A thread for the actual game play.
You have all been summoned to the Lorespire on Absalom Station to meet with Venture-Captain Arvin, a male damaya lashunta mystic you're all acquainted with from your previous limited dealings with the Starfinder Society.
While you're waiting for the Venture-Captain to arrive you've all been brought to a well-worn meeting room. Seems like the perfect opportunity to introduce yourselves.
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A female Shirren awaits you when you arrive. She projects into your head when you arrive,
Greetings, fellow sentient. I am known as Tamerriv. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.
The glowing yellow pebble circling her head marks her as a Solarian. She sips a glass of tepid water from the Castamir's Flaxseed Station, nearby.
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A few steps behind Mobius, another enters with a shock of vibrant purple hair and antennae whose softly glowing tips match the shade as do his eyes. Patterned birthmarks in seagreen run vertically up his face and trail back from the temples. He's wearing a casual jumpsuit that doesn't say a lot, but does blend in to station life and his expression is neutral. "Oraeth Antaeres, security contractor. Glad to make your acquaintance."
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A small figure, covered in a hooded cloak, enters the room. It uses a walking stick and stops rioght in the centre of the place. When it removes its cloak, some rodent factions show to everyone.
"Greetings! My name is Rik'Tik'Tichek, technomancer and engineer at your disposal. Of course, you can call me something shorter if you want, like 'Rik' or 'Tichek'. One friend of mine used to call me 'Rik'. He had an ominous end, though, at the hands of an angry Vesk. I would say to you, don't ever cheat on a Vesk if there's a chance of him catching you, but then again, there's always a possibility, right? How was he to know the Vesk was using a magnet detector? Can you imagine? Thankfully, he wasn't using a pistol detector, so I was able to put a good plasma shot on his head. Ah, I remember that plasma gun... I lost it in a game of dice, that time on the cantina where I met..."
He goes on for some minutes unless someone interrupts .
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Pleased to...pleased to...
Tamerriv attempts to get a word in edgewise with the talkative ysoki, eventually succeeding.
...pleased to make your acquaintance. I shall call you "Tik". Yes, that is my choice.
She shudders visibly at the thrill of Free Will, freely expressed.
Allow me to share my refreshing beverage with you. ...to shut you up for a moment.
She pushes her glass of lukewarm water towards him.
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"Oh, Verces!" says Rik enthusiastically.
"I happened to be there for a time, learned some things, knew some people. Of course most of those people are now dead, but some of them are not and are nice people. Well, not all of them, but you know, you can't have a choice on that, people is just the way they are and... oh, sorry, not everyone might be understanding..."
After a long blast of words in Vercite, Rik goes on in common.
"Anyways, as I was saying, I'm from Akiton. A nice place if you know the nice people, who are not really a common thing there, but I think I was lucky enough. My mum was nice, and my dad... my siblings not as much, but most of them are dead anyway. Well, my mum and dad might be as well, there's ages since I was there last time. I would gladly have one of my mum's stews, she was quite an artist in making those stews with whatever she could find. We suspect that's how Roreek'Neek found his end. Roreek'Neek was the..." He stops for a second and looks around. "Oh, well, I guess you don't give a damn anyway, right?" and ends his speech with a short cackle.
As you're chatting, a damaya lashunta enters the room. You all recognize him as Venture-Captain Arvin. The tall and confident man gestures to several functional chairs, inviting you to sit.
Thank you for arriving so quickly. As I mentioned in my comm message, we have an urgent opportunity to recover some critical information.
Several months ago, a crew of Starfinders took a ship called the Unbounded Wayfarer into the Vast to explore a series of uncharted
planets. They never returned. Earlier today, a vesk pawnbroker in the Downlow neighborhood contacted us, offering to sell us several Starfinder insignias. These insignias belonged to the lost crew of
the Unbounded Wayfarer, and that immediately caught the Society’s attention. The pawnbroker—named Julzakama—doesn’t realize the true value of the insignias. We negotiated a purchase price in exchange for the insignias and information about the seller. We hope this seller can lead us to the Unbounded Wayfarer and its crew.
We’ve remotely transferred the requested credits to Julzakama. Now, we need you to collect the insignias and all the information you can from the vesk regarding whoever sold him the insignias, and then track down that seller. Learn where to find the Unbounded Wayfarer and its crew. I’m worried that the seller might not be on the station for long, so act quickly. If you have any questions, please make them fast.
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Rik leaves his stick behind while roaming about the room.
"So, we go there, find the Vesk, which is probably not where he should be since that would be terribly boring, make him tell us about the seller, find the seller who's probably not where he should be either, defend him against whoever want to kill him since that happens a lot, ask him where did he find the insignias, investigate further and locate the ship..."
He stops wandering and turns to Arvin. "Easy job, I guess - no questions."
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"Well, looks like our ysoki friend pretty much summed up everything." He types in the details in his computer. "Alright M.I.C.H., sending you the details. Make sure it comes in handy." He turns his attention to Venture-Captain Arvin. "Anything else we need to know about this here Julzakama? Had some pretty negative experiences with merchants in the past."
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Kadlos gives both Tamerriv and Rik a wry smile. "I haven't had the pleasure of knowing either of your families, sorry to say. Hopefully I can hear more about them during our time together."
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After the briefing...
"I've been through Downlow more than a few times, but I can't say that I remember anything about this Julzakama character. I agree with Mobius - anything that we should be aware of before walking in there?"
Regarding Julzakama, the Venture-Captain says "He runs a pawnshop called Julzakama’s Loans and is an unusually arrogant vesk. I don’t know him, but I get the impression that I wouldn’t like him much if I did."
He also provides directions to Julzakama’s shop.
If anyone else wants to make a Culture check to recall info about Julzakama, or a Diplomacy check to gather information about him.
Also note, that this is the point in the adventure where we would be slotting boons, but no boons are used in the quests.
If anyone has anything else to ask the Venture-Captain, now is the time, otherwise just make your checks and we can proceed to the pawnshop.
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"I know the guy. He's useful, but yeah- not a real quality kinda guy. His shop is more an excuse to prey on the eeak and desperate than a business per se. He does speak the universal language of credits though and has his own connections."
"We shouldn't have any trouble finding him. He's a real alpha type of Vesk. You have to bark louder or he's gonna think he's in charge and then things get dangerous."
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"That's about the gist of it."
"Captain Arvin, if you have any kind of basic personnel files on the missing crew with names, species, photos and so that would be useful. Also specs on the Unbounded Wayfarer and its port call sign in case we get a lead or find someone trying to give her a nice new paint job."
Regarding the missing crew and ship, Arvin gives you a dossier with some basic information.
Moving on, you follow the directions the Venture-Captain gave you and eventually reach the shop in question. Although some areas of Downlow are clean and trendy, this narrow alley of concrete and metal buildings drips with oil and sparking wires. A wide, red neon electric sign reads “Julzakama’s Loans” on a building sandwiched between a Kuthite sensation house and a derelict building covered with graffiti. The shop’s solid metal door contains a single, small window too grimy to peer through.
Assuming you enter, the interior of Julzakama’s Loans is crammed with shelves containing all manner of near-valueless items, from small appliances to VR game consoles and jars of colored powders. The shop has the acrid smell of a reptile house that has not been cleaned in months. A massive vesk in a muscle shirt stands at the rear of the shop, behind a low desk and a series of heavy metal bars anchored into the ceiling. As you enter, he looks up from the computer he's disassembling.
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Rik enters the shop slowly, using his walking stick. When he's in front of the desk, he says calmly "Yeah, what my fella said" and stays silent... to everyone's surprise.
But then he carries on - to everyone's disgrace. "Yeah, because you know, we had an agreement. And you don't want to break that agreement, right? Well, the agreement wasn't with us, but with the ones above." Everytime he says us or above, he puts his hands high and moves his first two fingers in the 'double commas' sign. "But we work for the ones above, so it's just as if the agreement was with us. And you and me know that if the ones above are not happy, we will be in trouble. You and me. You because the agreement, your agreement," again the fingers, "and me because my agreement. Or should I say we? Yes, well, whatever, you know what i mean, so start singing right now."
Two seconds of silence.
"Because I haven't had breakfast and I'm hungry."
The vesk looks up from his work, an annoyed look on his face.
"Well, look at this motley crew we've got here. You're the lackies those Starfinder types sent to pick up the insignias?" He pulls out a metal box and drops it contemptuously on the desk in front of him, flipping open the lid to reveal a pile of Starfinder insignias.
The vesk scratches the scaly skin between his bony beardspikes with a clawed hand and says, "Seems I’m now fully paid for those trinkets there. I remember Arvin said something about wanting information, too, and I can do that. But information costs extra."
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Tamerriv opens the box and inspects the insignias.
You do realize, don't you, that even down here receiving stolen property is a crime?
She picks an insignia at random.
And just as I suspected.
She shows it to the party.
The Council will want to hear of this right away. Councilcreature X'Kkkt'Zkkt will want to know what happened to her nephew.
She looks around the shop.
I think a medium-sized cargo shuttle will be enough.
She looks to Julzakama matter-of-factly.
You'll likely have your inventory back in six to nine months, assuming you beat the charges of course. And assuming someone doesn't just take your shop while you're awaiting trial. And assuming you can pay the impound fees. That's actually where most of them fall short. Anyway, I'll start the inventory now.
She pulls up a document on her datapad and begins cataloging the contents of the store.
Julzakama visibly shudders at the thought of prison time.
“All right, all right, there's no reason to bring the council into this; the seller was named Exegara, and she wasn’t from around here. Wore a flight suit, like she had come off a long trip. Once she had her money, she asked about where to purchase clean skeletons. I don’t carry goods like that, so I sent her to the Vat Garden.”
The vesk thinks for a moment (you can almost hear the gears turning), and then continues.
"Also, you might want to know, she was definitely an Eoxian. She looked like a man-ling, but didn’t breathe or blink or anything, definitely undead. On her way out of here she also mentioned that she was looking to hire some local muscle, just in case. I couldn't help her with that, I don't trade in that sort of thing either."
Regaining his composure, the vesk snipes "Sadly, my security system is currently broken. Been meaning to get that fixed..."
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Rik is quick to add his opinion on the situation... whether you want it or not.
"See? You stick to the arrangement, you get to keep your things, we get to keep our things, everybody happy. Well, maybe the Eoxian's not happy, but they are hardly happy. I mean, can they really be happy? They're supposed to be dead and all that..."
He keeps on the pain while they're coming out of the shop. When out of the Vesk's ears reach, he turns to Tamerriv.
"Man! That was awesome! You got him right between the eyes. Well done, Tam." His face expresses true admiration for the feat and, surprisingly, he doesn't have anything to add... for now.
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No, nothing to add. Wow.
As usual, Culture or Diplomacy checks to learn more about the Vat Garden.
When you arrive...
The station passageways open into an enormous sunken pool filled with a riotous growth of plants. A narrow walkway leading to other parts of Downlow encircles the overgrown vat, and a spire of some kind of machinery stands in its center. For such a busy section of Downlow, the area is surprisingly quiet. Two ladders and a steep staircase pierce the foliage and lead down into the vat.
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Tamerriv speaks quietly to the party.
The Vat Garden is a ysoki-operated garden in Downlow. They sell plants all around Absalom Station. It's an open secret that they act as a low-class mortuary, with the bodies providing fertilizer. It's not technically illegal, and they have the tacit support of station security.
She examines the garden for signs of employees or visitors.
The plants are apparently quite beautiful.
FYI, the stairs and ladders take you down 15 feet into the garden. The trees are exceedingly thick, so everyone else can also give me a perception check.
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Oraeth lets the others lead, while keeping an eye on the foliage for signs of movement. When Tamerriv explains about he loose sourcing on fertilizer, he projects back telepathically. "So, a perfect place to find some stripped down skeletons then. The botanists get what they needed and sell off the waste."
Everyone but Mobius is blissfully unaware of what's going on.
Mobius, on the other hand, wanders down to the mid-point of the map and sees someone digging around in the undergrowth, around them are what look like three human mercenaries, the sort of people you might hire if you were looking for some cheap muscle.
As you approach, the mercs yell out "Hey boss, trouble!" and begin to open fire.
The mercs and Mobius can act in this surprise round, everyone else is caught off guard.
Initiative order:
Oraeth
Boss
Rik (4 Stamina Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1
Merc 2
Merc 3
Temerriv (4 Stamina Damage)
Next Up: Mobius
The three mercs take shots wtih laser pistols at Tamerriv, Rik and Mobius, everybody gets partial cover from the trees (+2 AC):
for
for
for
Tamerriv and Rik are hit, Mobius is not. Mobius is up next, then we start the first non-surprise round.
Rik and Tamerriv reel from the lazer blasts as the rest of the party realizes that they're under attack. Simultaneously, a woman with a greyish tinge to her skin emerges from the undergrowth, holding a femur in one hand and a laser pistol in the other.
Status tracker:
Up Next -> Oraeth
Boss
Rik (4 Stamina Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1
Merc 2
Mobius
Merc 3
Tamerriv (4 Stamina Damage)
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Oraeth breaks off running along the catwalk to line up a shot from above.
He silently notes the mercenary taking shots at Moebius is facing the other way and fires one off at his back. The tactical pistol booms in the enclosed space, but doesn't do more than scatter top soil in the garden. He silently curses to himself and ducks low in an attempt to use the elevated angle for some degree of cover.
In response to his failed shot, the grey skinned woman turns and takes a shot at Oraeth.
for .
She misses due to shooting through a lot of overgrown trees, but it's a near thing. Next up are Rik and Kaldos!
Status tracker:
Oraeth
Boss
Able to act -> Rik (4 Stamina Damage)
Able to act -> Kadlos
Merc 1
Merc 2
Mobius
Merc 3
Tamerriv (4 Stamina Damage)