Power’s Pink Price - Chapter 079

I do buff Euler up. The skill would be Escape Artist, but that was subsumed into Acrobatics in Starfinder. So Enable Function to grant ranks, again for Skill Focus, then Karmic Blessing so it's a class skill… she already has Bestow Insight for a nice little bonus.  With all the other buffs as well, she'll be able to make that DC 30 check by taking ten, no problem.

I prepare a hundred of the summons; I start with Elder Air Elementals, add Euler's buff list as a base, and turn it up from there:

Ironguard from Spell Compendium will let them ignore metals: Swords, bullets, shrapnel, and even all those bulkheads found in a place like Absalom Station; I’m sure they’ll have fun using the walls and floor for cover. I also add Nightstalker's Transformation to give them Evasion and some sneaky skill boosts, Kiss of the Vampire to give them a few at-will spell-like abilities (including Charm Person), Undermaster for more (including Transmute Flesh to Stone, which does what it says: Turns people and creatures into statues), Mental Pinnacle to make them Psionic, and Enable Function - repeatedly - as I did on Patricia to load them up with power points, powers known, and hit points.

So when I'm done, they're immune to most energy attacks, immune to basically all magic, immune to basically all weapons, very durable against what little can actually hurt them at all (which is “natural weapons” - rare, among folks that do manufacturing); they're equipped with several at-will offensive effects, and they have a host of utility effects from Psionic powers.

And those are the decoys.

The real team? Not actually as tough… but they won't go down to injury… and while they don't individually have access to all of the offensive items… they have enough. Patricia I take with me, of course. She's dead in the water if I'm not nearby, and if I keep her in crystal form, she's equipment enough to be covered by my stealth… so my Psionic blaster caster is currently mounted in a necklace I'm wearing… so I'm prominently displaying a pink heart necklace.  Eh. Whatever. I'll be invisible.

Staging is simple: I make a demiplane via the Create Demiplane spell, and we do all of the summoning and buffing there, in a very plain pink plane (by the way, I am SO TIRED OF PINK).  Once we're ready, I cast Gate to get the real team into the Keyhome network, close that, make myself invisible… and cast another Gate, this time to the enemy's front door.  I direct the summons through… and they have their orders.

The actual facility is part of a docking arm that’s about the width of a football field, with two airlocks in the otherwise-blank bulkheads; one small for getting people through, another that’s… honestly, big enough to pass the space shuttle.  I’m guessing that one is for cargo.  I watch the carnage for a moment: Giant blobs of solidified air zip out of the hole in reality I made, zoom through the walls like they aren’t even there, and zap away at whatever’s behind.  Fun.

Invisible, I simply cast Fly and Ironguard on myself (both Fleeting, of course), and calmly head through the walls.

The interior is a cargo bay, a nice relaxing gray (what? I see too much pink: Gray is a relaxing color for me), with dim lighting… which isn't a problem; one spell makes it bright as day to me.  Inside, there's a bunch of lizard women - Vesk - seven foot tall, muscle-bound lizardwomen, with armor, weapons, spikes… and teeth and claws.

I watch the light show for a bit; my minions blast with lightning, turn the opposition to stone, and hit anyone that lets them gets in melee range… which seems to be their primary go-to.  The lizard ladies, for their part, fire various weapons; energy beams of different colors (which do nothing; they deal energy damage, and the Energy Immunity spell takes care of that) slug throwers (which also do nothing; Stormrage deflects them), even a few rocket launchers (some of which would actually work… on the ridiculously rare occasion the air elementals don't manage to make their reflex saves; Evasion is awesome, and the Opportunity spell makes them basically never fail the save).

I wonder how long it will take them to sort out that their manufactured weapons are useless and…

Oh, hey; that woman just did; she swung a spear (seriously, they still have those, although they've been technologically enhanced… swords, knives, hammers, and everything else, too), and it vanished in a flash of light on impact (that's due to Starmantle), so she tried her teeth… and those actually left a mark for a few seconds.

Hmm.

Well… I don't really care who wins this fight; if they have enough personnel to use their teeth and claws to kill my summons… that's fine, it saves me needing to dismiss them later. If they all die… well, they are MILITARY INTELLIGENCE for an EVIL EMPIRE whom I know engage in KIDNAPPING and TORTURE: I'm okay with them dying. If they all run away… I can live with that.

I'm still glad I don't need sleep, though: The screams of the dying and the scent of burnt flesh won't haunt my nightmares.

I move on and… wait… that corrodor isn't supposed to be… great. The plans on file with the station don't match the actual layout.

I suppose it doesn't matter too much; the other extraction team will land wherever they put Cowbird's stuff for analysis, and I don't exactly need a map when I can just walk through walls.  A quick Circle Dance spell (it’s third level, from Spell Compendium) tells me which way to walk, as well as informing me that Cowbird is unharmed and slightly aroused, but mostly bored.

I guess they have her in a cell? Well, that's ideal for me.  I start walking in the indicated direction, walking through a kitchen, a bedroom, a shower where a lizardman is hastily donning armor… huh, they have two wangs? Doesn't appeal to me…

“I'd like to find out how that feels…” Now's not the time, Patricia.

…also an armory, a reactor room, an engine room… wait a minute… station records do NOT indicate that this is a ship. But that's what this is. So there is going to be a big hole in the station when these guys leave.

Well… I can't control that, basically everyone wears EVA rated clothing, and literally every door I have seen on the station can double as an airlock. So it's not too bad, really, but… ugh.

I repeat the Circle Dance spell as I go to make sure I stay on track, and get inconsistent results. She's staying slightly aroused and mostly bored… but injured, not injured, injured, not injured… ah, I get it.  They’re probably trying to get her to talk, dealing minor injuries, and watching her heal up from the spells I left on her.

Which is confirmed when I walk into the room.  Okay, so… Cowbird is strapped to a table, naked.  Nothing unusual about that.  The space under the table is a bloody mess… also normal for her.  I count fourteen fingers, six toes, twelve teeth, and two noses severed and scattered in various places of the blood pool underneath the table… along with some empty jars, a hot poker, clamps, knives, and a few less identifiable things.

And one very, very tired lizard woman, caked in blood, who seems to have had it, “WHY WON'T YOU JUST TALK ALREADY?!” she screams.

Now, I know I really shouldn't, but I just can't help answering, “Oh, that's because for her, that's foreplay. LIGHT foreplay. Do you want to see what she REALLY likes?” I block the door with a Wall of Force spell.

She jumps and looks around… of course, I'm still invisible.

I chuckle, but really, there's no point torturing the poor exhausted torturer, “Yeah, if you want to hurt her, try giving her a full-body massage, a facial mask, and maybe putting cucumber slices over her eyes,” Cowbird shudders and whimpers, and I continue, “But… we've found her, so I don't really need to show you how to get her motor running properly, as you won't have her for much longer…”

The torturer hits a button on the wall and screams, “Intruder in interrogation room six!”

“Oh… right, this room is probably pretty well soundproofed. Yeah, all of your security forces are QUITE busy. Nobody's coming.  You're alone in here…” I look at Cowbird, shrug, and cast Disintegrate on the table beneath her, turning it into a handful of pink dust along with her binds, “Or almost alone.  Cowbird, take out the trash.”

Now, I don't know exactly how they captured Cowbird… but she's actually a fine combatant. And now she's loose, in a room full of various weapons, with orders to kill her rather unexciting torturer.

Oh, the torturer fights back, sure.  She has her teeth and claws, and there’s no shortage of pointy things in here.  But a skilled fighter who literally can't die from wounds kinda wins rather handily… eventually.

In the meantime, I get on the coms, “Found her. Do you have her gear?” Our coms still might be compromised, so I don't want to say what, exactly, we were after.

“We do, yes,” comes Euler's reply, “Evacing.”

And that's all that needs to be said.  I'm starting to develop a headache, I'm guessing from all the death…

“Oh yeah,” Patricia adds, “SO MUCH loose life to eat.”

…so it's definitely time to leave.  I look at the torturer… never did get her name… lying dead upon the floor, and start opening a path with Disintegrate.

“Let’s go, slave. I suspect we've punished these folks enough for stealing my property... even if you are worthless, I can't have people thinking they can take what's mine.” No, I don’t mean it. But Cowbird needs such abuse, so….

She hums a happy tune as we calmly walk through the storm of battle, using Disintegrate to turn anything in our way into pink dust...

Until the ship screams in protest as metal tears.

I do buff Euler up. The skill would be Escape Artist, but that was subsumed into Acrobatics in Starfinder. So Enable Function to grant ranks, again for Skill Focus, then Karmic Blessing so it's a class skill she already has Bestow Insight for a nice little bonus. With all the other buffs as well, she'll be able to make that DC 30 check by taking ten, no problem. I prepare a hundred of the summons; I start with Elder Air Elementals, add Euler's buff list as a base, and turn it up from there: Spoiler Ironguard from Spell Compendium will let them ignore metals: Swords, bullets, shrapnel, and even all those bulkheads found in a place like Absalom Station; I'm sure they'll have fun using the walls and floor for cover. I also add Nightstalker's Transformation to give them Evasion and some sneaky skill boosts, Kiss of the Vampire to give them a few at-will spell-like abilities including Charm Person, Undermaster for more including Transmute Flesh to Stone, which does what it says: Turns people and creatures into statues, Mental Pinnacle to make them Psionic, and Enable Function - repeatedly - as I did on Patricia to load them up with power points, powers known, and hit points. collapse So when I'm done, they're immune to most energy attacks, immune to basically all magic, immune to basically all weapons, very durable against what little can actually hurt them at all which is natural weapons - rare, among folks that do manufacturing; they're equipped with several at-will offensive effects, and they have a host of utility effects from Psionic powers. And those are the decoys. The real team? Not actually as tough but they won't go down to injury and while they don't individually have access to all of the offensive items they have enough. Patricia I take with me, of course. She's dead in the water if I'm not nearby, and if I keep her in crystal form, she's equipment enough to be covered by my stealth so my Psionic blaster caster is currently mounted in a necklace I'm wearing so I'm prominently displaying a pink heart necklace. Eh. Whatever. I'll be invisible. Staging is simple: I make a demiplane via the Create Demiplane spell, and we do all of the summoning and buffing there, in a very plain pink plane by the way, I am SO TIRED OF PINK. Once we're ready, I cast Gate to get the real team into the Keyhome network, close that, make myself invisible and cast another Gate, this time to the enemy's front door. I direct the summons through and they have their orders. The actual facility is part of a docking arm that's about the width of a football field, with two airlocks in the otherwise-blank bulkheads; one small for getting people through, another that's honestly, big enough to pass the space shuttle. I'm guessing that one is for cargo. I watch the carnage for a moment: Giant blobs of solidified air zip out of the hole in reality I made, zoom through the walls like they aren't even there, and zap away at whatever's behind. Fun. Invisible, I simply cast Fly and Ironguard on myself both Fleeting, of course, and calmly head through the walls. The interior is a cargo bay, a nice relaxing gray what? I see too much pink: Gray is a relaxing color for me, with dim lighting which isn't a problem; one spell makes it bright as day to me. Inside, there's a bunch of lizard women - Vesk - seven foot tall, muscle-bound lizardwomen, with armor, weapons, spikes and teeth and claws. I watch the light show for a bit; my minions blast with lightning, turn the opposition to stone, and hit anyone that lets them gets in melee range which seems to be their primary go-to. The lizard ladies, for their part, fire various weapons; energy beams of different colors which do nothing; they deal energy damage, and the Energy Immunity spell takes care of that slug throwers which also do nothing; Stormrage deflects them, even a few rocket launchers some of which would actually work on the ridiculously rare occasion the air elementals don't manage to make their reflex saves; Evasion is awesome, and the Opportunity spell makes them basically never fail the save. I wonder how long it will take them to sort out that their manufactured weapons are useless and Oh, hey; that woman just did; she swung a spear seriously, they still have those, although they've been technologically enhanced swords, knives, hammers, and everything else, too, and it vanished in a flash of light on impact that's due to Starmantle, so she tried her teeth and those actually left a mark for a few seconds. Hmm. Well I don't really care who wins this fight; if they have enough personnel to use their teeth and claws to kill my summons that's fine, it saves me needing to dismiss them later. If they all die well, they are MILITARY INTELLIGENCE for an EVIL EMPIRE whom I know engage in KIDNAPPING and TORTURE: I'm okay with them dying. If they all run away I can live with that. I'm still glad I don't need sleep, though: The screams of the dying and the scent of burnt flesh won't haunt my nightmares. I move on and wait that corrodor isn't supposed to be great. The plans on file with the station don't match the actual layout. I suppose it doesn't matter too much; the other extraction team will land wherever they put Cowbird's stuff for analysis, and I don't exactly need a map when I can just walk through walls. A quick Circle Dance spell it's third level, from Spell Compendium tells me which way to walk, as well as informing me that Cowbird is unharmed and slightly aroused, but mostly bored. I guess they have her in a cell? Well, that's ideal for me. I start walking in the indicated direction, walking through a kitchen, a bedroom, a shower where a lizardman is hastily donning armor huh, they have two wangs? Doesn't appeal to me I'd like to find out how that feels Now's not the time, Patricia. also an armory, a reactor room, an engine room wait a minute station records do NOT indicate that this is a ship. But that's what this is. So there is going to be a big hole in the station when these guys leave. Well I can't control that, basically everyone wears EVA rated clothing, and literally every door I have seen on the station can double as an airlock. So it's not too bad, really, but ugh. I repeat the Circle Dance spell as I go to make sure I stay on track, and get inconsistent results. She's staying slightly aroused and mostly bored but injured, not injured, injured, not injured ah, I get it. They're probably trying to get her to talk, dealing minor injuries, and watching her heal up from the spells I left on her. Which is confirmed when I walk into the room. Okay, so Cowbird is strapped to a table, naked. Nothing unusual about that. The space under the table is a bloody mess also normal for her. I count fourteen fingers, six toes, twelve teeth, and two noses severed and scattered in various places of the blood pool underneath the table along with some empty jars, a hot poker, clamps, knives, and a few less identifiable things. And one very, very tired lizard woman, caked in blood, who seems to have had it, WHY WON'T YOU JUST TALK ALREADY?! she screams. Now, I know I really shouldn't, but I just can't help answering, Oh, that's because for her, that's foreplay. LIGHT foreplay. Do you want to see what she REALLY likes? I block the door with a Wall of Force spell. She jumps and looks around of course, I'm still invisible. I chuckle, but really, there's no point torturing the poor exhausted torturer, Yeah, if you want to hurt her, try giving her a full-body massage, a facial mask, and maybe putting cucumber slices over her eyes, Cowbird shudders and whimpers, and I continue, But we've found her, so I don't really need to show you how to get her motor running properly, as you won't have her for much longer The torturer hits a button on the wall and screams, Intruder in interrogation room six! Oh right, this room is probably pretty well soundproofed. Yeah, all of your security forces are QUITE busy. Nobody's coming. You're alone in here I look at Cowbird, shrug, and cast Disintegrate on the table beneath her, turning it into a handful of pink dust along with her binds, Or almost alone. Cowbird, take out the trash. Now, I don't know exactly how they captured Cowbird but she's actually a fine combatant. And now she's loose, in a room full of various weapons, with orders to kill her rather unexciting torturer. Oh, the torturer fights back, sure. She has her teeth and claws, and there's no shortage of pointy things in here. But a skilled fighter who literally can't die from wounds kinda wins rather handily eventually. In the meantime, I get on the coms, Found her. Do you have her gear? Our coms still might be compromised, so I don't want to say what, exactly, we were after. We do, yes, comes Euler's reply, Evacing. And that's all that needs to be said. I'm starting to develop a headache, I'm guessing from all the death Oh yeah, Patricia adds, SO MUCH loose life to eat. so it's definitely time to leave. I look at the torturer never did get her name lying dead upon the floor, and start opening a path with Disintegrate. Let's go, slave. I suspect we've punished these folks enough for stealing my property... even if you are worthless, I can't have people thinking they can take what's mine. No, I don't mean it. But Cowbird needs such abuse, so. She hums a happy tune as we calmly walk through the storm of battle, using Disintegrate to turn anything in our way into pink dust... Until the ship screams in protest as metal tears.