By now conscious, Trosvod groggily gives Zigvigix a thumbs up.
"Once the quills were out, no problem.", he chuckles, then coughs. Then pulls out a cigar, shoves it between his teeth, and lights it.
"Dibs on the armour. Someone else can have mine if they want it.", referring to his ceremonial troop plate.
Baedjrak eyes Arika with a strange sense of amusement. "It's also bad form to let your allies bleed out on the ground. Besides, with marksmen like the three of you, my purpose is clearly my wide range of skills and talents. You had me covered."
With Trosvod back on his feet, Baedjrak chuckles as they exit and Zigvigix presents them with their earnings. As Tros lays claim to the armor, Baedjrak smirks. "Well, given how quickly you went down, perhaps you need it! Looks like the heavy hitters are getting some fun toys, sounds like I need to keep my eyes peeled for mine!" He graciously accepts his credstick, sliding it into his belt.
Looking to the others, "So, a bit of rest perhaps, to allow Trossy here to heal up a bit?"
”Yes, I would say we earned it. And some time to consider the offer. It seems that murdering xenos can be quite profitable.”
"Haha, very funny Baedjrak. But fair! And yeah, I could use some rack-time before killing again!", he guffaws.
“Don't forget to pick up the album before you go to meet Historia. Have fun with the grenades, but don’t blow yourselves up—I like you!”
The group can now rest for a while with two of the faction tasks completed. The Wayfinders and the Dataphiles still remain.
Arika passes on any of the gear, preferring her own.
"Let's go get this album and be done with it."
You have no problem picking up the album. Which faction will your group approach next?
"Well, that was easy! What gives? Say we hit up the Wayfinders next?", says Trosvod, adjusting to his new armour.
”You are awfully chipper for someone so recently impaled. But yes, let’s be off.”
"Sure, let's go see what banal task they have for us."
"Eh, you can't let the little things get you down!"
A little time later... probably the next day...
The station’s Armada can be seen from the shuttle’s view screen as it takes off, gleaming figures standing out against the emptiness of space.
The Master of Stars immediately stands out from the rest, as layers and layers of scaffolding obscure its hull. Tiny lights flicker among the metal beams as distant figures weld plates and heat shields to the ship’s exterior. The shuttle smoothly glides closer until it reaches the starship’s docking bay, slipping through the magic field that keeps the hold pressurized with breathable atmosphere. As the shuttle doors open, a small drone flies in and pops up a holoscreen, displaying a harried-looking ratfolk.
“Finally, fresh meat!”[b] the ysoki exclaims over the screen, sounding pleased. [b]“Name’s Fitch—pleasantries over, time to get to work. I had some trouble earlier with the lights flickering on the ship, and now both the lights and computers have suddenly gone out on E-Deck. No idea what’s causing it, but you work this job long enough and—” Fitch’s attention flicks to something offscreen, and she shouts “Kirkath! The welding torch is not a toy! You wanna go in the toddler’s pen with the other kids?” She snorts dismissively before continuing, “Sorry, some of these little ones would cut off their own heads if I let them. Anyway, it could be some lunkhead screwed up the wiring, but that’s a pretty big system failure for a simple electrical short. I’d prefer to send in some people with combat training to scout it out, just in case someone or something is sabotaging the ship. If it’s nothing, great, get the power back on if you can. If there’s something suspicious, use your comm units to report in to me. I’ll give you the access codes, so— Selicha! If you touch that panel I will staple you to the hull!”
The screen on the drone cuts out, then flashes to display the ship’s schematics and the passwords for the computers on E-Deck.
Trosvod slams the healing serum into his chest, between where the quills punched through his scales.
Trosvod glances over the codes.
"Yup, looks good. Let's get moving to E deck!"
The Master of Stars is the largest starship in the Society’s arsenal. Even before the events of the Scoured Stars, it was the pride of the fleet. Years of neglect required an extensive retrofit during the events of the Scoured Stars incident, inadvertently saving the flagship. The repairs are still ongoing, hampered by the lack of any senior Starfinders familiar with the ship’s myriad and esoteric systems.
E-Deck is a heavily underused section of the Master of Stars, consisting of various primary access corridors and adjoining chambers. E-Deck is in total darkness when the party arrives, making the first order of business to restore power to the lights and the cameras prior to entering the area.
Trosvod surveys the area, slowly tracking imaginary enemies with the barrel of his cannon.
"Needs a tech.", he comments upon the dark equipment.
As Elthaeron went to work he shook his head. ”See? This is what happens when ships are slapped together. Floating husks of metal, with no sense of artistry or pride. Everything about keeping costs low. And then this happens. Not that I am surprised, mind...”
Scattered barrels and boxes line the lowered floor of this storage chamber. A thick bulkhead to the port side leads farther onto the deck, while a similar bulkhead to the aft connects to an arterial hallway that runs the length of the deck.
"Let's search for who screwed up!", Trosvod says, all too cheerfully.
After a little searching you spot two human children, one male, the other female, hiding behind some crates.
"Heyo! Small humans! Get out here!"
Trosvod makes his best attempt at a friendly grin, showing teeth like the humans do.
Oddly the two children seem scared of Trosvod despite his toothy efforts and huddle away from him.
Trosvod turns towards his fellow Starfinders.
"Oi! Kids here!"
”Children, stop this foolishness. He isn’t going to eat you. This isn’t the time for hide and seek. We are here to get the power working.”
The children peak out at your group sheepishly. They start heading towards the exit looking down.
They're a bit unsure about mentioning something before leaving.
"Kids, pointy-ears is right. I ain't going to eat you. Anything you want to tell us though?"
The children shake their heads "No Mister Vesk Sir!"
Baedjrak had been letting the bigger folk have their way as they traversed the ship. He let his eyes wander about the relic's unique patterns. But as the lumbering big folk seem to terrify the children of their own kind, Baedjrak steps forward.
"He there, no need to be afraid of these big mercenary types. They are just here in case there is something dangerous, you see? But you two aren't dangerous, are you? Seriously though, what has you cowering away back here? Maybe I will trade you a nice, tasty snack if you let me in on it..."
The boy speaks "He didn't mean-"
"She didn't mean to!" Interjects the girl sourly. "She's definitely too smart to be a boy."
"It's out pet and it didn't mean to knock out the power it just got into the cabling. When you put the lights back on we got scared you'd try and hurt it and we messed with the fire extinguisher system by that door into the other room so you're not allowed hurt our friend because it's the bestest pet ever it's SOOOO cool it can change shape into loads of things and thats the best thing so just don't hurt it ok? -and don't tell our parents our new pet caused the power outage."
It was fortunate that Elthaeron was wearing a mask. If looks could kill then the children would already be floating in space..as he’d have had to hide the bodies.
Trosvod grins at the others.
"A pet eh? How about we take a look? No need to harm it."
Let's shoot it and be done here!
Though not fully grasping the situation these kids have some technical skill. The fire extinguisher trap wouldn't be a source of damage, but it would hamper you. They've made the thermal sensors overly sensitive.
"Talk now or we let him eat you." warns Arika from the shadows, seeming to appear from nowhere.
The children huddle closer to each other "But we did tell you everything. Our magic shape shifting friend went at the wires and knocked the power out! Don't hurt us!"
"Ah no need for that, short stuff. We have a pet to look for."
The kids are a little more settled by the giant lizard man this time.
Trosvod turns to the others.
"How about someone who knows what they're doing has a go at that fire extinguisher?"
Baedjrak looks at Arika disapprovingly, "Really, telling them that the noble Trosvod would eat them? Perhaps someone should teach you a thing or two about negotiating. Once you have someone talking cooperatively, its poor form to threaten them. That's a good way to turn a calm situation into a shoot out. Anywho, let me take a look at this contraption."
Baedjrak scampers over to the jury-rigged thermal sensors and starts fiddling around.
Baedjrak easily overcomes the simple trap. The two children head back to where it was they came from on the ship.
This area consists of two adjoining chambers. Four large containment capsules fill the fore room, three of which hold stasis-locked objects, including a tablet, a strange curved sword, and an odd spiral of bioluminescent coral. A crack leaks fluid from the fourth capsule, which displays a foot-wide breach near the bottom. The aft room contains several desks, each hosting a deactivated computer terminal. The area is extremely cold with patches of ice and hoarfrost having formed.
"Suspicious!", Trosvod mutters, not quite seriously, as he looks about for something to shoot at, clearly waving the muzzle of his cannon about.
Instead of replying to Baedjrak's admonitions or advancing to the room, Arika takes up a covered firing position and begins pulling security on the door. "<<On overwatch.>>" she whispers into her mic, which you all can hear normally.
The area seems pretty devoid of life...
...you could have sworn that spanner wasn't there when you last looked at that surface.
”Little brats have made a fine mess. Eating them would have been good for the ship. Though I suppose by that standard many on this ship would be eaten. Let’s just get this fixed as soon as possible.”
Sweeping through the area you see no sign of anything out of the ordinary aside from a panel having been removed and various wires have adjusted explaining the temperature of the room.
...you could have sworn that mug wasn't there when you last looked at that surface.
Elthaeron went about his duties, blissfully unaware that anything was amiss.
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Trosvod whistles a jaunty pirate tune. Poorly.
While keeping an eye out. Even more poorly.
As the three soldiers fan out, their weapons at the ready, Baedjrak allows his quizzical eye to search for puzzles amidst the chamber.
His eyes land on the mug, that seemingly had just appeared. Am I loosing my mind, or was that mug not there before... Stepping toward the mug, he motions to the others to close in with him. "There is something about this mug. It... it wasn't here before." Pulling a long, thin prod from his trapsmith's kit, he gingerly reaches out to poke the mug.