As the group scans the room you don't notice anything immediately. Perhaps your attention is too drawn to the menacing pit or distracted by the various stacks of stored goods. A pit which was wisely considered a likely hiding spot for the creature. For the moment Gil slips deeper into the room AB-X1 and Gerald see a sudden flurry of movement spring out of it. A large mass of tentacles flailing menacingly is preceded by a ear-piercing hissing sound the instant before it strikes.
Perhaps its due to him being the largest threat, literally, or his proximity to its hiding place, but the feather stalker seems intent to wrap its appendages around the sarcesian and begin ripping him apart.
Gil is fast on his feet and attempts to snap back from a lashing tendril, but in the utter chaos of limbs one still strikes him hard in the side like a metal pipe to the ribs.
The two androids prove that perhaps machines are just superior to organics. Their sharp eyes and quick reactions let AB-X1 snap off a shot that singes the feather stalker and Gerald is able mutter off the incantation to power up Hudathan's weapon.
One of the beast's feather legs smokes faintly where the blaster seared it, and the faint smell of burst asparagus fills the room. It seems far more enraged by the sting of the injury than significantly hurt by it, and unleashes this fury in wild, whipping strikes at poor Gil. One of which slam viciously into the large alien, and the other narrowly failing to clip the top of his head.
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Ia! Gil shouts in pain from the assault of the feather stalker and holding his side where the creature smacked him, I'm hurt bad! Panicking as he realizes he doesn't have a lot of places to go, he does his best to to guard himself as he jumps onto the crate behind him and the cylinder beside that to get some distance on the beast.
The drone climbs up the stairs some to start getting some cover.
It fires upon the beast.
Gil makes a strategic retreat from the feather stalker, which continues to flail viciously at him. In his awkward haste to climb up the junk stored here one of the feathered appendages slams him into the back wall, dropping the grey alien in a heap of gangly limbs.
He provides an excellent distraction, however, and a super powered blast of laser fire collides into the (probable) back of the creature. It hunches low and lets out a screech of pain that reverberates as AB and Nm follow up with their own barrages. Despite being horribly singed and flames sizzling on several of its feathers, the shot from the drone goes wide as it finally notices everyone firing at it and drops lower to the ground.
With Gil down it goes after the next nearby threat, barreling at AB with a stumbling, wild gait that has it knocking over a nearby cylinder it careens into it drunkenly. It's lost all its grace and seems to be barely standing, but that hasn't lessened the ferocity of its attacks as it strike AB in the chest.
The drone fires relentlessly at the creature.
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"There's little enough of it left. We'll have to hurry if we don't want Gil's first mission to be his last." Seeing the beast on its last legs Gerald will join the others in the barrage of fire.
Gerald will fire at the beast and then move further around the catwalk to put some distance between him and the Stalker.
One, two, three laser shots slam into the center of the tangled mass. It rears up in one more animalistic gesture of resistance before the entire thing just goes slack, slumping to the ground in limp coils. There's a sigh from the body and the faint odor of smoke on the air, but otherwise the room is silent.
Now the only concern remains the status of Gil and whether he survives his injuries.
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Healing Serum... so that's what I forgot to buy... I knew I should have made a grocery list.
Hudathan walks over to Gil, to help him up. "Those feathers were harder than they looked, huh?"
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With the sounds of combat having ended a squad of station security enter the warehouse at the same time Gerald is piecing his large friend back together. Once they've confirmed that the warehouse is safe they open the doors wide and several additional men enter who begin removing the various pieces of cargo in the warehouse.
During this activity Zigvigix passes through the cordon and joints you inside the warehouse. "Good work, new Starfinders. Congratulations on teaching that hostile species a thing or two, yes! For your hard work, I have several gifts, thank you!" They pulls a nanospace container out and reaches inside head first, dumping several pieces of equipment at your feet.
A set of basic iridishell armor in good condition clatters to the floor followed by a more concerning pair of incendiary grenades I that they don't handle quite safely enough. Then they hand you a credstick with 400 credits on it. "I am quite sorry that it's not all in just credits, I know I prefer to choose my own purchases. And have fun with the grenades, but don’t blow yourselves up—I like you!” They then free you up to leave when you're ready to meet with another faction leader, or seek out a limited addition album.
Zigvigix itself seems distracted with the choices on where the place all the gear and furniture once the warehouse is cleared.
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Gil coughs heavily as the serum takes effect, gratefully accepting the help to at least into a sitting position.
Yes, those feathers were... something else, he agrees, feeling his side where the beast first smashed his ribs, I much prefer the ones at... never mind. Would you mind if I caught my breath here for a bit before we leave? he asks, already laying back onto the floor and raggedly breathing, I've had a bit of a traumatic experience, you see. There were feathers, androids, a vesk, and a daring rescue involved. Very trying.
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Hudathan picks up the Iridishell armor in awe. He looks around to size up his companions. "Ha! Yet another benefit of traveling with weaker species. Erm.. No offense." Hudathan grimaces at his remark then shrugs his shoulders and dons the armor.
"I agree. Let's get the album before we move on. Shall we leave? Unless someone else sees something worthy of our time in this warehouse. Vesk arms are strong, but Vesk eyes are not."
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"I'll take one of those grenades if you don't mind."
He quickly tosses his pistol and the newfound grenade into his cheeks.
"No offense to the small and weak comment. It's true afterall. That's why I rely on my drone for situations like this. Of course... I think I need to tend to it some as we rest it is clearly malfunctioning..." Rigs tinkers with the drone a little only to find that nothing is wrong.
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Gerald will use Token Spell to clean any blood off the flashlight, and seeing his companions are also well adapted to little light slides it into a pocket against future need. "I think you'll find weakness is relative, and may seem far greater than it is."
"Where shall we get a copy of the album? Do any of you know if a store is nearby, or maybe we can get a copy delivered on our way to the next leader?"
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Hudathan looks over to NM. "NM-0, how do you feel about 'nades? Your fancy brain robot might help you toss it."
As Gerald approaches the flashlight, Hudathan gets concerned. "How fresh was that blood? Does anyone see any survivors?"
Hudathan approaches the pit, looking around the warehouse and in the pit for any survivors or other useful items.
After searching, Hudathan replies to Gerald-59. "The album dropped today. We should find a store which still has it in stock."
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Why not go shoping? Is not like one of us wast almost dead minutes ago says AB-X1 thinking in loud voice about the weirdness of their mission.
As he passes near Gil he puts a serum of healing on his hands. You look like you need one of this. Use it if you need, but it's the only one I have. So if you use you have a debt with me. A debt that can only be paid being sure I survive my first day as pathfinder
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Gil turns his hand and deposits the serum back into the android's hand with a smile. I appreciate the offer, but I'm not hurting for credits at the moment. I'll pick one up at the mall or a clinic on the way. Rest assured though, I'm going to try making sure you survive your first day as a Starfinder anyway. After all, we've already almost had one death in the family, we don't need another, he says with a wink, the color (such as it is) already returning to his face from his short rest.
You manage to scrape Gil off the floor, and with a general agreement wander off to see where you can buy this Strawberry Machine Cake Album. It doesn't take long to find your way to the Absalom Station equivalent of Akihabara and track down where the album is being sold. You can tell by the line that goes around the block, and the next block, and the next block.
Undeterred by the swarm of fans wearing pink paraphernalia (T-shirts, hats, face paint, cat ears, and more!), you step into the back of the line. You stand out from the crowd, as they are primarily teenagers giggling and screaming, and you are 6 very armored and grumpy looking men with heavy weaponry. This gives you a small bubble of space to hate your lives in... for the next 6 hours. While waiting you can hear people talk about how this is going to be so rare they're going to buy 50 and resell them for big profit on Abay.
And after the doors finally open that safe bubble vanishes as people crush into the store to buy some of the limited release albums. You are able to push your way forward to the desk and have a chance to buy an album for Historia-7, yourselves, and anyone else you can think of might want one.
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Hudathan gets bored during the wait, and starts asking fans whether a teenage Vesk female would appreciate SMC's music.
While interrogating the teens, Hudathan catches the Strawberry Fever and barely notices the wait at all.
Hudathan keeps a keen eye on Gil as the doors open. "Gil, I know you're hurting. But if you survived a deadly feather abomination only to be killed by a mob of screaming teenagers on my watch, I will never forgive you."
After the group makes it to the front, Hudathan purchases two CD's, looking at the group sheepishly. "One for my sister. And the other one... In case the first one breaks."
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Shorty after getting into the line Gerald seals his suit to cut down on noise and listens to to various info-sphere shows to better ignore the crowd around them.
Gerald will pick up a copy of the album for himself along with the one for Historia-7. "Some people have odd taste. His glance around includes the crowd and then Hudathan. "No telling when something like this may come in handy.
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Nemzo takes the offered grenades from Hurduthan. He smiles and nods to the hulking Vesk, taking one to examine. "Fascinating. I did not expect to handle ordinance so early in my tenure here, but if that feathery monstrosity is a sample of what our day holds, I certainly can put this to good use. I will do my best to have ZIRA calculate you out of the blast radius Huduthan."
Nemzo suffers the line but yelps audibly as a large Half-Orc from the crowd crushes his foot and ankle. "Ah! The nerve! Here I thought Absalom Station would be civilized. Not when it comes to popular culture apaprently." Nemzo obtains a copy of the album. Holding it up to potentially download into his rig, This will serve as a momento if nothing else and stars n=knows, there may be some talent here. Discovery requires exploration.
Having braved the most terrifying of environmental hazards - the rabid fan base - the majority of you make it through unscathed, and slightly richer in modern culture. Once Gil has been collected from his resting place you make your way back to Starfinder HQ, the Lorespire Complex
Home and heart of the Starfinder Society, it's a striking campus dedicated to knowledge. Communal labs and historical departments study the Archives’ massive collection of artifacts and texts, gathered by generations of agents from across the galaxy. A quick search of the directory indicates Historia-7 frequents the Archives’ Cortex, a computerized matrix containing digital records of the Starfinder Society’s most prominent discoveries.
The android reclines on a raised chair and is plugged into the local infosphere when the doors open. The neural cables detach themselves from her neck as she swivels in her seat to address the new arrivals. “Greetings, Starfinders,” she says calmly. “I am Historia-7. If you are seeking a mission from me, please be aware that my request requires both discretion and speed. Do not accept it if you feel incapable of working within these parameters.”
“I discovered someone recently hacked into Bluerise Tower’s computer systems and stole a large amount of sensitive data from the resident corporations. I wish to be privy to this information. I managed to trace the hacker’s location through many proxies and erased the trail so that station and corporate security should be delayed in their pursuit. This deception will not fool them for long, so you must move quickly to retrieve the data before they can recover it. I will leave you to decide what to do with the hacker afterward, but should it be feasible, I believe that person would be an asset to the Society.”
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Hudathan, a man of battle but not subterfuge, is confused. "Why is this information so valuable? What is it's value to the Starfinder Society? This seems like quite the mess to involve the Society in for pure curiosity."
There better not be any giant chickens this time.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Nemzo's circuitry flux a shiny blue when he finally lays eyes on Historia-7. He bows respectfully and addresses the android purveyor.
"Historia-7, I am Nm-0. I have a great way to meet you and I am pleased. I look forward to future cooperations. We shall retrieve this information efficiently and with utmost discretion. Before we make way, I ask for any additional data that could effect the mission parameters. Inquiry includes: opposing force expected and any obstacles agents may encounter en route to data retrieval."
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I can appreciate the music, it´ss harmony or discord, it´s cadence… but I really don’t understand why someone can be so mad about it. And I really don’t understand what are we doing here, is that a kind of initiation joke?
---------- In presence of Historia-7 -------------
We’ll do as you ask then he turns to Hudathan and whispers at it’s ear. I can give you a lecture about gatering intelligence and the necessity to have people able to obtain it. But if we wish to impress our leaders we should do when she’s not present.
Historia-7 sits up in her chair, the reclined back raising to keep her supported with minimal effort, and rests her hands on the arms while regarding Hudathan flatly. "The Bluerise towers are a private office structure maintained by multiple corporations. They are legally protected to the point that even the Stewards have difficulty entering the premises. We are uncertain why the corporations within need absolute sovereignty over their own affairs, but it's of considerable interest to me. And others. I believe they know more than they let on, and I prefer to keep the Society as informed as possible in its current vulnerable state."
Her head then turns a minuscule amount to regard Nm-0, no effort wasted on inefficient movement. "You should have no obstacles reaching the location, I am unaware of anything once you arrive. This is a recent development and you happen to be the reconnaissance team I'm sending to identify further information." There's a minor nod towards Gerald. "Yes, I can't determine what sort of response Bluerise will have, but they won't be happy. I've hidden the trail, but they'll find it eventually, and likely have their own personnel investigate."
She presses a few buttons on a data pad and then presents it to you all. On it is an address to a flat in Drifter’s End, a district in the station’s Ring known for providing cheap housing to vagabonds of all sorts.