Karametra, the Guide |
The big bang has only just occurred. Cosmic dust has yet to form galaxies, stars, quasars, quarks, stars, satellites, and all the other stellar objects in our universe. A lone figure appears from the shadows of the forming universe. "Hello, my name is Karametra. I will be your guide once the world is born and your beings come into existence." The figure fades back into the new swirling mists of chaos becoming order.
[OOC: just making a first post to check character creations and such]
Niertis |
And thus spake Zarathustra..
Around you is the light conversation of other travelers as the shuttle Okimoro makes it's final approach to Absalom Station. A few people are dressed to impress, while others appear to be dressed in attire befitting specific non-corporate or lower-corporate professions.
"Attention passengers, we have just received our docking clearance for Absalom Station. We will be at Docking Bay 94 in approximately 75 minutes. Please check your belongings and make sure they are accounted for and are prepared for disembarkation before arrival." A disembodied-genderless voice announces over the public communications system in Common. The message is repeated in Drow, Castrovelian, and Vesk before being repeated again in Common. The message also scrolls across a screen in the main area. From your brief journey aboard the shuttle, you know these languages line up exactly with the races aboard the vessel.
Feel free to interact with one another before the ship arrives at Absalom Station
Darukai, The Vesk |
A blue skinned Vesk, standing at an imposing 6'2" looks up at the sound of the announcement, seemingly pleased.
Heavily muscled even for a Vesk and wearing full coverage armor he cuts an intimedating figure; until he opens his mouth.
"Hear that Contessa, not much longer and we'll be back on Absalon station" His voice has a slight dopey quality to it, but an overall plesant cadance, making him seem more approachable. "I'm sure we should be able to find some work once we're there. We'll replace what we've lost and be back to our normal standard of living in no time."
"If you say so Darukai" A voice speaks up from just inside the neck of the Vesk's armor. Any experiance programmer would likely recognise the voice as a low quality Artificial Personality "Though 75 minutes is not what most sentients consider soon."
"Heh" The now named Durukai shurgs as begins to walk forward "I suppose you're right." he admits as he begins to walk aimlessly around the common area.
Meshi Gau-Ji |
A slim man in comfortable clothes, keeps to himself in a corner. He's rather unassuming, and it's hard to notice him in a crowd. It's not that he's actively trying to stay out of view, but he just seems drawn in on himself to make the eye naturally skip over him.
Cautiously, he stares at the woman in priest's robes, keeping his thoughts and counsel to himself. "She's an interesting one," he thinks to himself. "All of them are. I wonder what brings her and Darukai to Absalom Station."
bluff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Xyzzy-13 |
Xyzzy-13 sat erect and unmoving in the shuttle, his mind elsewhere as it made its way toward Absalom Station. He would be truly lost there, which would suffice. Until then, he had his dark skinsuit and his laser if he needed them. Or his knife, if it came to that. He paid for his ticket, so there would be no trouble on that end. The credits he used hadn't been his, but then neither was he. An object cannot steal an object. Property cannot have property. Nor can it be criminally culpable for three dozen acts of minor sabotage that together crippled a driftship for approximately forty-six hours, three minutes, and eleven seconds.
The drow taught him that. Useful people; really. Instead of considering the myriad of unlikely ways this could all go wrong, Xyzzy-13 reviewed his memories of the few he'd seen whipped to death for letting their two-legged property escape. His crew would be angry and look for him, probably. They didn't understand that they acquired property with no guarantee of its reliability and used it outside of its established parameters. Malfunction was inevitable. User error.
Niertis |
An attendant comes by and takes a young woman to the secured seating area. And helps her strap in.
The young woman's eyes are closed. "Attention passengers, we are making our final approach to Absalom Station. Traffic around the station is unusually high. Please go to the secured seating area and strap yourselves in. We'll make this as smooth as we can, but we have reports of vessels breaking clearance patterns." The message is again repeated in the languages represented by the passengers.
Xyzzy-13 - Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Darukai - Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (20) + 0 = 20
Niertis |
He also notices that there are 3 drow aboard. Two males that appear to be subservient to a female. The males also appear to be her guards. The males also notice the ysoki but keep their focus more on the female than the ysoki who appear to have their attention focused on the young woman.
Turning his head he almost misses an elf and lashunta huddled together that he hasn't noticed the entire trip sitting in a corner trying very hard not to be noticed.
They appear to be discussing something as they look at her.
The passengers calmly head to secured seating and begin strapping themselves in. Some take a few minutes to gather and secure items they had taken out of the bags they had taken with them aboard.
DC 15 to notice the ysoki looking at the young woman.
DC 20 to notice the elf and lashunta.
Meshi Gau-Ji |
"The Ysoki seem to be interested... This cannot be good. And scars... What caused them, I wonder? Best move a bit closer to her to keep an eye on things."
Calmly, Gau-ji stands and stretches, as though following the attendants' orders. He kept his mind empty, void of all thought to not give way his intent.
bluff to look like he's just moving along: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Niertis |
The elf and lashunta see Darukai's nod and huddle closer together, looking around to see if anyone else is paying attention to them.
Both Darukai and Meshi are able to sit near her. After a few moments the passengers feel the shuttle's stabilizers attempt to compensate for rapid shifts in momentum and direction. The chaotic movements cease and the ship makes its final approach to the station and at last docks at Absalom Station. Once the shuttle docks, the attendants ask that everyone stay seated until the seating restraints are auto-released. One of the attendants walks to the priestess and helps her out of her restraints and to her feet much to the consternation of the ysoki looking at her with narrowed eyes. Within moments she's ushered to the airlock designated for passenger disembarkation. Everyone else's seating restraints are auto-unlocked and the passengers stand eagerly and make their way to the exit. The ysoki attempt to lose themselves in the crowd.
The brightly lit docks of Absalom Station are abuzz with activity as travelers bustle by, preparing to board or disembarking from starships bound to or from any of dozens of worlds. Brash and swaggering starpilots, scurrying ysoki mechanics, and expectant colonists mingle with enigmatic kasatha mystics, hard-faced asteroid miners, imposing vesk mercenaries, and more, creating a microcosm of the abundance and variety of life in the Pact Worlds. New arrivals meet friends, loved ones, or business contacts, and are whisked away into the humming activity of daily life on the vast space station. Beyond them, ground crews tend to the docked ships, and dockworkers in mechanized cargo lifters load and unload freight and baggage. A sharp tang of ozone hangs in the air—a byproduct of electrical discharges from the docked ships—but underneath, the station’s atmosphere has a slightly used aroma. The docking bay’s deck plates thrum beneath your feet, though whether it’s from the passage of innumerable feet or the vibrations of the station’s power conduits and air recycling systems is impossible to say.
Ysoki - sense motive : 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10
Ysoki - stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11
Darukai - perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (7) + 0 = 7
Meshi - perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Xyzzy-13 - perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
Xyzzy-13 |
The ysoki don't appear to catch on that Meshi is trying to position himself to intercept them. Everyone but Xyzzy-13 loses track of the ysoki in the scramble and bustle of leaving the shuttle.
And I failed to notice the ysoki earlier so it's just a space rando to me. :)
Xyzzy-13 did not linger. He gathered his few things, chose the direction opposite that of most of the drow, and began walking with no particular destination in mind.
Karametra, the Guide |
The attendant assisting the priestess says to her. "This is as far as I can go. Do you have someone that can help you from here?" The woman nods her head. "Yes, a gentleman is meeting me here. And I have these," she pulls a pair of dark glasses from her small bag along with a small baton. "to guide me if need be." The attendant doesn't appear overly convinced but nods and walks back to the shuttle.
Just as she puts the dark glasses on her face, and turns in mild surprise at Darukai's introduction. She appears hesitant but responds. "Yes, is right here OK? It's a bit busy but, I'm waiting for someone. What would you like to talk about?"
Darukai, The Vesk |
"Here's fine, I couldn't help but notice you'd picked up couple tails on the shuttle. A pair of shady looking Ysoki, I lost sight of them in the crowd."
Darukai looks about as if speaking of them will call them forth
"I came to Absalom looking for work you see and with that kind of attention I thought you might be in the market for a bodyguard."