N'Xenians you've met, but maybe that's just how he dresses.

"The name's T'rr," he says shortly. "Air Traffic Control. We spoke earlier."

---

Brak'ma:

Man, it's good to be breathing the smog of good old N'Xena again! Although your enlistment took you around the system and eventually stranded you on B'Nxam, this was always home. And now that the Satyr League has taken over, the good times are rolling, art is free, and there's plenty of chaos! It's paradise!

Somewhere along the line you lost track of your comrades. You somewhat tipsily explain to your new friends that you need to get back to your mission, and somehow end up explaining more about the mission than you intended. It's all good, though. These are fellow revolutionary artists! In fact, as you get talking about it, a brilliant idea emerges...

---

Ag'zear, M'alax:

In the hills around T'Lah stands an iconic sign. It was originally erected as an advertisement for a housing development, but while the housing development has come and gone, the sign is still here, declaring the name T'LAH in vast white letters. From here you can look down on the whole city, if the smog is thin enough; but Q'Rp Observatory is always visible. The open parkland around it leads up into a canyon that brings you here.

The entrance to the old smuggling tunnels are around here somewhere, behind the apostrophe...

---

B'Xli, Rex and Xl'va:

"Nice speech," T'rr says. "Explains a lot. We had some questions about that cutter... always would about a B'nxam police cutter, and even more once we saw how it had been modified. But I think I get it now. You could have saved some time by telling us you were here to take this crank out of our hair. I can clear you for a takeoff within the hour."

"We must not leave without X'Htd," intones Xl'va.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say, you dumb ****ing dragon," T'rr sighs. "Let's hear the plan."

[sandmote]

"Well, might as well get cracking." Ag'zear pauses for a moment. "Huh. First time I wasn't about to hit someone before I said that."

He takes a look around, and then checks to see if the supports for the apostrophe is loose and small enough for him to lift telepathically.

[Thrasymedes]

"T'rr, good to meet you. Almost wish we had told you but had no idea how you felt about him and hadn't realized that he was already that much of an eyesore for you. The plan is for me and one other to fly our friend here over for a 'prisoner exchange' at the observatory and then try to break X'htd out and take both of them off planet and out of your hair. Whichever way it goes, they will be no longer your problem since we will either succeed or get captured, though I hope for and expect the former.

My thought is that we could either file a flight plan to fly to the observatory and then offworld with a window about 15 minutes after touchdown claiming we are going to do a prisoner exchange and then transfer offworld or if your office wouldn't clear that we could file a flight plan to get offworld and then report an 'emergency' and briefly touch down by the observatory for 'repairs'. The final option is to only file to the observatory but I DON'T fancy the idea of waiting for an exit window during a hot exit. What do you think?"

B'Xli appears relieved to have a fellow professional to discuss flight planning with and a tiny bit of his nervousness appears to leave him.

[Seramus]

M'alax smiles broadly at the giant white letters. He had always seen images of it in advertisements, and there's a small thrill at being here in person. How often did they clean it? How many times had it been defaced? Haha.

He snaps himself out of his thoughts and joins Mr. Ownclub in trying to lift the opening to the tunnels.

"I can't believe an entrance was right here the whole time. In plain sight!"

[clash]

Rex wasn't really paying much attention to all the ceremony. Wasn't his thing. He just wanted to get the cutter in the air and fire that hardpoint at something like those siege weapons that could actually shoot back. Suddenly he looked up to see Bx'li fishing good way expectantly. "yes umm you help us out with the air traffic control for our cutter and we take some the trouble offworld, in more than one way. Seems like a win win to me" he states kinda rushed still trying to catch up to what he missed.

[TriciaOso]

T'rr frowns. "So you want permission to fly a cutter within city limits and possibly engage in battle with a police station that is still at least semi-armed? That's a big ask, boys. I--that is to say, the Satyr League--is going to need something more than just taking these troublesome prophets away in exchange."

"There's some records in the old Dragnet station in the Observatory that aren't doing anyone any good. They probably should've been destroyed when we first took the city, but someone was sloppy or they thought it might be valuable to keep all the police files on citizens for the future. Both are possible. If you can destroy those along the way, we've got a deal."

"I'm not picky, by the way... you can just burn the whole building down, if that's easier for you."

---

You locate the secret door without much trouble, but having difficulty figuring out how to trigger it. You manage to get it about halfway before it jams; possibly you did something wrong, or maybe it's just rusted beyond usability.

Finesse has failed; it's time for a strength check.

[sandmote]

Ag'zear pulls up all his strength, "Let's see how much we can get-- it moving."

[Seramus]

M'alax lines up behind Ag'zear and focuses his telekinetic eyes to help him move the hatch. The little beheld was no great lifter, but every little thing helped.

"On three... 1... 2... 3!"

[clash]

"Done." Rex agrees to Trr's proposal. "You give us clearance to fly the mission, I will personally burn the whole place to the ground" Rex smiles. Every new complication just made this better.

[TriciaOso]

"It's a deal, then," says the man from the Satyr League. "Get to it."

A quick telekinetic pedicab brings you back to the spaceport and your waiting ship.

---

You wrench open the gateway. Beyond, you see a dark tunnel burrowing into the hillside towards the valley below, heavy with the dust of years.

---

In the valley below, a group of guerilla artists hit the Q'Rrp Observatory with Ceci n'est pas une pipe bombs, damaging their anti-air defenses and blinding the main telescope with paint.

[Seramus]

M'alax glances around once to be safe, and then plunges into the darkness of the tunnels. Mr. Ownclub was mighty with the lifting, but sneaking into places and scouting is what M'alax does best.

He moves like a nearly soundless ghost, eyestalks peering around every corner, searching the ceilings and floors, then giving the all-clear at each intersection so Ag'zear can move up.

"We should use code names. What do you want yours to be?" He asks excitedly at one point, his voice barely even a whisper beneath his stealthy magic.

[Thrasymedes]

B'xli spreads his eyestalks a little further apart at T'rr and Rex's casual agreement but says nothing and ultimately nods.

He then quickly jumped in the cab with his companions and did a thorough preflight...twice before calling flight control for clearance to fly to the observatory and then go orbital 30 minutes later.

Looking at his new passenger while waiting for clearance he smirked at him:
"Yes this ship is bigger than it initially appeared, please declare any bags of holding, improved prison wallets and other extra dimensional items before boarding to prevent unnecessary damage to reality. Oh well, you already boarded so I guess you're clean"

Once this is received, he fired up the engine and flew it over towards the observatory pausing just before they entered its airspace to permit Rex to call in their approach and do the convincing of others that Rex was so much better at.

[sandmote]

Ag'zear rolls an eyestalk at M'alax's excitement. "Call me clumsy," he replies, his armor once again making an awkward noise. "Thanks for the help staying quiet."

Spoiler: OOC

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Rolled a natural 5 (with disadvantage from the armor). that's 16 with the Pass Without Trace

[clash]

Rex eyes up the weapons in the observatory through the scope. He was very tempted to shoot first rather than walk into the ambush. Don't get him wrong. The ambush didn't bother him. He was just worried that he might not get a chance to fire the hardpoint if the more subtle approach worked.

"Q'rp Observatory air space, the is sergeant V'sarius. We have a prisoner captured were told is off particular value to you. I'm hoping to exchange it for a little bit of good will towards to militia here in T'lah. His name is Xl'va. Interested?"

[TriciaOso]

There's a long panicked pause on the other end, and then a reply.

Roger, B'Nxam cruiser, we are very interested. Have you notified the Dragnet of your capture?

Without waiting for an answer, you see the front door open and a few Draggers in ragged but correct uniforms come out. The one in the lead is grizzled and balding, supporting a massive moustache, and popping pills from little capsule like a Beheld with a bad ulcer.

They look suspicious but eager, but then a bell inside starts ringing, and they just look suspicious. A couple of weapon emplacements swivel to point at the cutter.

---

M'alax, Ag'zear, you make your way through the narrow brick tunnel as silently as you can. The tunnels are long-abandoned, partially choked with debris and abandoned junk from the smuggling operation; wheelbarrows, barrels and balks of timber.

As you creep towards the exit, M'alax, you look up and spot a scrying camera mounted unobtrusively in the space where the brick has fallen out. All you can do is hope no one is watching, or if they are your command of the shadows was good enough.

That hope is dashed as a bell down the corrider, muffled on the other side of the door, begins to ring.

A stave on one of the barrels lashes out and strikes M'alax, grappling him.

[Thrasymedes]

"We're going hot. B'xli snapped out as the bell began ringing. Immediately he gestured at the tower to his left causing a giant billow of cloud to form between them.
As he frantically tried to yank one of the controls with his left hand to skew the ship's descent a few feet to the right he called back to Rex: "Kill the right tower. I am covering the left one."

[clash]

Rex takes the cue from Bx'li. He had been ready at the trigger already waiting to watching something go to in smoke. He quickly chanted the incantation then while aiming the hardpoint at the tower then felt the heat surge through him as he released 1, 2, then 3 perfect shots in a matter of seconds hitting his mark each time.

[sandmote]

"That's probably on me," Ag'zear notes, bringing his weapon down on the Barrel as soon as he can.

Spoiler: OOC

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18 to attack the mimic, for 7 piercing damage and 3 force damage.

[Seramus]

M'alax yowls plaintively as the barrel lashes out at him and then... sticks to him?! What the heck? A flash of metal glints in the hallway as the pale little beheld draws a length of sharpened metal with telekinesis, and then jabs it violently at the 'wood' sticking to him. At the same time, a WHUFF of air sounds out as another eye thrusts telekinetic force at the body of the barrel.

"Bad touch, bad touch!"

Spoiler

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25 to hit with shortsword. 10 slashing damage. 16 to hit with unarmed. 5 bludgeoning damage.

[TriciaOso]

The attacks all land, smashing in the sides of the barrel and revealing pale flesh under the woody carapace. It still doesn't release M'alax, however, and the lid flaps open to reveal a toothy maw. It chomps down on M'alax's flesh; the bite itself is no great thing, but the bile that floods out of its mouth scalds the skin.

Down the corridor you can hear the sound of angry Dragnet militia coming to investigate.

---

As the right hand dome begins to open, Rex puts several pulses of fire directly into it, and it explodes in a sphere of flame. From the other side of the fog cloud, the other tower fires blindly, an actinic beam that narrowly misses the ship.

The Dragnet militia scurry hurriedly back towards the gates of the Observatory. Xl'va moves to the side of the cutter and leaps off into space, feather-falling to the ground. As he falls, spectral armor and weapons form around him, the regalia of a Dragonknight.

"P'QMA, YOU COWARD!" he bellows at their commander, pointing his hovering greatsword. "FIGHT ME!" There's the shivery cadence of magic on that last demand.

The mustached commander growls and runs back towards the prophet. As he does, he tosses another pill into his mouth and seems to convulse and swell with fury. He draws his own weapon, a heavy-looking nightstick, and brings it down on Xl'va in a bruising blow. "I'm not afraid of any ghost!" he screams back.

The rest of the militia clusters in the doorway, unsure how to proceed.

[Thrasymedes]

"Paladins. Rex, do you want to tell me when you are ready to take out that tower. On second thought, I will drop the cloud in 5-4-3-2-1...now."

He shakes his head while steering the ship forward and a little right, placing himself just short of the entrance and about 15' up and then readies himself to make the ship dance.

Spoiler: Actions

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He is using his move to fly about 50' forward, 5' up and 5' right. This should put him about 70' short of the entrance and centered on the main doors. He is then dropping his concentration on Fog Cloud (I believe leading to its disappearance) and then takes the Dodge Action while waiting for Rex to shoot.