Rril manages to bypass the login to the datapad a moment before Steve grabs it out of his hands and smacks it on the ground several times. The interface is, of course, unlocked when he holds it back up, obviously proving the success of his tactic.
The contents are incredibly banal and sparse except for a document containing several notes that appear to be describing the habits, behaviors, and quirks of a "target." Reading enough leads you to believe that the target was Hasshachir.
There is also a recent ledger entry from Third-Eye Salvage for "personal services."
A quick search of the infosphere reveals that there is a small scrapyard on the lower level of Outpost Zed by that name.
"I don't have anything better, let's get to it then."
Searching for a route on the infosphere, you set out for this "Third-Eye Salvage" scrapyard. It is a long combination of walking the corridors of outpost Zed and riding maglifts down toward the lower pole. Dirty and unsavory aliens give you wary or threatening glares as you move deeper. Shanties build from old, corroded scrap occur more frequently, providing a home to those homeless due to debts, addiction, or gambling.
As you move into the corridor leading to the scrapyard, you find it unsettlingly devoid of pedestrians, which makes the shadows cast by broken lights or bent pipes all the more ominous. At the end of the corridor, you see a structure with a neon sign over one door . The neon sign has a single word in the Azlanti alphabet, although two of the letters are burnt out, and three eyes looming over the word.
There is a second, much larger set of doors to the right of this door.
Antenor and Steve notice a small video camera lens swiveling back and forth behind the sign, which they can each point out to each other and Rril. You figure that if you were nimble enough , you could time your movements to avoid being spotted by the camera on the way to the front door.
"Let's be careful. There's some symbolism baked into that logo, an obscure philosophy practiced within the Kurzach Nebula, the home of the Shadari Confederacy and its draelik citizens."
He points out the cameras, "Here, follow my lead. You can either tumble to that point, and then again to that other point, there by the crack and the wall, OR you can duck there when the cameras are liiiiined uuup liiiiiiiiiike THAT." Antenor then leads by example.
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Rril reads the neon sign with the burnt out letters and three eyes looming.
"Azlanti." he mutters reading the sign. "Seems we found our salvage place."
"Shadari Confederacy, eh?" Rril ponders what he knows about the confederacy, the nebula, and/or the draeliks.
"Despite the alphabet, this still doesn't feel any arm of the Star Empire to me."
When the camera is pointed out to him, Rril does his best to avoid its lens.
The other two follow after Antenor, dodging the roving camera eye. You press yourselves against the wall and door under the camera's field of view. The door is unlocked, but both Antenor and Steve notice that the door is equipped with a buzzer (the kind designed to alert store owners of a customer entering).
Steve moves in and begins to try to disable the buzzer. "Need to snip the wire on this of the whole place will know we came in."
The buzzer is swiftly disarmed by Steve's expertise. In fact, Steve is certain that the "fix" he applied has deactivated the buzzer on any outter door. This one--the front door to the establishment--is unlocked and awaits your approach.
"Nice work Steve! Okay, let's get the jump on them. We're going to go in real quiet like..."
Antenor quietly slides open the door to reveal a large workroom with random bits of salvage strewn across the floor and the artificial light of two vidscreens that hang over a workbench in the far corner of the room. The monitors both display the same view of the street you snuck down. Two draeliks work at sorting valuable components from useless components on the bench while occasionally glancing at the monitors. So far, you seem to have been successful in your stealthy approach.
Rril slips into the workroom and picks his way through the debris on the ground so fast that Antenor and Steve fail to realize that he has attacked until after the screaming starts. The outlaw co-captain thrusts his sword through one of the draelik's flank, noticing another draelik to his left at the same time. The wound isn't enough to immediately fell the alien, but it does not look long for this world.
The other two curse in an alien language as their companion drips blood everywhere.
They are so taken aback that Rril is ready to act again before they can react.
Encounter! Round 1. Bold may act.
Rril
Yellow (-11 hp, 2 bleed)
Red
Blue
Antenor
Steve
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Yellow (-11 hp, 2 bleed)
Not wanting to leave things to chance, Rril tries to finish the wounded alien.
"You put the hurt on some friends of ours," he scowls as he lunges at one of the draelik , even as he thrusts his blade sideways into the injured one.
"As you can see, I'm not too happy about it."
The draelik gurgles as Rril feints and successfully runs him through. Now that the other two draelik are over their surprise, they both concentrate and summon an orbiting mote of dark matter. Rril notices the one behind the counter in the corner manifest a purple wisp between his hands and directs it toward the outlaw where it starts to zip and whirl around him distractingly.
The other draelik grabs his shadowstaff off of the counter.
Encounter! Round 1. Bold may act.
Yellow
Blue
Antenor
Steve
--2--
Rril
Antenor dashes into the room, frustrated that he couldn't get the drop on them a little more.
"Alright, let's do this!" He encourages the team to get the one dancing with Rril.
Steve rushes the room, his axe chomping down at the Draelik. "Gang up on them!"
Antenor bursts into the room and directs the fire team. Steve follows through the door with more enthusiasm than results. Rril, harried by the darting and zipping purple wisp, still manages to stab the draelik in the arm with his blade.
The draelik engaged with Rril and Steve swings his shadowstaff, which manifests an black axe blade while it swings. Despite the distraction of the wisp, Rril expertly dodges the first swing. However, he is caught by a glancing blow on the backswing.
Meanwhile, the other surviving draelik picks up its shadowstaff and fires a black bolt of cold energy into the operative.
Encounter! Round 2. Bold may act.
Yellow (-4 hp) (Get'em +1)
Blue
Antenor
Steve
--3--
Rril (5/24 SP | full HP) (harried)
"Rril! Watch yourself! Keep it up!"
Rril stabs his blade into the draelik while the Akitonian encourages him onward.
Encounter! Round 2. Bold may act.
Yellow (-9 hp) (Get'em +1)
Blue
Antenor
Steve
--3--
Rril (13/24 SP | full HP) (harried)
Steve viciously hacks at the yellow eyed draelik in front of him.
Steve hacks the draelik to death with his hatchet. Even though it is three to one, the other draelik seems to have no intention of surrendering or running. He cries out in a surprisingly monotone voice as he battles.
In the end, however, the three of you are easily able to overpower him.
3 x lesser shadowstaffs
3 x shadowstaff clip (40 charges each)
3 x free booter armor I
Behind the counter is a locked safe .
Stairs lead up to what looks like a hallway.
Steve wakes up from his strange and silent comatose state. "Huh, yea, What's up?" He looks over at the safe. [b]"I can probably burn this right open.
Steve lights up his blow torch and cuts the hinges off of the safe. The door falls down with a muted clunk. Inside are several unmarked credsticks with a total value of 500 credits. These scoundrels clearly do not need them anymore, so you collect them.
As Antenor leads you to the stairwell, the only other exit from this room, he comes face to face will a well equipped draelik coming down the stairs. This draelik wields a tactical maul and is orbited by a dark wisp. She says something in draelik that is probably an insult, challenge, or both.
Combat! Round 1. Bold may act.
Rril (13/24 SP | full HP)
Antenor
Skraelin
Steve
"I'm going with this isn't going to be easy."
He drops his stance a bit, "Let's Get'em!" He leaps over a console for some cover, and to protect himself from an inevitable black hole.
The draelik watches Antenor leap for cover when Rril takes her by surprise and shoots her in the shoulder. She curses, and Rril feels his own shoulder ache and begin to grow increasingly painful. She turns her red-eyed gaze towards the outlaw, and Rril feels like his head is being squeezed in a vice. She also takes one hand from the maul and draws a pistol.
Combat! Round 1/2. Bold may act.
Skraelin (-8 hp vs. -2 hp pending Rril's 1st Will save) (Get 'em)
Steve
--2--
Rril (13/24 SP | full HP) (Inflict Pain -2 to every check) (1st Will save vs. 6 damage, 2nd Will save vs. Inflict Pain DC 18 [6 rounds vs. 1 round])
Antenor
Anentor keeps up the support, but takes a pot shot of his own too:
for
Hearing that Steve needed to Get'em he clamors across the floor in his spider-like contraption swiping his axe at the draelik. "Stop it!"
EAC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 25
Stamina: 11/28; HP: 26/26; Resolve: 5/5
Repair Drone = 1/1 (25% / 5 hp)
Used: Smoke Grenade
Azimuth Laser Pistol 10/20
Oonopidae
EAC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 22
HP: 40/40
Weapon Equipped (Flame Pistol)
Petrol 0/20
Rril's shoulder begins to bleed in the same location where he shot the draelik. Steve skitters up the stairwell and wings his axe into the handrail.
Antenor fires a lucky pot shot into the draelik's chest, but in the same moment he feels his own chest begin to hurt. While Steve serves as a focus of attention, Rril retaliates, landing his shot quite accurately despite the near blinding migraine his has developed.
The draelik turns her attention back to Steve and concentrates upon his goblin mind. Steve begins to share in Rril's suffering.
Combat! Round 2/3. Bold may act.
Skraelin (-11 hp vs. -17 hp depending upon Antenor's will save) (Get 'em)
Steve (Inflict Pain -2 to every check (Will save 1 round vs. 6))
--3--
Rril (7/24 SP | full HP) (Inflict Pain -2 to every check (5/6 rounds))
Antenor (Will save vs. 6 damage)
"What the hell?!"
Antenor's chest burns almost as badly as if he had shot himself with his own arc pistol.
Combat! Round 2/3. Bold may act.
Skraelin (-11 hp) (Get 'em)
Steve (Inflict Pain -2 to every check (Will save 1 round vs. 6))
--3--
Rril (7/24 SP | full HP) (Inflict Pain -2 to every check (5/6 rounds))
Antenor (29/35 SP | full HP)
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"They're messing with all of us!" grits Rril. He ties to find a thought to concentrate on to focus through to pain.
He suggests to his teammates, "Maybe if I shoot one of you two, the pain'll be inflicted on them? Any volunteers?
He points his pistol barrel towards each of his crew mates, then back again. Finally, he settles for the draelik.
Steve shrieks in pain as his head begins to hurt. "I said stop that!"
EAC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 25
Stamina: 22/28; HP: 26/26; Resolve: 5/5
Repair Drone = 1/1 (25% / 5 hp)
Used: Smoke Grenade
Azimuth Laser Pistol 10/20
Oonopidae
EAC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 22
HP: 40/40
Weapon Equipped (Flame Pistol)
Petrol 0/20
"Just surrender. You know you can't win!"
Anentor continues to put pressure on the enemy while taking a shot of his own.
for
Rril telegraphs his shot too well, and the draelik steps out of target at just the right moment. Steve, in his fury, flails his axes about but fails to land any of his swings.
Antenor takes more careful aim--and is blessed by not suffering an insanely intense migraine--and lands his shot.
The draelik focuses her gaze upon Rril, and the outlaw momentarily sees the image of a third eye open on her forehead and the pain in his skull intensifies as random, incomprehensible data floods his brain.
Combat! Round 3/4. Bold may act.
Skraelin (-18 hp) (Get 'em)
Steve (Inflict Pain -2 to every check (5/6 rounds))
--4--
Rril (7/24 SP | full HP) (Inflict Pain -2 to every check (4/6 rounds)) (20 damage Will DC 18 for half)
Antenor (29/35 SP | full HP)
Steve is absolutely confused as he swings and swings but his axe doesn't go where he wan't it to go. "He has some sort of forcefield!"
EAC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 25
Stamina: 22/28; HP: 26/26; Resolve: 5/5
Repair Drone = 1/1 (25% / 5 hp)
Used: Smoke Grenade
Azimuth Laser Pistol 10/20
Oonopidae
EAC: 15 KAC: 17 CM: 22
HP: 40/40
Weapon Equipped (Flame Pistol)
Petrol 0/20
Though he's not as clever as he should be due to his splitting headache, Rril still manages to tag the draelik with his pistol.
Combat! Round 3/4. Bold may act.
Skraelin (-24 hp) (Get 'em)
Steve (Inflict Pain -2 to every check (5/6 rounds))
--4--
Rril (0/24 SP | 25/28 HP) (Inflict Pain -2 to every check (4/6 rounds))
Antenor (29/35 SP | full HP)
"Come on everyone! We got this! Get'em!" From his position of relative safety Antenor keeps the pressure on and takes a shot of his own.
for
The fire fight continues between the draelik mystic and the crew of the Hunter's Bounty. Eventually, you force her to flee, exchanging fire as you chase her up the stairs, across the bridge over the entrance, and down into her workshop. She endures the harassment in order to open the door out in the back of her workshop and flees into the junkyard.
You rush after her, eager to not let her escape. She moves to the back of the junkyard and opens the doors to a large crate. However, as you move to pursue, the junk shutters and shifts. Two five-feet long, yellow, slug-like creatures with four tentacles encircling their mouths emerge and slither forward on glistening slime.
The piled junk makes it difficult to maneuver and the slugs are dogged in their pursuit of your technological gear, which begins to spark and intermittently fail as they become coated with the slug's slime. Oonopidae is forced to scramble up the wall with Steve in order to escape, though the slugs occasional spit acid at the robot, corroding its chassis, in the moments when Antenor and Rril's guns cease functioning at the same time. You wish Lors were here with her trident to deal with these things.
The draelik mystic emerges from the crate, physically restored a great deal by whatever she had hidden in there, and joins the fray with her maul held in both hands. The slugs seem to recognize her and keep their attacks focused upon you.
However, in the end, the slugs are left as two steaming piles of yellow goo and the mystic fights to her death. Tired and wounded, you consider what to search in this disorganized chaos. The crate where the draelik had run to seems like a reasonable place to start once you've taken a breather.
Frostbite-class zero pistol with 1 batteries (20 charges)
tactical maul
security chip
The crate is empty, but a concealed door in the floor rests open, revealing a set of stairs descending into the ground.
The steep set of stairs descends to a fifteen-foot square chamber. The droning of an air purifier keeps the atmosphere fresh. A computer terminal, a bed dressed in thick blankets, a steel footlocker, and a couch create a cozy space that contrasts the disorganized status of the scrapyard above.
You all immediate notice movement under the blankets on the bed. Cautiously approaching, you pull back the blankets to reveal a familiar wrikreechee face: Hasshachir. He looks even more worse for wear than usual and is unconscious. His arms are shackled to the bed, and his limbs move occasionally in unconscious reflex.
The security chip that you found on the draelik mystic unlocks the shackles.
The computer terminal requires a pass phrase to access.
Steve slides a box out from underneath the mattress. "It is open, take what's inside so I can work on this computer."
Steve cracks his knuckles as he looks as if he is going to try random passwords beginning with 00000 and moving on to 00001 but instead he ends up just smashing his face into the keyboard and hopes that the random jumble of letters works.
Somehow the shape of Steve's face causes an actual phrase--"At the end, there is nothing"--with correct capitalization and punctuation. The terminal unlocks access. The screen displays dozens of folders. Each folder contains video files or documents.
The numerous video files are grainy clips of each of you and Lors as each of you went about your business on Outpost Zed over the past several days. There is a document on each of you, incompletely describing your skills, strengths, and weaknesses. The other documents are receipts for various materials, including explosives, and payments to a professional killer named Grasilex. Notes accompanying these receipts reference an account referred to as "the sardat's advance."