Blask takes another shot to the shoulder. He grunts, but gives a toothy grin towards his prey. He moves forward, and attacks the robed enemy with his razor sharp claw.
Jink fires at whoever seems to be taking the most punishment.
Blask just misses the attack, trying to claw at the verthani around the corner of the hallway - but Jink threads the needle and rips a shot home on the robed man.
Caloo halts in place and focuses for a moment, firing three magic missles at the drow, the one foe he can see.
The three shots chain into the drow's head, snapping it back and leaving him looking much the worse for wear. Zhor follows up Caloo's attack with a spell of his own, attacking the drow's mind with wracking pain.
The drow grits his teeth and gives a loud scream, but falls over, blood pooling out his ears and eyes. He does not seem to be moving.
Caloo, Blask [-27 sp, -5 HP], Zhor, Jink, Nilan, Glitch
Kogdin [-4 NL, -13 hp]
"Oooo, Zhor! Nice finish on him!" Caloo says enthusiastically.
It occurs to Caloo that he has never examined a drow in the flesh before. They are known for fleshwarping, aren't they?
"Was there anything interesting on that drow?" he asks of the whole room. "I didn't have a chance to notice while I was concentrating on that spell."
Glitch moves until he can see something. It's not much, but enough to shoot. At least it will attract some attention and lure one here for kitty to shoot.
Glitch isn't able to score a hit, but Kitty sits, glowing in readiness to execute the "Friendly Greeting" protocol.
Nilan ducks and weaves, coming up gun blazing.
But it is of a sound and a fury, signifying no hit - the bullet ricochets off the closing door to the bridge.
"You stupid bravos," Kogdin growls at all of you. "When I'm done skinning you alive and tracking down your families, I am going to make sure no one alive remembers your names or who you were!" Despite talking a mean game, he turns and runs away from Blask - and right into Kitty's view.
{if:[NewTarget=UnfamiliarUnfriendly],
then: run exe[FriendlyGreeting]
when: forceLevel="ExtremePrejudice"}
The shot from Kitty scorches the verthani, who yells in pain. No idiot, he draws a knife and leaps at Glitch with a snarl on his face.
That was close - too close. Glitch suddenly feels like this guy might not be exaggerating about skinning people alive, if that look in his eyes is any indication.
Caloo, Blask [-27 sp, -5 HP], Zhor, Jink, Nilan, Glitch [-11 sp]
Kogdin [-4 NL, -13 hp]
Blask takes a swipe at the retreating enemy.
Blask then follows him and takes another swipe.
Caloo whizzes around the other way to get ahead of the verthani.
Glitch likes his distance and steps away, leaving the melle to Blask. This guy who doesn't respect personal space is worth an overcharge.
Blask's AoO misses, but he runs forward and is able to land a heavy blow. The extra recoil of Glitch's overcharge causes his shot to miss, but Kitty scores another hit. "Vesk-skin boots with ysoki-fur cuffs - they'll be ugly but I'll wear them with pride," hisses the verthani.
Caloo, Blask [-27 sp, -5 HP], Zhor, Jink, Nilan, Glitch [-11 sp]
Kogdin [-4 NL, -29 hp]
Nilan continues blasting.
and failing.
Jink reloads and fires again.
While Nilan keeps trying to pull one of those super-cool ricochet shots and missing, Jink takes a workman's approach to it and draws a clean bead through the verthani's shoulder.
Zhor walks forward with a shrug. "If it ain't broke, right Blask?" asks the other vesk as he casts a second Mind Thrust.
And the verthani, too, falls over, eyes rolling back in his head... um. You think. It's hard to tell with verthani's giant pupils. But he falls on the ground and stays there, and that looks like some serious blood pooling out of his mouth.
"Finally. What did you find in the cargo? Was it worth the hassle?" Glitch asks.
After everyone stands there silently looking at Glitch for a moment, Zhor shifts. "Yeah. Couple of androids in there, all drugged out. Real f***ed up sh**." He blinks, looking around at the bullet holes and the blood all over the ship. "So do we wanna torch this whole ship, or throw 'em on ours and take this one, or...?"
"Yeah, they're going to need some time to wake up from the narcotic gel that was put on them," Caloo adds about the androids.
"As for which ship to take...it seems to me Slivvy is more likely to be tracking the one we came up in. Perhaps we should destroy that one and keep this one."
"I rigged the power core. Once you go into full throttle it will probably blow up." Glitch tells. "I vote for keeping ours, and blow this. Or I need to do some repairs."
Blask takes a deep breathe and ears up for a moment as the final enemy fills over, blood spilling out of his various holes in the head.
Hmm, so much for him. At least he died with Vesk honor...going down fighting
Blask takes a a breather (10 minutes and an RP) then loots the defeated bodies of whatever gear they have before turning to the others.
I say we takes what we can salvage or prove useful then burn this fu**er in the sky
Zhor shrugs. "I mean, as long as we're flying away, I don't care whether we're doing so in our ship, their ship, towed behind a mecha-unicorn spraying rainbows out the aft - long as we ain't sticking around. Jink, Nilan? Thoughts?"
"What was the story we're going to tell Jink's employer? That might influence it a bit." Glitch reminds the others.
Nilan shrugs.
We won't be safe if we show our faces while that Bastard Slivvy lives. We deliver the androids to Early Bird and get him and the AAF to help us wipe Slivvy off of that godsforsaken rock.
"Do we have his coordinates? We could try throwing a spaceship on his head. We have one to spare." Glitch thinks aloud.
Blask lets out a smirk. Slivvy is too guarded and paranoid for that. Why else you think her pet droid is her walking f**king shadow? If we’re gonna pop her, it ain’t gonna be easy
"I am not sure that the droid could stop a spaceship..."
"I don't think we have the time to pull off a maneuver like that before either the Peacemakers or Slivvy's own guns spot that something is going on. I'm guessing Aspis is prepared enough to blast a ship out of the sky before it's allowed to crush a building in their town."
Zhor leans against the wall, licking something off of his spear. "Not to mention we can drop a ship on a whole city block, but that don't mean we know it's hit Slivvy. We could level a whole city block, and that slippery rat could be drinking rotgut across town. Or holed up in a bunker right next to the Aspis giving them our names, Goldnet handles, and a stack of rocket launchers as a sign of good faith."
Does Slivvy normally do her own pickups...thats a potential ambush.
Blask and Jink both can confirm that the usual move is to offload the cargo and then deliver it to the Fevercore facility - the Starhopper has a cargo hauler for transit on-planet.
As the party stands silently contemplating their actions, they here a voice. "Knock knock?" comes Early Bird's voice from behind them on the ship. "Ready for some company?" The android walks out from the storage room.
He whistles appreciatively at the bodies, as Blask is stripping them of their weapons and armor. "Kogdin Barelite, in the flesh," he says in slightly shocked happiness. "This a$@~!&+ has been shipping slaves out of Verces as long as I can remember - that's a big pipeline you just shut down." He continues to stare at the dead verthani for another minute before shaking his had and looking around at all of you.
"Alright, we got two ships, four fighters, four victims rescued but not moving, and a whole lot of heat on our tails when this shakes out. Do you all have a place to lie low? Because... well, we may have an option if you don't."
As the party stands silently contemplating their actions, they here a voice. "Knock knock?" comes Early Bird's voice from behind them on the ship. "Ready for some company?" The android walks out from the storage room.
He whistles appreciatively at the bodies, as Blask is stripping them of their weapons and armor. "Kogdin Barelite, in the flesh," he says in slightly shocked happiness. "This a+@&@!% has been shipping slaves out of Verces as long as I can remember - that's a big pipeline you just shut down." He continues to stare at the dead verthani for another minute before shaking his had and looking around at all of you.
"Alright, we got two ships, four fighters, four victims rescued but not moving, and a whole lot of heat on our tails when this shakes out. Do you all have a place to lie low? Because... well, we may have an option if you don't."
"I haven't heard a good option yet, so you can as well spill yours." Glitch replies.
Im not so much the brains in this group. I punch things and keep Jink in more or less one piece. My biggest issue is my current b*tch of a boss in Slivvy.
Slivvy's the buyer on Incubation Prime. Nilan adds
Early Bird gives a slightly too-wide grin. "How'd you like to steal this new ship, take off to wherever you want, and let me and my boys shoot the slag heap your boss loaned you out of the sky? I'm thinking we set her shields on the fore, set her on auto-pilot, fire our missile stock up the aft, and let the ship fall where it may. We get you back to the surface and get you into the city in your handy dandy new ship, you go to ground wherever you've been hiding, and the AAF takes this ship and the pile of favors we owe you and keep in touch."
"Whattaya say?"
Caloo brightens. "Sounds good to me!"
"Jink, Blask--is it good enough for you?" Caloo asks them in particular, since they have the most cause for concern regarding Slivvy.
Take the pile of favors....leave some credits. We'll need some to lay low. Nilan says
"I'm fine with favors if I got a contact to cash them in." Glitch objects. "The plan has a serious lack of getting rid of Slivy though."
Take the pile of favors....leave some credits. We'll need some to lay low. Nilan says
Early-Bird gives a laugh. "Should I be taking back the drink I owe you too? I get what you're saying - we'll turn this slaveship over and split what we find."
"I'm fine with favors if I got a contact to cash them in." Glitch objects. "The plan has a serious lack of getting rid of Slivy though."
Early Bird gets suddenly serious at Glitch. "That rat isn't off the hook - no offense," he says firmly. "But you did a really good thing here today. There's four lives that would have ended as they know it if not for you - and four slavers who aren't going to be peddling flesh any more. This Slivvy will get hers, and if you make an opportunity and get a way to contact us, the Android Abolition Front will be there to help. For now, though - we need to help those four androids figure out their next steps. But I have a feeling that might mean eight itchy trigger fingers when you show up to your next performance review with Slivvy."
"Okay, let's get going then. But I have to undo my rigging of the core, if we take that ship anywhere but the junkyard."
Glitch walks back to the machine room cursing under his breath. Then he takes his time to undo the damage and connect everything correctly again.
Early Bird settles into the cockpit of the Sentinel and heads towards the port at Prosperity as soon as Glitch is done re-enabling the ship. "P-105 is leading the strike on the Starhopper once I give the all-clear - if the thing swerves into the spaceport, I want to make sure we've got at least one big ship to work with if everything goes pear-shaped," the android gives by way of explanation as he depresses the thrusters and brings the ship back into planetary re-entry.
The trip through port security is quick and painless - Early Bird presents faked credentials for passenger transport and fake information for each of you, which distracts the security drone long enough for him to signal Glitch to override the approval logic circuits and get you all clearance without raising any alarms. The android gives an impressed nod at the ysoki. "Not bad digital chops for a biological," he says in a teasing tone as he slaps the robot chassis back into place. The drone whirs as it recalibrates. "Th-Th-Thank you! Have a pleasant stay in Prosperity!" the drone stammers and chirps as it processes the hacked approvals.
Longshot begins streaming the group chat with questions as soon as you make contact, sprinkling in instructions as you go. You're almost used to her methods at this point - you watch as cameras flip into standby modes as you walk by, as security bots scramble and disperse when you approach their stations.
OMG. SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU.
Saw comms got disabled - is that typical criminal security??
Take a left up here, main drag's cameras are a little too encrypted for a rush job
ARE WE GANGSTERS NOW??
Quit looking at your comms so much it looks suspicious. Should probably shut up, huh? lol. Basement hatch, second door on your left.
Longshot's directions have brought you to an abandoned storefront, where a variety of posters for cheap consumer electronics are fading in the light off the street. The hatch takes you into a basement, where Stamper stands stoically awaiting you. The robot turns and leads you through a demolished wall and into the now-familiar masonry of the tunnels.
When you arrive back in Longshot's lair, the halfling and Scrambles both jump up to meet you. "Hey! Welcome back! What's going on?? That isn't the ship you left in - who's that android?" the halfling asks in rapid-fire questions. "Good to see you back," the skittermander says, restrained in comparison.
Things have...changed a bit Longshot. Nilan will fill the halfling in on how Silvvy's errand turned into our backstabbing Slivvy.
But we've got credits and a new ship now so, there's that.
"At least economically this is pointing in the right direction." Glitch comments.
Longshot is on the edge of her seat as Nilan fills her in on current events. Scrambles is aghast.
"So you just double-crossed a crime boss, and we're cheering about the economics??," the skittermander splutters. [b]"Did you factor in the costs of all of our funerals?? Oh, wait, maybe we can save some when she PUTS US ALL IN A MASS GRAVE!"
Longshot doesn't seem nearly as shaken. "But she doesn't know any of them are alive! And she doesn't know a thing about us! And the androids are a whole additional piece that she might not know about either! So we've got an advantage! A couple of advantages!"
"I don't think she needs to know about who we are if she traces this pack of space trash back here and just decides to shoot first and ask questions later!" retorts the skittermander.
Longshot gives a dismissive gesture. "This is the same thing as when you were training with that pistol - you worry too much, for no reason."
"It was smoking! In my hands! They're not supposed to do that!!"
Longshot continues to ignore the skittermander. "So what's next? More investigation into the Aspis, or do something about Slivvy?"
Caloo raises his hand-thing. "I think we need to do something about Slivvy, first. I don't imagine our faked death ruse will hold up for long."
"Hey, why so pessimistic. I can garantee, that you don't have to pay the bill for your funeral yourself." Glitch tries to cheer up Scrambles.
"As long as we're only sitting on our ass down here and do intelligence gathering, we can do both. And then decide which leads ot follow, once an opportunity arises?"
Nilan pats his six shooter
I've got a score to settle with a Ysoki myself. Nilan says, indicating his willingness to do violence against the slave trader Slivvy.
Longshot gives a sidelong look at Jink and Blask, both of whom have been suspiciously quiet on the Slivvy discussion. "Well... let's see what Slivvy's got on the ole' infosphere, shall we?"
Longshot turns toward the keyboard and begins clacking away furiously, the various screens and monitors moving around as she apparently directs them through keyline commands so you can see the information she's taking in through her goggles. "So there's not a lot on Slivvy - looks like she takes her privacy seriously, I'm not seeing any social media accounts or interviews here - but there's a certain amount we can pull up on Fevercore Power." One of the monitors starts playing a commercial.
"Power," a deep, sultry vesk voice says. "It helps us work. It helps us live. And it takes us to our fullest potential. Here at Fevercore, we utilize cutting-edge materials and techniques to power the sort of life you deserve." A video shows a crew of androids, dressed in uniform technician jumpsuits, carefully manufacturing what appear to be batteries. The android closest to the camera looks up, smiles, and waves at the camera.
"Lookit this schlock," Scrambles mutters irratibly.
"We take your needs seriously - after all, who are you without power?" The shot now shows another android, this one in a maintenance outfit, descending down a hole in the ground, headlight shining onto a control panel. "Locally owned and operated here in Prosperity since 309 AG, Fevercore is dedicated to put a jolt into your time here at Prosperity." One last shot of a whole crew of androids, Slivvy at the front, all waving at the camera. Scrambles makes a wretching noise in his mouth. Longshot turns off that monitor, instead pulling up blueprints of some sort.
"Initial plans for the business included a manufacturing facility up top, and an attached mining facility. The entire operation runs a sort of vertical monopoly - they mine the abysium themselves, import in parts and materials, and ship out batteries and custom orders made from the mined abysium." Longshot's blueprints split into two different architectural cutaways. "The main manufacturing facility includes administrative offices, warehousing space, and manufacturing facilities - the mines are almost entirely mining equipment and lightweight packaging and shipping infrastructure. The two buildings are only about 100 yards from each other."