Iseph studies the ground situation before he offers his analysis. "Seeing that they would likely have noticed our approach by now, we have little chance of sneaking in without them noticing us. Although I would still attempt that later." Turning to the other android, he continues, "I agree. Let's attempt communications first before we approach by land."
Iseph studies the ground situation before he offers his analysis. "Seeing that they would likely have noticed our approach by now, we have little chance of sneaking in without them noticing us. Although I would still attempt that later." Turning to the other android, he continues, "I agree. Let's attempt communications first before we approach by land."
Keskodai gives a slight smile as Iseph backs him up. <Good someone else agrees that we should attempt communicating! Thank-you, Iseph!>
Stepping over to the controls, Keskodai stares at them for a long second, before heaving out a breath. <Now, If I only knew how to work the controls myself...>
Giving Lapis a thankful nod and smile, Keskodai heads over to the open channel before realizing that he'd have to speak out loud... again. With a slight sigh and moment to pause and collect his thoughts, he starts slowly trying to keep his voice as smooth as possible.
"Hello! This is the... Yellow Submarine. Starfinder Lodge... do you copy?"
The answer comes back in Common. "Please come in."
The airlock is unlocked and easy to use. The water drains out, and the airlock opens into a large room filled with air. A large curtain divides this room, and faint lines on the ground indicates that several walls were likely removed to make this space more open. A five-foot-high stage and eight rows of benches fill the northern half of the room, while the southern half has several large tables. An airlock on the eastern wall acts as a front door, and airlocks on the northern and southern walls lead to other areas. Steel doors lead to the north and south, and one is covered in yellow caution tape reading, in Common, DO NOT ENTER.
Two creatures await on the other side. One creature is a vibrant teal and the other a similarly bright magenta. Both are large creatures with an imposing presence, each with a stout body that ends in a single wide flipper. They have articulated side flippers with a surprising level of fine motion, brightly colored whiskers, gills, and four long tusks, two on each side. The tusks are lightly carved with decorative patterns. They both wear white robes that drape to the ground, and the magenta creature speaks in slightly accented but otherwise perfect Common.
“Hello, and welcome! I am Hinevera, and this is Teltham of the morlamaw people. Welcome to our home. You must be more Starfinders, I presume? The last group left rather quickly, so we assumed another group would arrive soon. Greetings!”
Hinevera answers. “Our species is morlamaw, and we live in trench cities all over this planet. Our particular group was cast out of our homeland because we discovered a new faith, but we were lucky enough to stumble upon this structure to shelter us from local predators. We’ve spent the last 10 years repairing this place and making it suitable for us to live in. It’s now both our home and temple.”
Keskodai gives a slight jump as the lodge responds back to them. <They responded! This must be good news!>
In the lodge, the shirren is more than a little shocked to be greeted by the colorful morlamaw. He watches them in a bit of wonder, until their mention of religion spurs him into action. With a wave he moves closer and telepathically links with the two. <Hello! It's a pleasure to meet you, Hine Era, Teltham! I am Keskodai and this little one here is Chk Chk! I'm glad to hear that the lodge our organization left behind has proven useful!> After his introduction and some small talk, Keskodai continues on, <I have to admit I'm more than a little interested in religions, as you might guess if you recognize this mark of Pharasma's. Mind if I ask who you worship and why it got you tossed out?>
“They were quite funny, weren’t they? With their… wings? Is that what they’re called? The other Starfinders visited for a little while, and we offered to let them inventory and take back all the Starfinder-marked property. We certainly have no need of your weapons and armor; it’s hard for us to use them!” Hinevera waves one of her flippers to demonstrate. “They left quickly though; I don’t think they were keen on inventorying.”
To Keskodai, “We worship the Weeping Knight, and we know through him that we can only find meaning through enduring many trials. Losing our old home was painful, but that was but one early trial and now we can worship freely.”
Keskodai gives a slight nod at Hinevera's words. <Those Starfinders are known for their dislike of details, so it makes sense they'd flee from inventorying!>
Intrigued by the morlamaw's Weeping Knight, Keskodai asks a few follow up questions. <I haven't ever heard of the Weeping Knight before! He sounds interesting, though. Where did you first learn of him? Does he ask anything of you other than facing trails and enduring? and, if it's not too painful or distasteful, do you mind what religion the rest of you kind prefer?>
"Of course! You're welcome to come and look for Starfinder equipment! We don't want to leave the building, though. This is our home."
The one who's talking, Hinevera, seems disappointed that the other Starfinders left and excited that you're here. The quiet one, Teltham, seems suspicious of you.
Hinevera responds to Keskodai. "Our leader, Oshessa, received a vision from the Weeping Knight! Oh! You've got to meet Oshessa!"
Iseph quietly studies the morlamaw, face neutral but you do notice his arms ever hovering near his pistols.
Perhaps as an android, he takes things too literally, but he softly queries his teammates, "Wings?"
Hinevera hurries to fetch their leader Oshessa. A dark blue morlamaw emerges from the airlock at the northwest corner (north is to the left). She is almost regal in bearing, and looks you all over.
"Welcome to our home. I hope you'll be comfortable here."
To Lapis and Iseph, she says, "You must be androids. You are part mechanical and part biological, yes? Could you tell me more about how that works?"
To Raia, "A lashunta!" She tries to touch one of your antennae if you allow her. "Are these what give you telepathy?"
To Xyklik and Keskodai, "Shirren! Please tell me about your telepathy, how does that work? Do you use your antennae? Is it different than how hers work?" as she gestures back to Raia.
To Navasi, "And a human? Most of the information on the datapads is about you. How many times have your teeth fallen out?"
Taking things a tad too literally, Iseph frowns at Lapis. "Those are fins, not wings."
"You must be androids. You are part mechanical and part biological, yes? Could you tell me more about how that works?"
Again, Iseph turns to Lapis, wondering if he wishes to take this question, especially since the morlamaw can't even make the distinction between a fin and a wing. Eventually though, they decide it would be harmless, even beneficial for the android race to reduce some ignorance.
"Androids are biomechanical constructs created in technological crèches called foundries. While the first androids are believed to have been mostly biological, modern designs are more varied, and many favor metal skeletons and processors that support synthetic organs and living flesh." Almost as if they were regurgitating, Iseph spouts a bunch of information. They continue, more animatedly this time, "Although we are constructs, we have souls, as per any other sentient organic being. Many androids would release their souls after sometime, to be inhabited by new souls." They pause here, wondering to share further on themselves, but decide to not go further.
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Oshessa listens carefully to everyone's answers. "Thank you all for indulging my curiosity. I'm afraid I must leave you, as I must prepare for this evening's sermon. I do hope that you'll join us; I can give the service in Common for your benefit. Please, until then, feel free to look around and catalog your equipment. I will see you later."
Unless you have more questions for her, she returns to the Northwest airlock.
"I'm afraid I couldn't tell you. They simply said that they needed to leave."
Raia sees a half-dozen morlamaws, in colors ranging from blue to green to violet, praying quietly at the benches and woring busily at the tables, some cleaning fish and others repairing clothing and equipment. There are steel doors into areas A3, A4, and A6, and airlocks in areas A5 and A8.
"I'm afraid I couldn't tell you. They simply said that they needed to leave."
Raia sees a half-dozen morlamaws, in colors ranging from blue to green to violet, praying quietly at the benches and woring busily at the tables, some cleaning fish and others repairing clothing and equipment. There are steel doors into areas A3, A4, and A6, and airlocks in areas A5 and A8. A3 is the door with the caution tape. A8 is where Oshessa just went.
Iseph is naturally drawn to the door with the clear warning to avoid. He wanders over, studying it to see if there's anything particular of note.
Turning to one of the nearby morlamaws, he asks curtly, "What's behind this door?"
A half-dozen morlamaws, in colors ranging from blue to green to violet, pray quietly at the benches and work busily at the tables, some cleaning fish and others repairing clothing and equipment. One answers Iseph, "Oh, well, almost everything was flooded when we found the place. The security system in there shorted out, and it zaps anyone who comes in. We just don't go in there."
Iseph studies the morlamaw who answered, wondering if there is any reason they might be lying.
Keskodai gives Oshessa a bow as the morlamaw leaves the room. <I, for one, would love to hear your sermon! What time are you thinking of starting and might we be able to ask the topic before hand? ...It pains me to say, but it would probably be the best if we heard it in common.>
He also gives a look around the room after that, before deciding trying to find things in a place they've never been is a waste of time, and turns to the nearest morlamaw and asks, <Do you know where the leftover Starfinder equipment is? We should probably start with inventorying it.>
When he hears about the door, though, his head swivels around and looks at the morlamaw and then to the door. <Well, we can't have that! It's bad ettiquite to force people to live with our malfunctioning technology. Navasi, Iseph, or Raia, you see anything that could possibly shut it down in here?>
Choppy, you don't see any obvious computer terminals.
Isepp, they don't seem to be lying, but you do get the sense of an ulterior motive that they'd like to be able to use that room.
Oshessa responds to Keskodai. "Of course! I'd be happy to give the sermon in Common. I want you to learn all about the Weeping Knight."
Another morlamaw responds to Keskodai's question. "There's a lot of old equipment in there," gesturing to the room with the tape, "but we can't get in there."
There are no visible computer terminals. The door itself does not seem locked.
Oshessa responds to Keskodai. "Of course! I'd be happy to give the sermon in Common. I want you to learn all about the Weeping Knight."
Keskodai gives a delighted clap and wriggles his madibles happily. <Perfect! 'cause I want to learn all about him...or is it her? Them?>
Another morlamaw responds to Keskodai's question. "There's a lot of old equipment in there," gesturing to the room with the tape, "but we can't get in there."
<All the more reason to clear out the security glitch then!> Keskodai moves up behind Lapis and readies himself to casta spell in case the implant is impotent. <Don't worry Lapis,I'll have your back. You aren't going to die on me, unless it's your time!>
Iseph studies the morlamaw suspiciously. "And is there anything in there that you want?"
Even as he says this, he moves beside Lapis, ready for danger.
"Well, it would just be nice to have a little more space! It gets a bit crowded in here with twenty of us."
The group opens the door to reveal three flying security bots emblazoned with the Starfinder Society logo.
"Intruders! Intruders! Intruders!"
They begin scanning palms. "Security protocol accepted. Security protocol accepted. Security protocol accepted. Stand down." The three buzzing bots retreat to the corners of the room.
This crowded workshop has benches and a large cabinet lining the walls. The room is filled with disassembled computers, weapons, and gadgets. A door exits to the north, while another door exits to the east.
A weaponsmithing tool kit lies near a pile of 600 UPBs. The benches are covered with bits of machinery and broken pieces of printed circuit boards.
The cabinet is locked.
Iseph glides on silent feet over to the Lapis. Studying the mechanism over his shoulder, Iseph calls out, "Watch that little mechanism over there. Shift it a bit and it makes things easier." He fails to recognise how rude that can be, or simply chooses not to care.
Lapis examines the benches carefully. The bits of technology on the workbenches originate from numerous cultures, which is typical for a Starfinder lodge. However, some of the technology is much more recent in design than when the lodge was abandoned.
He then easily opens the locked cabinet. The cabinet contains an underwater tactical cryopike and an underwater squad machine gun, with something written on the barrel. The cabinet also contains a serum of enhancement (scientist) as well as 6 mk 2 serums of healing.