|
VENTURE CAPTAIN KUNORIS VEX REQUESTS YOUR PRESENCE AT HIS LODGE FOR YOUR NEXT MISSION BRIEFING. SWIPE LEFT TO ACCEPT. MEET AT THE STATION DOCKS AT 0900 TOMORROW. YOU WILL BE FLYING IN PEGASUS0382.
MISSION LOCATION: SALVATION'S END
You make your way to the docks in the morning, easily finding the standard Pegasus class ship with the Society's logo. You board and find yourself sitting with some fellow starfinders. Now seems like a good opportunity to introduce yourself and get to know your fellow teammates, as the voyage will take several days.
|
A flamboyant little ysoki struts into the room. She looks around with beady little red eyes and smiles broadly, revealing shiny white teeth. Her white fur is meticulously groomed, and the hair all atop of her head is died a riot of colours and styled in a short, wild hairdo. It's the hippest hair-do on Absalom Station, but clearly took at least an hour to style just so. The fashionable little ysoki stands tall, places her foot up on a nearby chair, and puts her hands on her hips. Her shiny silver hoop earrings jingle at the motion, and her stylish blue and gold jacket is so clean it seems to shimmer in the artificial lights of the ship.
"Hello, there, comrades!" She squeaks grandly. "Aurora Vim, at your service. But you might know me better as..." she pauses dramatically, with glittering eyes and a wide smile. "RORA!"
She preens. clearly expecting at least some of you to recognize her by name and reputation.
She winks at the group winningly, then flips her bangs out of her eyes with a toss of her head.
"And who has the honour of joining me on this mission, today?"
|
Medrick, an android wearing a modified hidden soldier armor and a lab coat arrives. The armor looks like the normal armor till you get to the head piece. It is modified to be a surgical mask. When the environmental protection is not going, he wears that part around his neck. The armor also has to slots, one on each side to give room for the built in thruster to work. He carries a few different guns, but is clear that his static arc pistol gets the most use.
Nice to meet you Aurora Vim, or do you prefer RORA!? It sounds weird for him to shout but he tries to match her tone and pitch. I am the assigned combat medic and guard. alcohol
|
|
After several days, you are happy to see Salvation's End appear on your screens. The moon floats there in space. Though you have heard that it is a false moon, with a technological core, it is not obvious from the surface. After landing you are given directions to the lodge's meeting room. The hallway outside the meeting room is dimly lit and crowded with crates. A well-dressed drow waits in front of the door, greeting the new arrivals. “Starfinders! I’m so glad you’ve arrived. I am Venture- Captain Kunoris Vex,” he says, approaching. The drow offers an outstretched hand, but is forced to jump back quickly as a pair of rapidly chattering ysoki dash in front of him, waving their arms excitedly and pointing at readings on their holographic displays as they run down the hall. Vex smiles. “As you can see, there’s a lot going on here, and I want you to get right down to work.”
Vex gestures to a nearby doorway, leading into a conference room with insta-plastic tables and chairs arranged haphazardly about. The holographic display unit’s core sits atop the table, ready for a technician to install it. “Sorry for the mess. I’m sure you understand we’re right in the middle of setting everything up.” The drow politely pulls out the chairs for others to sit. Once everyone is seated, he pulls out a pocket computer and projects an image onto a nearby wall. The readout shows a series of images of a long, massive hallway lined with gigantic doors spaced far apart.
“As you can see, this moon contains a large number of vaults. We recently gained access to one of them,” Vex begins. “The monitor outside of this vault doorway currently displays the words ‘Duskmire Accord.’ We’ve found no records in our research here or from the databases on Absalom Station about the term ‘Duskmire,’ but we assume it is the name of a place. Our scans from the hallway reveal a powerful energy source somewhere within the vault, although its construction or some manner of shielding prevents any meaningful readings. It appears that if we want to learn anything more, we need to send in a team.” He cocks his head, raises an eyebrow, and looks meaningfully toward the group.
The drow turns off the projector and smiles broadly as he leans forward. “I’d like you to go into this vault and see what you can find. Identify the source of these energy readings, and learn anything else you can about the interior of the vault. There may be inhabitants, but we don’t know whether they’re likely to be peaceful. As always, be ready for anything!”
|
A slender damaya lashunta joins the crew aboard the Starfinder vessel. She is dressed in a rugged and plainly cut ensemble of pale green reinforced trousers and vest over a plain white shirt. Occasionally, she lightly tugs at the garments, adjusting their position, giving the impression she is not accustomed to them.
Of pale complexion, silvery-blue swirls spiral out above her brows to her temples, where her medium length dark hair is gathered back in a haphazard bun.
A laser pistol is holstered on one side of her belt, while a knife is sheathed on the other. A stylised spaceship is delicately emblazoned on the knife's sheath. She also carries a small satchel, slung over a shoulder, and embroidered with motifs of curative plants and serpents entwined around winged staves.
"Good morning," she ventures uncertainly. "I'm Saeron," she introduces herself.
Looking around at the rest of the assembled crew, she stammers, "I... I..." She draws a breath and then shrugs. "I'm here because they told me to come."
Although initially shy, Saeron slowly relaxes and proves an amiable and sociable companion on the voyage to Salvation's End for any of her companions so inclined. You may notice her snapping photos or recording a vignette on her comm unit from time to time.
- - -
Saeron takes in the scenes as they make their way to the Lodge, commenting to no one in particular about how different the place looks. She smiles politely as the Venture-Captain welcomes them and follows him the conference room.
She nods at several points throughout the briefing. "Have you been able to access any other vaults? What did they contain? Was there anything discovered that might help us navigate this one?" she probes. "I know there were some early troubles with goblins. Have there been any more? Or with other creatures?
|
|
Kunoris looks at Saeron, and a few other members of your group, with a smile. "Welcome back. I read about your individual missions. You did well." He clicks through a datapad and continues. "We've accessed a few of the vaults, but not as many as we would like. It’s hard for me to say if the lessons learned from the other vaults will be helpful." He pauses, continuing to search on his datapad. "It's tough to answer that, given that everything we learn about this place seems to raise more questions. We know this is an artificial moon that contains a sophisticated artificial gravity generator and a number of sealed-off vaults. It seems as though there is some manner of intelligence controlling this entire station, but we haven’t managed to contact it to determine its purpose. And each vault is wildly different, initiated by that creator.” He shrugs and finishes. "Unfortunately, we know frustratingly little about this vault."
Then, he smiles. "No, no more goblins, thankfully. And, at least some of the vaults are occupied. The first vault we opened was occupied by a group of dwarves who believed they were deep underground on Golarion, of all places, and that they were undergoing some kind of task for the vanished god Torag. They seemed to have had their memories altered somehow. Whether that was a fluke or a pattern remains to be seen.” He nods and smiles to those of you who were a part of that highly publicized mission. He looks at the rest of the silent agents. "Any other questions?"
|
|
The last fault I was in was fascinating! I am excited to go back, and I hope I get called in for future vaults as well! Glad I am not going to be followed by a camera crew this time. I have no further questions. Hmmm I have never encountered a drow before... from what I have heard, I didn't think one would be part of the society.
|
|
The venture captain, hearing no more questions, continues. “I’ll have a vehicle deliver you to the access tunnel. Since no one else has gone in yet, I really don’t have much more advice for you than to travel down and see where it leads. It’s sure to be an intriguing experience, and I have to say I’m rather jealous. ‘Don’t get promoted,’ is what my friends always said. Now I see why!”
He ushers you to the lodge armory for any last minute shopping before going to the tunnel.
You gain a single reroll that can be used for any one d20 roll during the course of the scenario.
|
|
You are taken via ground transport to the main hallway of Salvation’s End and dropped off at the now-accessible door to the “Duskmire Accord” simulation. The group proceeds down a passageway until you enter an airlock. After a brief blast from a decontamination laser grid, you can pass into the vault. Once inside, the doors close, but you notice that they remain unlocked. Just inside the cavern is a 2-foot-wide flat metal holoprojection disk embedded in the floor. It begins transmitting a message as soon as the door closes behind the group.
A holographic projection of a horizontal blue line appears in the air above a circular disk in the ground. The line begins moving in a waveform pattern like that of an oscilloscope. “Greetings, ERROR: NULL RECORD,” a polite, cool voice speaks, in Common. “Welcome to Duskmire! You are understandably confused by your sudden arrival, but rest assured that there is all you need here to survive should you choose to do so. You can enter the temple and be released when you have achieved dominance over the other two resident powers within the Duskmire area. Please accept this simple map as a gift to guide your way. Happy conquest!” A map printed on a simple plastic sheet materializes on the projector. Once the projection finishes speaking, it falls silent and does not respond to questions, just showing the map.
While examining the projector you discover it is deeply embedded in stone and uses advanced technology of unknown origin. Further investigation of the disk yields little information.
You hear the sound of raucous laughter and loud singing far to the southeast!
|
|
Saeron listens intently to the instructions given by the oscillating blue line. Temple? Two powers? her brow furrows in thought.
Inspecting the map and the projector, she shrugs before pausing and cocking her head to the side. "I hear it, too."
Glancing sideways at Zak's question, she replies, "I don't think it sounds dangerous." Nevertheless, her hand travels to rest on the pistol holstered at her hip.
|
|
The map shown to you in the projector has no scale, but this cavern is quite large and you guess that each square on the map is somewhere between a half mile and a mile across.
As you walk towards the laughter, you get a better view of the cavern. The air is humid and warm, around 85 degrees. The air isn't stagnant, but it is also very still. So still that the floor of the cavern is covered in perpetual mists and fog. There are many types of plant life here, including both fungus and above ground plants.
Perhaps it is the fog, or perhaps it is your own paranoia, but the cavern is oddly quiet. Other than the raucous laughter, it's quiet. Too quiet.
The light in the cavern is perpetually dim, not changing as you walk along. Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to be coming from any one source but from hidden panels in the walls, ceiling and even some of the trees!
After a few hours of trekking, you come to an area which is flat, with trails. The ground has changed, being covered with peat. You come upon a ramshackle set of buildings, a village! The ground in this village is covered in mud splatters, half-eaten food, and other garbage. The buildings here are relatively squat and list to the sides, formed from stacked bricks of peat. Some of the buildings have fallen over, while others have been bashed into misshapen lumps. A thick, lavender smoke hangs heavy, a few inches above the ground.
More important than the surroundings are the creatures. Five yetis!!! lie about the encampment on their backs, in a semiconscious state. They don't react to your entrance at all. Just lying there, twitching a little, speaking to each other in some unnaturally gravelly tongue and occasionally bursting into gut-wrenching laughter.
|
|
Medrick looks at the plants, These plants and fungi have been genetically modified to survive in this environment. There's no way an arctic plant, a stock of corn, and these large conifers could survive in this weather without it.
Medrick follows along as we travel. When we get to the yetis, Medrck's puzzlement grows. Everything feels so... odd here. Yetis don't belong in this weather. These plants don't belong here. I am confused what this vault is about.
|
|
Rora struts through this strange vault with confidence. She gives a flip of her hair and puts a hand on her hip. "It's too quiet. All the normal animal and insect life is missing. Like a bad movie set!" She gives a bit of a chuckle. "I expected more from this place."
A short while later she stops to examine a tree. "All the light in this place is technological. It's all powered wirelessly." She sighs again. "At least there's no cords to trip over."
As they reach the yeti village she cocks her head to the size. Then she lets out a loud laugh. "This place is a dump!" she laughs some more. "Look at these dumb lugs! Just laying there...."
With a shake of her head she struts over to the most alert looking yeti. "Hey there, pal! Today is your lucky day! For today you meet... Aurora VIM! I'm better known as Rora, but since you've been locked in here for who knows how long you probably haven't heard of me. No matter! We'll get that fixed as soon as we get you out of this place." She gives her fashionable hair a flip. "So, what are you doing here?"
|
|
Saeron drinks in the strange sights and inspects the vast array of flora on display as they travel. Snapping stills of plants with her comms what seems like every other step, she occasionally takes a sample of a plant, fungus or seed and deposits it carefully into her satchel. "For my show," she murmurs simply in explanation.
When Medric shares his observation, she mutters a mild curse and shakes her head, frustrated with herself for not having made the connection.
"It is," she agrees with Rora. "Many key components are missing to make this a viable ecosystem."
"A movie set? Perhaps," she shrugs as she looks around. "Or another simulation or some sort of experiment or test."
She immediately freezes upon seeing the yetis. Once she is certain of their apparent incapacity, she would draw nearer to inspect their symptoms.
|
|
Rora recognizes the yetis, knowing from pop culture that yeti ‘s do not farm or make civilized buildings. They nearly all speak Common, in addition to Aklo and Yeti. Saeron knows that the smoke hovering above the ground has narcotic properties, but is no more harmful than that from a typical campfire; the hallucinogenic properties seem to affect only the yetis.
After Rora spends a few minutes persistently bothering the yetis trying to get their attention, they rouse from their current torpor. They look at the group curiously. ”Hey, man! What brings you to our humble village? Do you want to farm for us, man?”
|
|
The yetis look at you all, confused. Their responses are delayed, an obvious response to the drugs. "It's not poison man, it's life!" "Ya, it's so good! You should try it!" But as Saeron begins asking more serious questions, and Rora questions their home, they falter. "Uh, you're harshing our vibes ladies. I..uh... Inix says we're not supposed to talk to strangers..." An older yeti nods. "Ya, we can't talk to you, you're outsiders!" A smaller yeti in the back speaks up. "What if they joined our tribe? Loophole!" The yeti's all burst into that enormous laughter you heard echoing through the cavern. They soon latch onto the idea and begin chants of “Join the tribe! JOIN THE TRIBE! " in both Aklo and Common.
|
|
Rora raises an eyebrow puts a hand on her hip and gives her hair a toss.
Idiots.
"What are you talking about? I'm totally a member of your tribe! Inix let me join the other day? Then he sent me to investigate stuff. Don't you remember?!" Rora bluffs. "Man, your vibes must be off the charts from that smoke!" She holds out her hand for a high five. "Let me in, dudes, I want some."
Rora squats down near the smoke and gives it a sniff, then grins and lets out a "YEAH, MAN!" as if she totally loved sniffing weird smoke in a swamp with some high yetis.
|
|
The older yeti looks Rora up and down. "You're pretty small for a tribe member... Must be why we haven't seen you around before!" A yeti comes up and puts Rora on his shoulders. "ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!"
An extremely large yeti comes out of a large tent, whose build looks different than that of the stone buildings around the town. As he appears the crowd turns and cheers. "INIX! INIX! INIX!" The yeti holding Rora drops her, apparently forgetting she was up there. The new yeti holds up his hands for quiet. "Newcomers?" He approaches you all, taking you in. "Not gnolls. Not ghosts. A fourth power?" He frowns. His demeanor is different than that of the other yetis, as if he is not quite as influenced by the hallucinogenic smoke. "If you want to join our tribe, that will solve that problem, I suppose. And, it'll be pretty funny." The crowd of yetis cheer and begin to stamp their feet on the ground in appreciation.
At this point, Zak comes back from walking the outside of the group. From his brief exploration, he saw several items of worth inside the ramshackle houses: a targeting computer armor upgrade, a load lifter armor upgrade, and a disk marked, "INTERACTIVE HOLO-ART, ORIGINALS". Unfortunately, he didn't have time to grab them. (If he even had wanted to.)
The yetis lead you all over to the nearest muddy ditch. The head yeti, Inix, speaks to you. "First, the ceremonial ditch-jumping. To, uh..." He looks to the older yeti, for guidance. "represent our travel over the great mountain ranges!" The older yeti is quite high, and seems very proud of himself for coming up with the answer. Inix nods in agreement, and the crowd cheers. With a great deal of hooting and hollering, they egg you to jump over the large ditch. The ditch is 10 feet across, but the slippery ground makes it a little more difficult to get across.
|
|
Medrick gets a running start but lacks the leg muscles to take him very far. Luckily he has his descent thursters built into his armor to stop him from falling.
|
|
Rora, and the other yeti tribe members, cheer as the Starfinders take running leaps to get over this pit. OP-1 and Zak clear the lip in stride, being welcomed by enormous yeti hugs on the other side. "Huhuhuh, great job, little guy!" Unfortunately, the other three don't quite make the gap. They fall a short distance before splashing into the muddy ditch floor. The yetis cheer even louder, obviously enjoying your struggles. You all clamber back up the ditch walls, where the yeti's embrace you anyway. "Ah, good try! Took to much of the purple smoke, eh? Hehehe. Hehehe." The yetis seem to have taken your attempt as good enough, though the leader, Inix, doesn't look very impressed.
Now, the group moves back into the center of town. Inix takes you in and smiles. "Alright, outsiders! Another test. A real yeti knows how to go smokehole hunting! Go find us some new wells of that sweet sweet smoke!" The yetis cheer even louder, shaking the ground with the stamping of their feet. "SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE" The shortest yeti pulls you all aside. "Find the purple trails, that's the key! Then get digging until your make it big enough to stick your face in!" He smiles, happy that someone else has his normal chore.
This task isn't complicated, but it is tiresome! You need to go out into the fields for an hour or two and try to find sources of the purple smoke that hangs above the ground.