The summons had arrived to your respective datapads and personal comms early in the morning, barely leaving you enough time to grab some food before heading to the Lorespire. Venture Captain Arvin's message had been simple enough, if a little unusual:
"Brilliant new lead from the Communion Vaults! You pulled the lucky straw to follow up on them. Come to my office in the Lorespire within the hour. A vast 𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶 encompasses you."
Feeling a prickling at the back of your neck, you glanced a second time at the message. Upon further inspection, the message clearly reads:
"Brilliant new lead from the Communion Vaults! You pulled the lucky straw to follow up on them. Come to my office in the Lorespire within the hour. A great boon to the Society awaits!"
All the way to the Lorespire, you were plagued with a foggy recollection. Maybe a dream from the night before? Some kind of vague shape of green and gold. Speaking about dreams maybe? Before you have enough time to think about it long, your preferred mode of transportation arrives at the Lorespire Complex.
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The Lorespire Complex bustles with activity as you make your way up to the Venture Captain's private office, with all manner of agents bustling about in preparation for some major mission. You find Venture Captain Arvin's office door open as you arrive. The room smells faintly of cake.
The lashunta man seems full to the brim with energy as you assemble. He greets each of you with a smile and a quick raise of his antennae. "Exciting business, I can't wait to fill you all in! But so I don't have to repeat myself, let's make sure we're all here! Feel free to take a moment to get to know each other while the others arrive. You'll need your best teamwork for this mission!"
He paces back and forth behind his desk tapping notes into his datapad, occasionally murmuring "Hmmm..." and "Ah, maybe..."
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"Greetings to one and all!" pipes in the high-pitched voice of a white-furred ysoki, beautifully adorned in heavy armor bearing engraved metal bands and glimmering a bright, yellowish hue resembling the glow of the sun. Ensheathed near his left leg hangs a ceremonial blade, which bears a fusion seal that causes it to give off a low, pleasant hum. "The blade of Rozzicheep Bernnshaw has been pledged in service to that of the noble Starfinder Society. Where the Society wishes me to venture, I shall do so to, both to accomplish its worthwhile deeds and to spread the organizations good name!”
"As for my own humble name, many a friend has taken to calling me 'Lightfoot' and, as I count you each presently, or soon to be, among that number, it would please me for you to do the same .” The ysoki presents himself with a proper bow to his fellow assembled Starfinders. As he does so it, a medallion bearing the holy symbol of the Dawnflower, can be clearly seen dangling from a necklace round his neck. “Sarenrae bless us, every one.” He says as he resumes an upright position.
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Xenal's scales are mostly a matte green but are shot through with ribbons of crimson and gold. She proudly bears the symbol of Iomedae on her chest, along with her arms and armor.
"Hello to you all! I am Xenal Doshbinder, lately of the Veskarium." She has learned that a faceful of bared fangs tends to be more intimidating than friendly to most Pacters, so while her grin is broad, her mouth is closed.
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An android dressed in a business suit enters the room. She takes a stance by the door, listening attentively to the venture captain then looking around at each of the Starfinders in turn. "Hello, I am Breq Torren, a lawyer here in the Pact Worlds." Looking down, then up again, the android continues. "This may be confusing. I will explain. I am also a Starfinder. That is why I am here. This position gives me opportunity to spread freedom and liberation in more ways than I can in a courtroom." Before settling in, the android's circuits flash with light and she lets out, in a smaller voice, "And, I have trouble distinguishing genders. If you prefer one over the other, please identify yourself for my logs."
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"I, too, am a buck." Lightfoot replies. "It is an honor to serve alongside you again, Agent Breq. I pray that my encounters with the people of stone, and subsequent training, has now equipped me better to deal with situations involving first contact." The ysoki's cheeks pull back to reveal a wide, buck-toothed smile.
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A second android enters, giving a nod at the other standing near the door and stands on the opposite side, listening to the varied life forms introducing themselves to each other. As eyes turn her own way, they behold an android with lilac-hued traceries running beneath her synthetic skin and purple hair worn in a sort of 'punk' style that seems a bit outdated. A pair of pistols hang at each hip and an amulet that looks like a large amethyst with black runes carved into its surface is embedded beneath her skin, just below her neck.
She gives a nod at those assembled, an awkward smile on her lips and speaks in a somewhat stilted voice. "I am Antares." Is all she says for the moment.
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Breq smiles at Xenal, and claps her hands together. "Yes! That was my guess! Vesk ladies are so pretty!" She looks at Savoy and nods. I mean, I thought they were all ladies, but they don't need to know that. The lawyer goes up to shake Lightfoot's hand. "Good to see you again, Lightfoot! And you do seem easier to talk to now! That must be your personal growth, I still find social interactions to be much more confusing than Pact Worlds personal injury law." She stops and smiles at him awkwardly.
The Venture Captain listens in with one ear as you introduce yourselves to each other and, after a brief look towards the doorway, says "We are still missing your last member, one Weoren Swiftbane. But you can fill him in once you've heard the mission. No time to waste, after all!" He taps a couple more times on his datapad and then sets it down on the desk.
"Welcome, all of you. While you've been introducing each other, I've been reviewing the *very* interesting lead we picked up this morning. I'm sure some of you know of the Society’s magical archive for divining potential new finds, the "Communion Vaults"? For years now, the Vaults have housed a perpetually sleeping Liavaran Dreamer named Whisperer of Solar Winds. The Dreamer rarely rouses from its torpor, but when it does, we have agents staged at the ready to receive the telepathically imparted fragments of the dreams it had while asleep. These "dream stories" have been invaluable in tracking down new finds... sometimes ones that were right under our noses, but that we would never have otherwise thought to look for." He pauses, reminiscing for just a moment about a particularly interesting discovery.
"So! The Liavaran Dreamer awoke in the middle of the night just last night. Though a couple of agents were sleeping on the job, there were enough there to record fragments of the dream story that it had for us! And what a story it was! All about a fractured sandstone tablet that could point the Society to a great treasure." He grins, looking almost childish at the thought of a treasure hunt.
"Of course, like all the dream stories we've gotten from the Dreamer, everything comes in the form of rather obtuse allusion and allegory. Here, take a look."
He turns his datapad around and pushes it across the table, waving a hand to turn the screen back on. Upon the screen are a trio of three-line poems.
"Other agents have been hard at work all morning long decoding exactly what these fragments are referring to. At this point, we're fairly confident that they reference three locations around the Pact Worlds where we will find fragments of the Sandstone tablet. What I'd like the five of you to tackle is tracking them down! Find each of the three pieces and report back here so we can get everything pieced together and figure this dream out!"
"Now, we'll likely need all three fragments, so I'll leave it up to you which one you'd like to investigate first."
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A made real one... Breq stares intently at the first dream, confused. "Perhaps this refers to an android. Or a ghost? Or one of the SROs. Hmmm.... I wonder if this Dreamer is using the legal definition of life as a definition for real... thoughts?" The android is very interested in the first dream, but isn't passionate about it.
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Weoren slides into the conference room. Weoren is quite large Nuar with large horns (but not a stern face) dressed in heavy armor.
"Sorry for the delayed entrance, I am usually quite punctual but there was another matter I had to attend to."
Weoren leaves it to those who got here before him to decide where to go first.
"Very sharp Breq." Arvin nods in approval "This first poem seems to refer to the machine-driven world of Aballon, with its reference to being 'brought close to the sun'. The 'shadow of a false-made tower' alludes to the Towershadow sub-district of Striving, one of the megaplexes on that planet. And a 'made real one' could be any of the planet's many artificial inhabitants..." His brow furrows. "It seems that the tablet fragment is in the possession of an individual, and one hiding out due to some lies or legal trouble against them. That's our current theory, at least."
"We’re sending you via shuttle to Towershadow, where you’ll have to figure out for yourselves who our 'made real one' is and where they might be hiding. Time is of the essence, as anything the Dreamer predicted may not stay true for long. Any questions before you depart?"
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"Aballon. A non-organic life form will not be easy to pick out on that planet." Breq frowns, until she hears 'legal trouble'. Then, the android perks up and pulls out a datapad with a smile. "Aha! So that's why Guidance picked me for this mission! About time the Society hired me to so some legal work. Perhaps my non-violent skills can be put to use."
She takes some notes, and pauses. "It seems like this could take some time. Or some luck. The dreamer didn't give you any more details than that?"
"Unfortunately not, Breq. If young Valix hadn't fallen asleep on the job, we might have had a fourth and fifth line to decipher, but unfortunately we do not. Nor do we know the name of the troubled bearer of the tablet fragment" He frowns in dissatisfaction.
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"Just to confirm..you want to us to go look for an individual who s hiding someplace we don't know about without us having any sort of clue on whom the individual is? Well other then that said individual is a "made real one" which could mean any of the worlds many artificial inhabitants and is carrying the tablet we are after.
"It's a good thing I like a moderate challenge.."
Arvin shrugs at Savoy's questions. "Unfortunately, that is all we have. We will be counting on you to determine the individual's identity." He closes his eyes for a moment "On the positive side, the dreams Whisperer of Solar Winds provides have a tendency to reveal their intricacies over time. Maybe we will have additional information for you by the time you arrive."
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With your mission clear... or clear enough... you bid the Venture Captain farewell and head to Absalom Station's docks. The requisitioned Starfinder Society shuttle takes you onboard immediately and you embark to Aballon. After a few days, the shuttle reaches a blasted wasteland of a planet that—despite its dark and barren appearance—quickly shows itself to be covered in glittering metal cities under the full brightness of the Pact World’s sun. The shuttle goes through a set of blast doors into a city built inside and around what was clearly once a massive silver tower.
Before long, you find yourselves disembarking onto a broad promenade packed with creatures of all types, SROs, androids and other synthetic entities rub shoulders with organic travelers visiting Towershadow for trade or tourism. The atmosphere here is breathable, for the convenience of Towershadow's many organic guests, but beyond its reinforced dome is the large majority of the inhospitable planet.
You've kept in contact with Arvin over the course of the journey, but he has no further insights for you. It seems you'll be on your own to identify the "made real one", expected to be a fugitive of some kind bearing the tablet fragment, and track them down.
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Breq accesses the web and begins searching through the planet's logs for synthetic beings with legal trouble. I guess this is one of the better leads we had. She muses aloud. "A planet founded by anacites can't have to many trouble makers, can it? Perhaps their court for androids has some clues for us."
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Antares tells the others. "I have no small experience in the identification of archaeological discoveries and I can perhaps narrow the field of our search. I will attempt to identify those with similar interests, for it seems likely that this Sandstone tablet will be in the possession of one that is involved with that particular field of study."
The android utilizes the local public computer records as well as her own knowledge of the field to do just that. Unfortunately, she doesn't have much luck in doing so...
The party briefly splits up to gather information around Towershadow (after a weeklong break :>) and discover what they can using the minimal lead they received from the Venture Captain.
Lightfoot finds the local lubricant dealers to know plenty of individuals that could concievably be the 'made real one', in fact, it applies to most of their customers. Breq has similar problems. While there are few legal actions against the natives of Aballon, there are almost too many legal histories to comb through in the publically available information regarding non-natives.
Antares searches through the local infosphere for any archaeology enthusiast boards or in-person meetups, and while she does locate quite a few people willing to talk archaeology, she doesn't find any leads on a recent sandstone tablet. Weoren starts from the Towershadow docking bay, but quickly finds it impossible to track any individual with the little information he has.
It's Xenal and Savoy, who both focus on directly canvassing the inhabitants of Towershadow, that find the most fruitful leads. Though they work separately, they both hear about a recent android arrival to the district. While this android, going by "Lerecti", has been mostly keeping to themselves, they have stopped by local businesses by necessity to pick up supplies. During one of their visits, they let slip that they were fleeing charges of murder on Verces.
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Following Xenal and Savoy's lead, you head to a convenience store that you've learned Lerecti visits each day. After staking the place out for a couple of hours, the android in question hurriedly scurries into the store and right into the hands of your group. You close around them as a team and cut off any immediate paths to safety.
Lerecti wears loose fitting worker's clothes and their body languages matches that of a frightened mouse. Their eyes flit from person to person in your group. "H-hello. U-uh, I'd like to finish shopping please. I don't think I have any p-problems with any of you?"
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Breq steps forward, wanting to help. Unfortunately, her words come out cold and slightly threatening. "No problems with us. If you work with us. But we hear your have some legal troubles. Perhaps we can help you with those. I am a very competent lawyer. I am also a very competent melee combatant."
Breq attempts to see if he is going to run, and how he reacts to the group.
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"Your pardon, Made Real One," Lightfoot says with a respectful bow. "What my fellow Starfinders are trying to convey, is that we have reason to believe that you are in possession of a portion of tablets presumed to have value to our esteemed organization. As we are individuals of some means and skill, we suspect that we may be able to provide you with goods or services in exchange for the tablet in an arrangement that both our respective sides find to be mutually beneficial."
At Xenal's prompting, Lerecti's eyes widen perceptibly, an extremely nervous response as far as androids are concerned. They glance repeatedly towards the door of the convenience store as if judging their capacity to make a break for it past your group. Antares doesn't spot anyone coming to Lerecti's aid. The only other visitors to the store are studiously minding their own business.
Somewhat baffled by Breq, they momentarily answer "I don't know what you're talking about." until both Lightfoot and Savoy turn on the eloquence and charm respectively.
Realizing that you don't seem to mean them harm, pent up tension leaves Lerecti, and they pick their groceries up from where a couple of them had tumbled to the ground.
"Oh, you're Starfinders looking for the tablet? Uh, maybe we can work out a deal then. It looks like you know I'm in legal trouble. I'm actually-" They drop their voice "I've been framed for a murder on my home world, Verces. I came here, hoping for a fair trial, judged by anacites rather than those corrupt officials back home. But I was held up not long after coming here and the evidence I brought along in my favor was stolen along with a lot of other things. If you can get that evidence back for me, you're welcome to the tablet."
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Breq looks at Xenal with an astonished question. The android points her finger at Lerecti and uses a stern voice. "DON'T ANSWER THAT!" She coughs, to fill the space - an odd sound coming out of an android, and continues. "Remember, under Pact Worlds laws, you are innocent until proven guilty. So don't say another word." She smiles and straightens her armor. I do wish I had worn my business suit. This armor is so unbecoming of a corporate professional. "It was wise of you to choose a less biased court to do your sentencing. Many of my clients have found justice here. Now, tell us where to go and we'll get your evidence back. Everyone deserves a fair trial, innocent or not." She looks at Xenal as she finishes that last line, a twinkle in her eye.
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Xenal looks at Breq, trying hard to figure out if the android is kidding.
Hmmp. This might be an area where the Pacters should learn from us.
While the towering Vesk chooses her words, she rolls her neck with a series of pops, "Sure. I get that Lerecti gets a trial and a lawyer either way, but there are things I would do to protect an innocent that I wouldn't do for a murderer.
So, while Breq closes her ears, did you do it?"
Lerecti looks like they're about to protest Xenal's insinuation, and it's only due to Breq's intervention that they halt themselves. "Ah right. Thank you for that." They nod appreciatively at Breq. "I've never been in this kind of situation before, and still haven't had time to process a legal dataset to understand the implications."
Answering Antares' question, Lerecti says "I still have the tablet, in a safe location, along with a few other things that the thugs that robbed me overlooked. I've had to pawn a few items already, just to get me through these last few days." The android casts a hollow glance into the distance as they contemplate their current situation before refocusing their attention on Breq.
"The evidence is on a datapad I brought with me, bearing a sticker..." Their eyes turn to avoid meeting any of yours "-a Strawberry Machine Cake holofoil."
"I was accosted at the outskirts of one of Towershadow's transient slums, I can point you to the place, by what I believe was an ikeshti gang leader. His allies called him "Kong", which I suspect is distinct enough that you'll be able to find him."
Xenal, you don't get a feeling that Lerecti is lying or being evasive, despite having taken Breq's advice to heart.
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"An ikeshti outside of Akiton? I would be very interested in hearing this person's life story. If it didn't involved robbing random citizens." Breq frowns and shrugs. "Oh well. Do not worry. We will find this thug and your evidence. In the mean time, head to the library and get to work researching your case. The anacites are fair, but their lawyers lack the passion that you likely desire."
Xenal isn't able to recall anything specific about the ikeshti, just that they're some kind of humanoid race that maybe look similar to vesk? Meanwhile Breq concludes that Aballon doesn't have many places that an ikeshti would find comfortable for long. A slum, or whatever passes for a slum on Aballon, might be the best fitting place for any kind of petty criminal to hide in.
Savoy asks around Towershadow briefly for Kong and learns that an ikeshti by that name runs a minor gang. From what you hear, the individual is well armed and occasionally shows up in other sections of Towershadow, offering "private contracting" services for individuals and businesses that might be operating in grey areas.
While the two of them try to rack their brains for information, Lerecti bows appreciatively at Xenal, Lightfoot, Antares and the rest. "I'll show you the way there. Follow me."
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Lerecti leads you towards a slum-like industrial area in one of the lowest lying spots in Towershadow. Ancient factories, repurposed as living quarters for the few desperate flesh-and-blood individuals living here, sit side by side to operating atmosphere conditioning facilities, pumping breathable air into Towershadow's captive atmosphere. The ground here is a grimy mix of soot and dirt, combined with runoff from the various industries of Aballon.
Lerecti is clearly nervous, casting glances down each alleyway. "Kong should be around here. And I'm sure if you ask around, they'll come to meet you. Might be safer to be careful about it..." The android looks back the way you came. "I'll return back to that store, where its safe. Come see me if you're able to get the evidence back." With that said, they retreat back to safety at a speedy jog.