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Mustachio manages to pull himself together. He is a little embarrassed by his breakdown, keenly aware that a tough guy image should be maintained in case any casting directors hear of this battle.
"Ahem... just a scratch really. Just needed a second there to... breathe loudly. What was this thing, anyway?"
Compucast's effort to search the body only discovers feathers all the way down, though to Breq's satisfaction, the one's closest to the creature's core are surprisingly downy.
After a break to recover your strength, the team heads to the location of Starfish Records: a relatively humble physical music store. Although such a place normally attracts only a smattering of customers who are particularly dedicated to physical media, today a MASSIVE LINE weaves out of the front door of the shop, through a verdant park, around the outskirts of trio of abandoned warehouses, and back along an alleyway.
The line is packed with incredibly hyped fans of Strawberry Machine Cake, representing all manner of ages and races. Spontaneous songs, chants, screams and squeals emit from the crowd at regular intervals. You even see some people dressed up like members of the group!
While the line seems to be moving slowly and steadily, its sheer length suggests that you'll be in it for hours before being admitted into the store.
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"Ok, we are NOT waiting for this."
Mustachio raises his voice over the squealing din.
"Celebrity coming through! That's right, girls. You all remember me as Bruno from "Undead Lover of Eox". I played a zombie lover and knew what I was doing. I will sign any and all autographs right now, if you let my friend Breq pass you in line."
Heads turn as Mustachio launches into a showboating display. Some of the younger crowd have pretty blank looks, more confused by this 'celebrity' than anything else, but other faces flash with recognition and... excitement!
However, it quickly becomes clear where their loyalties lie. Despite bubbly shouts of "I love you Bruno!" and "Get 'Em Green Sniper!", almost no one comes out of line to claim their autograph. And those that do inevitably head back into the line where their friends have saved them a spot. In this bastion of fan excitement for Strawberry Machine Cake, trying to clash head-to-head with the fame of the sugar-pop group seems like a futile effort.
It goes without saying that Breq's own position in the line stays more or less the same.
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"That... is a blow to the ego. But fear not, friends. I am a treasure trove of ideas. Step 1: Search the bright recesses of my mind for details on the Strawberry Machine Cake's lead singer. Step 2: Disguise myself as such. Step 3: Distract the line so Breq--or any of you able bodied sneaky types, are able to get into Starfish Records. Meet me in front of the store... Oh, maybe someone better hold our place in line just in case this doesn't work... "
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Mustachio recalls that the five member group of sugar pop stars is known for their colorful and creative costumes, their exceedingly cute and spunky visual flair and their over-the-top sugary singing and lyrics. After their surprise hit single Marshmallow Hugs, they've been growing steadily more and more popular and performing in larger and larger venues.
Of the group, the one that best matches Breq's physical characteristics is the 'sophisticated' one of the group: Cerulia Strawberry! Called 'Ceru' by the fan community, her color is a bright blue, and her personality is slightly more subdued than the rest of the group (though still bubbly in the extreme).
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Breq looks at Mustachio with blank eyes. " Your plan is insane. But it might just work. " She steps out of line. " Stay here. Just in case this doesn't work out. I give us a 37% chance. "
Breq analyzes her memory banks, trying to remember more information about Ceru. It must be my law degree which made Mustachio choose me. After all, I am quite sophisticated.
She works with Mustachio to find a suitable outfit for the great Ceru, and applies the traditionally bright and blue makeup. This very conveniently covers up her faint blue circuitry.
And... finally... she walks straight up to the door. "Come, Green Sniper. Are you not going to open the door for me, the GREAT CERU? " She stops a moment and waves at the fans. "No, no autographs today darlings. I'm afraid I must enter the store to touch the records. You wouldn't want to buy a record which had not been touched by these luscious hands, would you?! "
While Breq's speech sounds little like the real Ceru, the authentic outfit and the sheer audacious confidence of her approach cause ripples of excitement in the crowd near the entranceway to the store. Ripples that carry backwards through the line and grow in magnitude. More rapidly than you could have imagined word of mouth spreads the news that the REAL CERU IS HERE IN PERSON OH MY GOD WE ARE SO ZETTA LUCKY!!!!!!!
Before long the entire line is going completely nuts! Excitement turns to exuberance, confusion, and eventually chaos as the line disintegrates into a overwhelming stampede of fans trying to get close to their idol. Even people already inside the store stream outwards to stare slackjawed at the surprise appearance.
While Mustachio and Breq nail their bluff, the rest of you have a chance to sneak into the store and make your purchase. In addition to the credits provided by Ziggy, you can purchase additional copies of the album for 50 credits (limit 1 per person) if you so choose.
Unfortunately for Breq and Mustachio, the line descends on them in a stampede of adoring attention!
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Panicked, unsure of what to do, Mustachio sends a very important telepathic message to Storyn, "Make sure.... you buy me an album... and leave it on my grave..."
Mustachio glances at the nearby buildings, scanning for fire escapes or something to climb up. Above him hangs the sign for the record store. He jumps for it and attempts to pull himself up.
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Breq laughs as the scene descends into chaos. "Perhaps I chose the wrong career! This acting thing isn't so bad! "
Breq dodges and weaves through the crowd, avoiding the clawing attentions of her fans. She attempts to get to the counter. Knowing she won't be able to stop, she tosses a cred stick to an ally. "Get me one! " She keeps on running. Gotta find out what all thus hubbub is about!
Breq quickly turns into yet another SMC cosplayer in a crowd of enthusiasts. The attentions of the crowd drift away from her as they try to locate where the real Ceru went. She ducks, weaves and escapes without issue.
Mustachio is not so lucky. His grab for a fire escape ends with him tripping and falling to the ground.
Mustachio takes 2 points of bludgeoning damage from the trampling crowd over the next few minutes until order reasserts itself.
Storyn, Mustachio, Compucast and Breq all obtain albums for themselves, plus the album for Ziggy's request.
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Mustachio is able to pull himself off the ground and run with the crowd for about 15 seconds before dodging off into a side alleyway.
After things calm down, he is able to rejoin the group.
"Thanks for getting one for me, Compucast. I think I underestimated their fan base....someday, perhaps the name of Mustachio Marino can cause similar destruction!"
"I wonder what all the hub-bub is with this album. Do you detect any magic on it?"
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Hesperrio buys a copy of the album at the now abandoned counter.
"I did not see that coming," he comments to Compucast as the mob swarms his cosplaying compatriots. "I'm sure Breq can handle herself. Marino? We might need a floor scra--Oh, Marino! You survived! I knew you would."
The group gathers back up and watches the fan fervor die down and the line reform with surprising speed. Shouts of disappointment echo from some people who were bumped back in order, but most still just seem jittery and excited from the event. Most are convinced that Ceru really showed up and disappeared, so theories are flying hot and thick.
You all leave that behind you as you go back to the art park where you met Ziggy a couple of hours ago. The shirren chitters in greeting and sends "Hi!! I stopped by our new headquarters! Place looks great, just a little beaten up from some heavy weaponry used on the back wall, nothing a couple of patches can't fix. Station Security said you were really professional. Most recruits don't get that kind of praise. You have my approval too!"
"Did you get the album? Ah, if you did, get it to Historia as soon as you can. I know she'll love it!" Ziggy positively bounces with enthusiasm for the album and its positive effects on his fellow faction leader. He settles down quickly and rasps in a way that sounds like he's clearing his throat. "Here's a little something that might help you too." He points to a hard shelled case sitting on an adjacent bench. "Good luck with the last mission Starfinders!"
Inside the case is a set of basic iridishell armor, two mk1 incendiary grenades and a credstick marked with 400 credits.
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The Acquisitives' leader, Radaszam "The Dealmaker" keeps a public-facing office in the Nyori Palisades, a luxurious neighborhood located in Absalom Station's central dome. The change in scenery from the often dingy locations of the Downlow to these posh establishments is visual whiplash.
Plain white doors to his office slide open to reveal a stark, dimly lit room. The chamber is bleak and expressionless in its emptiness—no vanities line its smooth black walls, and no signs of use mar its smooth black furniture. The only occupants of the suite are a bug-eyed tadpole wriggling in a glowing blue aquarium and a reptilian vesk seated behind an onyx desk and working on an integrated terminal.
The vesk immediately gestures to a number of chairs in front of him, his features sharply illuminated by the light of his desk’s green holoscreen. “The new graduates,” he greets, in a low and pleasant voice. “Good day. I am Radaszam, though since you are here, I should hope you already knew."
“From the late hour of your visitation I expect you must have completed missions for the other already, so I will cut to the point. I have an inconvenient situation that needs resolution. One of our members, a human named Laboni, had a rather public altercation with a junk scavenger from the Spike. You might be more familiar with the scavenger than I, actually; he is a ysoki who fancifully calls himself Ratrod. I am told he runs a popular racing competition that has, hmm, several hundreds of thousands of viewers on the station’s infosphere. For some reason, Laboni felt the need to tell him that any ‘real’ mechanic could easily beat the garbage that Ratrod and his associates slap together. Now that Ratrod has issued an infosphere-wide demand that she race him and prove it, Laboni came crying to me that she doesn't think she can back it up."
The vesk gives a weary sigh at this predicament “Embarrassing, isn’t it? Not really the sort of troublemaker that suits our Society. Sometimes I wish I could just throw her and all the other halfwits into a trash compactor and replace them with someone better." Radaszam gives a wry, toothy smile "Alas, we can't afford to throw anyone away, not after so many Starfinders were lost in the Scoured Stars. Besides, we can’t let people think we are so weak that we can’t control our own members, or worse, that we cannot stand up to some scrapyard junker. No, I would like you to assist Laboni in winning this race. Show our detractors that even the least of our Society is not someone to be trifled with."
Radaszam gives you directions to the race's location in Botscrap, and hands you badges that mark you as Laboni's pit crew.
"Do you have any questions? If they're about junk racing, I can't help you. The 'sport', if you can call it that, is good for views and precious little else. I have an associate looking for sponsorship options, but have little interest in it myself."
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"Well, aside for Hesperrio's natural tendencies, I guess we have been pretty effective. Breq is the best liar I have ever seen for example. And Storyn is the best pacifist soldier I have met. And Rynner is so quiet and peaceful. "
"Compucast, well... I can tell you that he might actually be pretty good at pointless pursuits like junkracing. Maybe he's our ace in the hole for this misison."
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Breq looks at the Vesk with curiosity. " Well, defending the Society's honor is much more inspiring than buying an album. Sounds interesting. "
She looks at Marino and smiles. "Do not worry, Green Sniper. Learning to turn a wrench is far easier than learning to pretend to shoot yourself in the foot. Classic scene! " She chuckles to herself. "I will teach you. "
Radaszam laughs heartily at Mustachio's comments, and answers "I don't know what help Laboni will need, but mechanical skills are without doubt going to help you. As will other less traditional tactics and skills, I expect. Meet Laboni at the track, here, and good luck." He sends over the location of Laboni's temporary stall near the racetrack in Botscrap.
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You make your way to Ratrod’s racing circuit, a twisty, looping track through a mountain of spare parts and trash in Botscrap. When you arrive at the competitors’ entrance, a small hovering drone pops out of a side alcove and chirps "PIT CREW DETECTED - PLEASE FOLLOW ME - I WILL DIRECT YOU TO LABONI'S SALVAGE AREA" It floats its way through tall stacks of parts and brings you to small shed set up in an oily smelling corner. "BZZZT - PLEASE OBSERVE THE FOLLOWING BASIC RULES TO THE RACE:" Its voice changes to that of a prerecorded message, a confident male voice that squeaks a little "Alright, Racers and their pit crews are to build and improve their vehicles from the piles of scrap around the racetrack. Vehicles built at previous junkraces can return if they weren't destroyed. Racers can fire upon other competitors during the race, but firing into the audience is grounds for immediate disqualification; racer weapons must be nonlethal and may affect only opponents’ vehicles. That's the basics. Ratrod out."
The drone floats off and the door to the shed opens, revealing a human girl in her late teens wearing paisley clothes and a bright white lab coat with a couple of black streaks of oil. She has a frantic, harried look on her face but relaxes noticeably when she see you approach. "Oh thank Sarenrae! I thought Radaszam was going to throw me under the hauler! Thank you so much for coming! I'm Laboni, uh, of course" She laughs nervously "You probably already know, but I'm in so much trouble here. Ratrod's got me in a pinch what with the things I said... but there's no way I can back out anymore. And Radaszam said I have to win or I'm getting compacted. I'm not even sure that he's joking." She shakes her head "Well, I've got to win, and I could REALLY use your help. My racer works fine, but it hasn't had the weeks of improvement that the other racers have had. It could really use some upgrades and fine tuning, but with only four hours before the race, there's no way I can manage alone!"
"Come in, I'll show what I've got so far. And... sorry to be such a burden!" The young mechanic really does look contrite over the mess she's placed the Society in. "I was really hoping I'd show off for the Society and prove myself. This just got out of hand." She sighs "I guess there's no use dwelling on it."
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Compucast nods to the young woman. "To show no fear to your opponent, even one as highly regarded as Ratrod speaks well of your courage." he nods.
"We are hear to make sure your courage has not turned to folly." he adds sternly.
"Show us what you have made so far, and tell us about those you will race against."
Laboni shows you her racer, a surprisingly competent little one-seater surrounded in light armored plating to protect the driver. A single mount on top is armed with a modified shockcaster. Her mouth twists wryly as she looks at it and she says "Its not much to look at, right? My competition all have faster racers, or stronger weapons, or are just all around better. What do you think? Can you work your magic on her?"
"As for my opponents, here's what I know." Laboni begins listing some basic information about the other racers.
--Improve Laboni's junkracer & scout one opponent or vehicle. Taking this option lets you do both in one round. Improving the junkracer requires any one of the following checks: Computers, Engineering, Perception or Physical Science. Scouting an opponent requires a Sense Motive check and scouting an opponent's vehicle requires an Engineering check. See the list below for what improvements are possible on Laboni's racer. So if you select this action, identify an improvement, make an improvement roll, select an opponent or opponent's vehicle, and make a scouting roll.
--Scout all opponents. This will allow five sense motive checks to scout all opponents.
--Scout all vehicles. This will allow five engineering checks to scout all opponents' vehicles.
--Sabotage. First a stealth check is required to get close to an opponent's vehicle unseen. Then an engineering check is needed to sabotage something - either reducing the vehicle's speed or making the vehicle harder to pilot, or making the vehicle harder to shoot with.
--Socialize with opponent. Anything from asking them to drop out to offering alliances, etc etc. Sky's the limit on this one, but be sure to include your diplomacy, intimidate, bluff or other check.
Possible improvements to Laboni's racer (all options can be repeated to further improve the vehicle):
--Increase base speed.
--Improve handling / make the vehicle easier to pilot.
--Improve weapons handling/targetting to make it easier to shoot the weapons.
--Improve vehicle shielding vs. energy weapons.
--Improve vehicle shielding vs. kinetic weapons.
--Add a basic energy weapon.
--Add another basic kinetic weapon
--Upgrade a weapon to make it more disruptive to enemy vehicles.
|||||ROUND 1|||||
Compucast
Hesperrio (Improving speed, unknown scouting attempt)
Mustachio
Storyn
Breq
Rynner
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On hearing that there is a lashunta in the competition, Mustachio perks up.
"Ah! It will be nice to talk to a familiar face! A damaya lashunta, just like me. Perhaps he will be amenable to an alliance of sorts, if I broker the deal. In fact, maybe I can broker an alliance with everyone, so they all direct their targets against each other and not us. Of course, none of them can know that I am making an alliance with everyone.... that wouldn't be good. But a challenging job for Mustachio!"
Mustachio heads over to talk to Orsis.
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Breq looks at the car with distaste. "I thought this race had standards. This is more street car than racer. " She does some quick computations on her datapad. "We'll see what we can do. I may be able to enhance your steering mechanism. "
Pulling herself out from under the vehicle, Breq smiles. "That should be better. Hopefully you'll run into fewer walls now. " She makes her way over to Ratrod. "Excuse me, I hear you are the clear winner of this race. Have you thought of how you are going to protect your winnings? There are several conveniently located tax shelters which my law firm can assist you with. I'd hate to see you lose 42.785% of your winnings to the authorities. "
Compucast's deft work with the racer's fuel cell supercharges the engine, increasing max speed.
Hesperrio finds that the fuel used is somewhat impure and finds that the addition of a few common additives that he obtains around the junkyard is enough to improve its efficiency! The racer's max speed is improved! Although he keeps his eyes open to spot Orsis' vehicle while he works, it seems the lashunta doesn't allow the doors to his shed open for longer than a second or two. Just long enough to get a glimpse of something weirdly spherical, but little beyond that.
Mustachio heads on over to engage with Orsis. The damaya lashunta is in his secretive shed when the actor approaches and when Mustachio tries to come on in, Orsis' pit crew bar him from entering. Orsis himself is attracted by the noise and peeks outside. "Ah, one of Laboni's emergency backup! Wonderful, come in, come in." Mustachio spots Orsis's racer, a metallic sphere covered in gold and silver traces. "Is it not beautiful? Far superior than anything that hack Laboni could build. The adornment alone required many a long hour here in the presence of my hard working pit crew." He sighs and gives you a charming grin.
Storyn searches for components to improve the racer's piloting, but finds little of value in her search. Rusted and damaged vehicle components abound among the junk piles but truly valuable stuff is tricky to locate. She keeps her eyes and ears peeled for Orsis, but the few glimpses she gets of the lashunta merely reveal that he seems to be stuck up and serious as he leads his pit crew through the junkyard.
Breq does her best with the steering situation, but finds herself making little progress over the hour. Laboni's wiring is... creative, to say the least. Taking a break from the effort, she wanders over to Ratrod's domain for a short while. She spots him preening to a crowd of admirers, and upon spotting Breq he says to them "One of the brat's pit crew, coming to learn from the best!" He cocks his head and your statement and says "Yes, of course I'm going to be the winner, no doubt about that! And as for winnings, its MY RACE, I don't win anything other than the fame and fortune of owning one of the most popular events and attractions in Botscrap! Go back to your little girl and tell her that she's going down!"
Your careful observations of Ratrod as he speaks leads you to believe that this is a ysoki with excellent reflexes and a high degree of experience, he likely has above average skills at both piloting and firing his weapons! A tough competitor indeed. You can also tell that his grandstanding hides an easily bruised ego and a volatile temperament.
|||||ROUND 1|||||
Compucast (Improved speed! -tbd scouting-)
Hesperrio (Improved speed! Unsuccessful scout vs. Orsis vehicle)
Mustachio (Socializing attempt, to be resolved)
Storyn (Unsuccessful attempt to improve piloting, unsuccessful scout vs. Orsis)
Breq (Unsuccessful attempt to improve piloting, scouted Ratrod!)
Rynner (N/A for now)
|||||ROUND 2|||||
Compucast
Hesperrio
Mustachio
Storyn
Breq
Rynner