Upon further consideration, the company concluded that the robojack was probably not worth the effort of retrieval and decided to continue on directly to the Dominion hive. On the way, they were once again met by the tiefling bounty hunter, Hyrsek Caio. Using all his "well-learned politesse", he questioned the party on their findings within the Fungal Cave, and whether they had found any evidence of the rogue Technic League mage Therace. The party denied finding anything beyond a few minor baubles. Being a fairly perceptive individual, Caio was certain they were withholding the truth from him. Nonetheless, they were clearly more than he could handle. The reckoning would have to wait and Caio helplessly watched as the party went on its way.
As the company continued to the hive, they encountered an enormous, foul-smelling mass of scaly flesh. They were able to determine that it was, in fact, the decomposing remains of the organic dropship used by the Dominion to land on Golarion. Braving the stench, the party entered the ship from a rotted hole in the collapsing roof. They quickly encountered a guardian of the dying vessel, a lunarma sorcerer. The weird, hovering, tentacled creature engaged the party with magic and a mindrender. It fought with ferocity, but was ultimately defeated. Moving on, the party made its way to the front of the ship where, they assumed, the control centre would found. Access to the deck was barred by three neh-thalggus, the dreaded brain collectors.
They battled hard, with claw and spell, but the potent strength-sapping venom of their bite attacks proved the most debilitating attack. Fortunately, no brains were collected on this day.
Finally, the party arrived on the bridge of the ship. The ceiling was quite high. Suspended from it was an immense steel and glass cauldron containing a huge green ooze that sloshed about within its container.
The ooze began to communicate with party telepathically. It called itself The-Stars-Whisper and claimed to be the shipmind of the dropship. Though its demeanor was initially hostile, it became friendlier upon realizing the party sought a confrontation with the Dominion. Like the ship itself, the shipmind was dying and it grew to hate the Dominion, and especially the neh-thalggus, blaming them for its inevitable demise. It offered the party a cache of useful items it had stored which could aid in the fight against the Dominion. The shipmind revealed a number of magical and technological items, including an ingenuity facet, a special device similar to the inhibitor facet they had used against Hellion back in Scrapwall. However, unlike that device, the ingenuity facet is intended to strengthen, rather than weaken an artificial intelligence. The cache also included a dozen scent glands which could be used to obscure the party from the internal sensors within the hive.
As the group prepared to collect the treasure and depart, the demeanor of the shipmind suddenly shifted again. It decided that it needed to test the party, reasoning that if they could not defeat it, they would be no match for the Dominion. It attacked immediately, using its potent plasma bolt and thought disruption attacks. The battle was hard-fought and more than one party felt his mind nearly shattered by the psychic attacks. Still, the company prevailed and the shipmind died, content that its vengeance would be delivered. The Dominion awaits.
-Rognar-
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