”Their greed was their downfall. We now know that the danger resides under the noqual. If we only scrape off and take the high value ores above that layer, we should be fine.”
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Piggy frowns at the mention of Noqual. "Ah, I have experience with this metal. Very valuable. Very shiny. Unfortunately, it seems to always be connected to death. " He looks around nervously. "If you ever find some of it in an abandoned spacecraft, run. Run fast. And eat some salty chips." The chubby ysoki pulls around his industrial backpack and starts rummaging, searching for the aforementioned snack.
After remembering that he ate them on the shuttle, he frowns and helps 0689 search the remainder of the site. "Well, we found out why the compound failed. Now it's time to loot for our paychecks. They said we were supposed to scavenge useful equipment, after all." He winks at Lucky, figuring they would appreciate this part.
"I'm a little worried about this 'thing' that escaped. Okay, more than a little. Is it still around? And did they successfully repair the seal? Does the log mention where this happened?"
Gear and Altronus check carefully through the security camera footage, eyes scanning the scenes for any sign of that 'thing' whatever it might be. After seeing nothing but empty rooms, the two of them are fairly confident that unless the 'thing' is invisible, it isn't in the outpost any longer.
Piggy sees nothing amiss about the door to the south west and slides open the door to the small adjoining room. He finds that the tight room contains little beyond an imposing desk seemingly made of intricately etched stone (actually plastic) and a small chair. Atop the desk lies a steel lockbox, partially open, its locking mechanism melted by laser fire.
Inside the lockbox are a variety of ornately carved stone statuettes and a collection of rare jewels. . Additionally, a bundle of handwritten letters, a few of them burned, appear to be addressed to various individuals on mining outposts in the Diaspora.
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Piggy claps his hands, excited about the find. He quickly scans the letters for any interesting information. "Ulrikka Clanholdings will be interested in these at any rate." After the group has checked out the room, Piggy heads over to the door to the hallway. "Hmmm... the Crew Quarters should have some more juicy details. Maybe we check out there next?" He examines the door while he waits.
Lucky and Piggy lead the way to the Crew Quarters, finding the door firmly closed but neither trapped nor locked. They open it, step in, and see that the dimly lit crew quarters are densely packed with tall bunk beds, their synthetic fabrics faded but otherwise intact. A thick layer of reddish-brown dust covers every surface.
You poke around for a short while, but find no useful equipment or items of particular interest, only a few personal effects from the dwarves that used to live in the outpost.
As you turn to leave, Lucky happens to look upward. Upon the curved ceiling of the room, a dozen humanoid shapes are outlined in red-brown dust, like chalk outlines at a crime scene. Each one is contorted in agonizing positions, limbs clearly broken and twisted. No bodies remain.
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As Lucky points out the ceiling, Piggy takes a big swallow. It wasn't enough to quell his fears, however, and he smacks Porker on the rear. "GOGOGO! " Once out in the hallway, he stops for a breather. "Uh... there was some bad stuff that went down in there. Not good for the crew of this outpost. " He shakes his head sadly. Or us...
"That is very disconcerting."
"Indeed it is. We better clear the rest of this place."
Altronus and Piggy lead the way to the medical bay, opening the door after a quick check. You all see that a large low medical bed fills the majority of the room. A plastic shelving unit containing an assortment of vials and tools curves around the southern wall of the chamber. A small computer terminal built into the cabinet is labeled with simple diagnostic charts on its chassis. The terminal itself seems to be broken, providing no response when you attempt to power it on.
Mercifully, when you look upwards, there are no more of those strange dust outlines on the ceiling in this room.
Searching a little further, you find that the shelving unit is largely intact, with only a few supplies missing. While most of those supplies have expired or been ruined by the passage of time, you can gather two doses of sprayflesh and an advanced medkit. Much like the equipment you found earlier, these medical supplies are bulky and inefficient, but fundamentally functional.
The lowest shelf in the unit consists of a single locked cabinet, secured by an old-fashioned mechanical padlock.
Keskodai will gather the medical supplies, you never know!
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Piggy easily picks the lock on the cabinet and slides it open to reveal a few slim boxes with higher value medical supplies. While most are long expired, one contains a group of spell gems, each locked into its own silvery lattice. There are two spell gems of remove affliction, one of remove condition, and one of lesser restoration.
Additionally, Piggy extends his paw deeper into the cabinet and pulls out a long-forgotten stash: a half consumed valu-pack of 200 year old choco-caf bars! What a relic of bygone days!
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"Lingering spectre? " Piggy rips into a wrapper, tossing a second to Lucky. "Sure, lingering. " He winks and takes a big bite. "That's the thing about bargain brands. They improve with age! " He munches on it, then clambers onto Porker. "There's some less valuable stuff in there, too. Spells 'n stuff. Dibs on these chocos, though. " With a mouth full of delicious caffeinated sweetness, he works his way to the next door. "Security room? Must be safe. "
The Security Room features panels of electronics that wrap the entire circumference of the thirty-foot-wide room. The walls and ceiling are plastered with bulky monitors. Half of them appear to be damaged or non-functional, while the rest display flickering views of the rest of the complex. A computer terminal in the room clearly provides control to direct cameras, or deactivate them entirely.
A second arcano-technological terminal seems to have a circular array of metal tabs inscribed with various symbols . Its interface reveals that it is used to direct bound earth elementals serving as outpost security. While at some point it may have been capable of directing the local security to step down, you've annihilated all such forces already, so all it shows is an error message that forces can't be located.
Your attention is also drawn to one of the still-functioning monitors. Rather than showing part of the outpost, this one shows night-vision footage of what appears to be a smooth, unblemished wall of metal blocking the entrance to a perfectly circular rocky tunnel opening. A corner of the display has a short statement dwarven text.
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Piggy wanders throughout the room, hands touching everything. His path is marked by the greasy skids left by his fingers. After poking a few buttons on the security terminal, he goes to the screen. "Interesting. I wonder if that's the door to the bad thing. It looks like it isn't open or cracked. That's good for us."
"I bet is is. Can anyone read that?" Altronus gestures to the writing on the screen.
”No, I am not conversant with that language.”
Since no one seems to understand the readout, Altronus readies himself to go to the next room.
Lucky inspects the image closely and sees that the bottom right corner appears to have an indicator of the current time, revealing that this is very likely real-time footage rather than a still image. Unfortunately, no one seems to know dwarven, so the label on the image remains a mystery.
Heading down to the final room, you enter into a fifty foot wide domed structure with a transparent ceiling. Looking directly up, the storm swirls turbulently above, with an occasional clatter of free gravel striking the reinforced ceiling of the dome. Rows of fresh greenery line the southern and northern sides of the chamber, looking and smelling surprisingly good. A few of the plants are heavily laden with healthy looking vegetables, for the most part kinds that are readily available in the Pact Words.
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Piggy looks at the vegetables disdainfully. "Hmm. None of these look like cocoa. Not interested." He wanders around, touching the leaves thoughtfully. Almost to himself, he starts musing. "Well, we secured the site. We explored the site. We can report back that they need to bring a big scary gun to kill the big scary buried thing." He shrugs. "Anything I'm missing?"
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Gear stops and looks at the vegetables, blinking in surprise.
Curious, the vegetables here are VERY old fashioned varieties. I mean, I recognize them! From Golarion! These plant lines are OLD. Hardy potatoes, mushrooms of various kinds, turnips, grains.... everything you'd want for a old fashion Golarion meal!
”Indeed, there is peculiarness and historicalocity available here with these plants.”
Keskodai will gather some of the ancient botanicals, hopefully seeds, or shoots able to grow.
Lucky checks the station's terminals and downloads a dataset covering everything the Clanholdings team found regarding other mineral deposits in the area and Keskodai carefully gathers up some of samples of ancient old-Golarian plant lines. After a final sweep of the complex to check it for any additional salvage, the group seems satisfied to make their return.
You ready yourselves and endure another grueling trek overland, gravel and stones striking against your armor and pummeling the poor drones. Nevertheless, by sticking to the path you took coming in, you evade the worst of the storm and pull through with minimal injuries. You return to the Sunrise Maiden and take off from the surface of Colony-753. The Sky Warden must still be nursing its injuries, so you aren't interrupted this time around. Piggy engages the Drift drive and after days you arrive back in Pact Worlds space!
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You return to the meeting room in the Lorespire Complex laden down with archaic technology, memories of flying rocky boulders and bizarre four-legged lobster-clawed aliens, and data disks filled with the unfortunate last records of the Ulrikka Clanholding's Outpost on Colony-753. Guidance's hologram materializes in front of you in the form of a weathered elven man.
"Welcome back, Starfinders. Ulrikka Clanholdings is eager to review the data you have recovered. The initial logs recorded by the Sunrise Maiden indicate that you encountered some very unusual creatures and phenomena. You now have invaluable first-hand knowledge of an alien world, knowledge unique to yourselves. As Starfinders, you have a duty to enter what you've learned into our Archives to preserve what you've learned for future explorers and researchers."
The elf's face turns kindly as it seems to sit back in an illusory sofa chair and take out a tome to write in. "But before that, first impressions are always important! Tell me, what did you find?"
"I will third the suggestion of firepower. In fact, send the guns in before you even let excavators hit the surface."
”I thought we did exceptionally well at first contact. We should mention there were some seemingly ancient botanicals, food and other things, to be found there. And a large Fauna that was interdictioning the world itself.”
Guidance nods, running a gnarled hand through its digital beard as the other hand rapidly jots down notes in the holographic tome in front of it. "A first contact specialist, botanist, and a large security force. We will pass this information on to Ulrikka Clanholdings. Undoubtedly, they will be very interested in the significant mineral resources and will be willing to expend the necessary effort to secure them. Perhaps they will contact the Society for additional missions."
The sagely hologram closes its tome and flickers once, resuming its customary undefined humanoid form standing upright. "Exemplary work. Once you are done with the Archives, we have prepared a list of subsequent missions that might appeal to you, once you have had a chance to recuperate. There are a multitude of other lost outposts in Near Space, and with your experience, we hope you will take these assignments into consideration. Please be in contact soon for your next mission."
And with that, Guidance flickers once more and disappears.