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In the winner's circle, Laboni apologizes to Ratrod for her previous statements. The ysoki’s pride still hurts, but the gesture compels the Salvage Union to offer Laboni some extra payment in the form of collected gear, on top of the race’s prize money. In turn, Laboni presents the party with a set of graphite carbon skin armor and a portion from the race’s prize pool.
Radaszam is satisfied with the teams achievements, with Laboni's win, the praise goes to her head and she becomes a regular competitor on Ratrod’s show. This twist in events provides the Starfinder Society with valuable contacts in the Salvage Union, leaving Radaszam both exasperated and vaguely amused at the result.
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After the race, Medrick goes around to each competitor that lost to us and makes sure they don't require medical attention. He feels awful for firing so much but when they all seem okay he moves on. Happy to see we completed this mission, he turns to the rest of the group. I am indifferent on the next test. I just hope they are less morally questionable then finding a hacker before the authorities and more meaningful than winning a race. I want to make a difference in people's lives.
After hearing Julakesh suggest the wayfinders, Medrick nods From what I hear, those guys seem to be pretty nice people. Let's hope for the best!
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Off to the Wayfinders:
The station’s Armada can be seen from the shuttle’s view screen as it takes off, gleaming figures standing out against the emptiness of space. The Master of Stars immediately stands out from the rest, as layers and layers of scaffolding obscure its hull. Tiny lights flicker among the metal beams as distant figures weld plates and heat shields to the ship’s exterior. The shuttle smoothly glides closer until it reaches the starship’s docking bay, slipping through the magic field that keeps the hold pressurized with breathable atmosphere. As the shuttle doors open, a small drone flies in and pops up a holoscreen, displaying a harried-looking ratfolk.
“Finally, fresh meat!” the ysoki exclaims over the screen, sounding pleased. “Name’s Fitch—pleasantries over, time to get to work. I had some trouble earlier with the lights flickering on the ship, and now both the lights and computers have suddenly gone out on E-Deck. No idea what’s causing it, but you work this job long enough and—” Fitch’s attention flicks to something offscreen, and she shouts “Kirkath! The welding torch is not a toy! You wanna go in the toddler’s pen with the other kids?” She snorts dismissively before continuing,
“Sorry, some of these little ones would cut off their own heads if I let them. Anyway, it could be some lunkhead screwed up the wiring, but that’s a pretty big system failure for a simple electrical short. I’d prefer to send in some people with combat training to scout it out, just in case someone or something is sabotaging the ship. If it’s nothing, great, get the power back on if you can. If there’s something suspicious, use your comm units to report in to me. I’ll give you the access codes, so— Selicha! If you touch that panel I will staple you to the hull!”
The screen on the drone cuts out, then flashes to display the ship’s schematics and the passwords for the computers on E-Deck.
The Master of Stars is the largest starship in the Society’s arsenal. Even before the events of the Scoured Stars, it was the pride of the fleet. Years of neglect required an extensive retrofit during the events of the Scoured Stars incident, inadvertently saving the flagship. The repairs are still ongoing, hampered by the lack of any senior Starfinders familiar with the ship’s myriad and esoteric systems.
E-Deck is a heavily underused section of the Master of Stars, consisting of various primary access corridors and adjoining chambers. Most side rooms are crew quarters or communal living spaces—far less important locations due to the recent shortage in personnel. The Wayfinders recently started using some of these chambers to store nonthreatening alien objects.
E-Deck is currently without power to the lights and is in total darkness.
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"Ahahaha!" Julakesh laughs loudly. "We are indeed fresh!" Julakesh agrees, apparently taking the statement literally. For some reason she considers this a compliment.
As the ysoki rambles about less exciting topics, Julakesh's attention begins to wander.
As the drone flies off Julakesh looks confused. "Yes... E-Deck! We will do that!"
Do what? Something about lights?
She watches Serrarra fiddle with something mechanical in her hand.
"Yes! Simple!" Julakesh announces, randomly clicking some buttons on a nearby control panel. That the panel is OFF seems to have no effect on her efforts.
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Yuta is impressed by the Master of Stars when seeing it up close. Performing massive-scale maintenance on such a large vessel is quite an undertaking, and somehow it makes him feel good to be a part of that effort in a small way by investigating the E-Deck situation.
While Serrarra gets busy locating an access terminal to work on the lights, Yuta stands guard by her side and looks around for any threats or clues that might be nearby.
The lashunta seems to have things in hand, but he offers over his shoulder, "Do you need any assistance with that task?"
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Once power is restored you are able to easily get to the storeroom. Scattered barrels and boxes line the lowered floor of this storage chamber. A thick bulkhead to the port side leads farther onto the deck, while a similar bulkhead to the aft connects to an arterial hallway that runs the length of the deck.
Getting the power on also activates the cameras to the room and you are able to make out two children
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Serrarra gasps in surprise to find children in this unexpected place.
Well, I certainly spent enough time exploring places I was told not to as a child.
She approaches close enough to see them, and be seen, without getting so close as to seem threatening.
Julakesh, hang on a moment. Children? This is a dangerous place. What are you doing here?
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The children, frightened by Julakesh quickly take refuge with Medrick and Serrarra.
"Don't hurt it. It only wants to be our friend. It did not mean to push all the buttons."
The children are looking at Julakesh and to the room on the other side. "It is very nice. Don't let the Vesk eat it."
The children describe some type of centipede like creature they found in the other room. They were watching it play with the bottons and boxes until the light went out. They then came back here to hide. But also set up a small trap on the door way.
"If you promise to capture it, we will go back up deck"
Seem like they rigged the fire suppression system on the port side to be over sensitive to body heat.
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Medrick give an assessment of the children and they seem to be acting like normal frightened children. Look children, we will not kill your friend, but I will make him sleep a little bit so we can get the situation under control, okay? I am a doctor, or at least training to be and I will give it my best effort to keep it alive until we finish our investigation. With that, Medrick draws his arc pistol and sets it to stun.
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Yuta takes what the children are saying at face value. "If it is very nice, then I have no desire to hurt it. I do not believe vesk like to eat centipedes either. You do not need to worry." He is rather curious about what type of creature it is, but leaves the children to the nurturing ones and goes instead to look at the trap they have rigged up.
If they are only children, it can't be too sophisticated, right? But just to be sure... "Please stand back while I take a look at this," he cautions the others.
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"Run then, whelps, before I change my mind." Julkesh growls at the children.
She makes no such promises about killing the centipede. Bugs are for squishing, after all. Especially when said bugs break stuff and mess with computers!
Hearing her companions agree to the puny children's demands makes her recall her companions are soft and squishy fools...
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Medrick gives a once over of the kid. They are just dirty but otherwise in good shape.
Yutu-133 is able to fix the fire suppression sensor so as not to spray foam on the players.
Then next area consists of two adjoining chambers. Four large containment capsules fill the fore room, three of which hold stasis-locked objects, including a tablet, a strange curved sword, and an odd spiral of bioluminescent coral. A crack leaks fluid from the fourth capsule, which displays a foot-wide breach near the bottom. The aft room contains several desks, each hosting a deactivated computer terminal.
Yutu-133 briefly spots the creature matching the children's description scurry into one of the near by vents. There are tracks on the walls and some of the vent covers are half-open.
In order to track down and corner the creature each of you can attempt either an Athletics check to crawl after it and give chase, or a Computers check to close vents and limit its escape.
However, once you enter the other chambers you find that the artificial gravity has been increased to unpleasant levels. While this is an issue every has a -4 armor check penalty to appropriate skills (even if you are not wearing any armor) A Computers check can be used to fix the gravity, or you can attempt the break the gravity module with a ranged attack.
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Yuta watches as Julakesh quite skillfully darts after the unknown creature, and then Triskid makes a much less graceful attempt. He is confused why they are having such a difficult time, until he steps inside the room and staggers under the enhanced gravity effect. He turns his head from side to side to track the sound of the scurrying creature, and then lunges toward the nearest vent to try to close it down before it can escape and elude them.
The heaviness of his limbs proves to be quite distracting and he can't concentrate as well as he is accustomed to.
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Serrarra moves into the room, groaning under the sudden influx of gravity. Finding a control panel on the nearest unoccupied vent, she attempts to override the controls.
Ugh! It's like being at the bottom of a graviton matrix shaft. Is this how that creature likes it? If so, watch out -- it'll be crazy strong.
I think I can fix the gravity . Hang on...
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Julakesh gets close but is not able to corner the creature itself. Serrarra and Yuta are thrown off their own good computer game with the extra gravity.
Medrick finally is able to turn it off when
It suddenly gets very hot in the room and one of the steam pipes start to vent. Fog fills the room. Julakesh sees the crature running over some console pushing buttons right before she loose track of the creature in the fog. The steam is only obscuring vision and is not hot enough to cause any damage.
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Yuta momentarily abandons his attempts to corner the strange key-pressing creature to focus on the latest environmental hazard. He reaches up to the leaking pipe and looks around urgently for a way to reverse the flow.
It feels as if the heaviness on his mind from a moment ago has lifted... and he realizes that the heaviness was in fact lifted. He looks around and makes a thankful gesture toward Medrick.
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Yuta-113 deals with the steam vent, and Serrarra is able to finallay corner the creature
The Centipede like creature looks up and gets distracted with the various control buttons in its near vicinity.
You feel you should be able to communicate with it to have it not push random buttons. Culture, Mysticism, or Life Science can be used or you can try anything else to deal with this curious creature.
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Yuta tilts his head to one side and looks closely at the centipede thing now that they can get a clear view of it. He scans his memories for any information on a similar kind of being that might help them come to an understanding with one another.
Though he's not sure whether it can answer him or even understand, he asks, "Why do you like pushing buttons so much? Will you be happy if we give you something else to push on?" He briefly looks through his belongings to see if there is a flashlight or something at the bottom of the bag, but doesn't seem to be carrying anything with a button that would not be a hazard to life and limb.
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Serrarra, Medrick, and Yuta-112 with their understanding of alien life and cultures are able to convince the creature to follow them and safely stop it from randomly poking at things.
It happily follows you while you head back to the bridge of the Master of Stars. Fitch turns the alien over to an assembled team of experts in hopes of learning more of the alien’s language and culture. He is satisfied with your efforts and pats the party on the back for a job well done.
Kieu Kein, the father of the lost childern rewards you with a mk 1 ring of resistance. Fitch gives the PCs a credstick with 400 credits on it. The Wayfinders’ leader thanks you for your diligence, but is quick to get back to work on repairing the ship.
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“And I hope they will be willing to share what they learn about it,” Yuta adds, still curious about what the creature was and why it was there. “Those children have a promising future as well. It is good indeed that everyone emerged unharmed.”
“Well then, this has been a productive day thus far. Shall we go meet the leader of these exo-guardians?”