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Just over one year ago over 80% of the Starfinder Society's agents, ships, and resources were lost while exploring a solar system in the Vast known as the Scoured Stars. The tragedy made galactic news. An impenetrable force field has encapsulated the solar system and nothing could get in or our, not even a message. Attempts were made to enter but with no resources, it had to be abandoned. Many of the distant holdings of the Society were lost during this time, due to alien attacks, dangerous fauna, or lack of resources. Agents in the Vast and were abandoned in the field. It was a disaster.
A woman by the name of Luwazi Elsebo became the new leader of the Starfinders, replacing First Seeker Jadnura who had lead the charge into the Scoured Stars System. In order to keep the group together she hired mercenaries to temporarily fill her ranks, while a new crop of agents were trained. All agents, new or in training, were allowed free entry into the Society and a one year training program (which usually costs a lot of money and takes four years). All four of you were among those new Starfinders -- either because you were already in training, or joined when it was announced it would be free. For whatever reason, you have an interest in the Scoured Stars Incident. You've spent your last year training together and today is your graduation day. You will learn if you pass, meet your team, and perform one final test.
This is your Commencement.
Ookaroo is a large black and red dragonkin with glowing red eyes, a blowing mouth, and giant horns. He is loud, nice, and tough! He used to battle evil monsters on a reality televideo show! Recently he joined the Starfinder Society, because the Scoured Stars incident was a galactic disaster. So many people died! He wants to break his way into the Scoured Stars and bring those people home!
Hugs is a cute brown and pink skittermander with big purple eyes, a long sleeved shirt that has a picture of a rabbit with a hover drone on it. That same rabbit flies beside her in the air, wearing a hoverdrone like a backpack! Hugs also wears shorts, bunny sandals on her feet, and a happy smile.
Beside her hovers the hoverpack!
Ookaroo is good friends with Hugs. "Hi, Hugs! How's your space-rabbit doing today?"
"Great! We're really excited to be graduating! What do you think the final test is?"
Gevra skips into the room, gives everyone a big grin, and stretches. "Ugh! It's about time we're getting out of here! I've been waiting FOREVER!"
Gevra is an augmented verthani from the planet Verces. She's nearly nine feet tall, and very slender, with particularly long dangling arms and a single bulging black eye. Her other eyes is cybernetically enhanced and glows a bright red. Gerva has a shaved head with a pair of long white strips of hair that starts in front of her ears and end down past her shoulders. She wears a very strange headdress of metal and feathers. She dresses in a purple too-short tank top, black mini shorts, and comfy hiking boots, with a well-fitted blue and white vest on top. She wears a belt around her waist fitted with a bunch of syringes, vials, and beakers, a few granades, and an injection gun. Over her shoulder is a backpack and a bigger injection gun.
Gevra can make her skin change colours and form elaborate patterns at her whim, allowing her to camouflage with her surroundings, or turn her skin into beautiful works of art. Right now it's a brown colour, with yellow and orange swirling lines all over over it.
Gevra's a doctor with a particular interest in bioengineering and genetics. She hopes to blur the line between biological and technological life forms, and strives to bring both groups closer together with augmentations. Equally at home fixing an engine as she is healing a person, Gevra is one unique lady! She's smart, enthusiastic, impulsive, and perhaps a little crazy. Gevra joined the Starfinders because the experimental augmentations laboratory she ran on Akiton ran out of cash to stay in operation, and because her 'foolish brother' went and got himself lost in the Scoured Stars.
Hugs runs up to Gevra and gives her a big hug with all six arms! Then she runs up to Ookaroo and and gives them big hugs too!
"I hope we're on a team together!"
"Doing something crazy hard, I bet!" Ookaroo says. He sounds pretty confident he an get it done, whatever it is.
Ookaroo nods at Gevra. "Enough school! Bring on the missions!"
Ookaroo sweeps Hugs up in a giant hug, lifts her up in the air, squeezes her good, then puts her back down. "Of course we'll be on a team together! We're amazing!"
Hugs giggles in joy!
"We are!"
Hugs turns and waves, beckoning their last teammate forward. "Come on! Wake up, sleepyhead! Now is not the time for a nap!"
Newt snores loudly in a nearby chair until he is startled awake by Hugs. "What?! Huh? It's wasn't me!"
He looks around in confusion and shakes off the sleep. He yawns an stretches out his long arms. With a POP sound they stretch out even further! Then he gets up.
"It is time already?"
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Suddenly a glass door at the far side of the room slides open. A calm, artificial sounding voice speaks from beyond the door. "Enter."
The soon-to-be-Starfinders find themselves in a large room lined with black and gold data banks. A green holographic image of a middle-aged human woman shimmers into view at the center of the room, projected from the data banks. “Greetings,” it says. “I am Guidance. Please use the cheek swabs in the open receptacle to provide a genetic sample for Starfinder Society identification purposes. If desired, you may place your hand on the glowing panel to receive a subdermal implant further marking you as a member of the Society.”
A pedestal rises from the ground, stopping at approximately hip-height on a human. Atop the pedestal is a series of four vials with cheek swabs contained inside, and a glowing panel.
Gevra struts into the room, her many syringes and vials clinking as she walks. She grins at the sight of Guidance and lets out a whistle. "Hello, Beautiful!"
At Guidance's command she grabs a vial, sticks the way in her mouth, rubs it on her cheeks, and then pops it back into the vial and shuts it. She puts the vial down on the top of the pedestal and then places her hand on the flowing panel. She watches carefully, curious what kind of implant she's going to receive.
"I like your style, Guidance. Can I interest you in some biological lungs to help cool off your processors? Maybe a few processor upgrades while we're at it?"
"You want to do what now?" Newt asks. He looks at the panel. "Yeah, I guess we can do that."
Newt gives a cheek swab and places his hand on the glowing panel.
Ookaroo takes the cheek swab and does it. Then he reaches way down and puts his big hand on the panel. He looks serious and heroic.
Hugs hurries into the room with Bun-Bun close behind. She does the cheek swab, and then does another one for Bun-Bun. "Open up, cutie pie!" she giggles. She tries to do it for Bun-Bun's hoverpack too, but it doesn't work very well.
Then she and Bun-Bun place their paws on the glowing panel.
"Oh, boy! We worked hard for this, hey Bun-Bun!"
Once Hug's and Bun-Bun get their implants done, hoverpack turns around and lands on the glowing panel with his gun so it can get its own implant!
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As everyone places their hand and paws on the panel they feel a small injection in their palms. This implant rests underneath the skin. The augmentation can be activated or deactivated mentally as a swift action. Activating the implant causes a rendition of the Starfinder Society’s symbol to glow underneath the skin. This augmentation acts as a mark, letting others know you are a member of the Starfinder Society. It also increases the light level within 5 feet by one step while active.
Unfortunately, when hoverpack puts it's backside on the panel the injection bounces off of its metal plating. Hoverpack cannot have an injection.
In the centre of the room, the holographic image of Guidance continues. “It is our pleasure to officially welcome you into the Starfinder Society. Today is the commencement of your new role as a Starfinder field agent. It is our tradition, at the end of the graduation ceremony, for new graduates to present themselves to the heads of our most prominent factions and complete a task at those leaders’ behest. This allows the leaders of these groups to become familiar with all new Starfinder agents, and it provides a constant supply of agents for handling situations in our holdings on Absalom Station. While these tasks were formerly symbolic, the heavy loss of Starfinder agents in the Scoured Stars necessitates that these missions become something more. Please treat any tasks given with the gravity you would grant any other Starfinder assignment.”
"Although there are five Starfinder Society Factions, today you will only need to visit four: the Acquisitives, the Dataphiles, the Exo-Guardians, and the Wayfinders. I have transmitted all of the required information on the location of these factions and their leaders to your comm units. Seek out the leaders, accomplish what they ask of you, and report back to them. They will signal me to indicate your mission is finished. Once all missions are complete, you may return to the Lorespire Complex to finish your Commencement and prepare for future missions."
"You may complete these missions in any order you see fit." Guidance almost seems to smile. "You are well trained. Best of luck on your Commencement. At the end of the day I hope to call you all Starfinders."
Hugs tests out her glowing hand! "Whoah! Neat! Bun-Bun! Do the thing!"
Bun-Bun moves her paw like she is clicking a button. Suddenly her paw glows! Bun-Bun looks confused. She looks at her paw. Then she twitches her ears and looks at Hugs. "Huh?" she squeaks.
Bun-Bun waves her paw around to try to make the light go off!
Hugs laughs. "Hahaha! You're funny!"
Then they pay attention to Guidance.
"These Exo-Guardians sound friendly! They might be interested in my bunny in a hoverpack. Lets go there first!"
Gevra laughs. "Of course you want to go see the Exo-Guardians, you do-gooder. I'm more of a Dataphiles girl, myself." she looks over to Ookaroo and Newt. "What about you two?"
"Well, look at that," Newt says as he inspects his glowing palm.
Newt scratches his head. "Yeah, the Exo-Guardians sound good. Let's go there first."
"Yes! That sounds good!" Ookaroo announces dramatically. "Let's go."
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The group leaves the Lorespire Complex behind, hops aboard a Ringtrain and disembark near one of the giant service elevators that leads down into the Spike.
The hundreds of levels extending below Absalom Station’s radial plane—often collectively referred to as “Downside”—are simultaneously its most crucial and least appreciated. Here, sandwiched between other heavy industry in the station’s gritty underbelly, the vast machines in charge of the station’s life support and defenses chug away, some only partially understood by the engineers who maintain them. The poorest classes of Absalom Station’s citizenry live here, gradually trickling down and away from the light and wealth of the upper levels to build slums in former access corridors. Monsters of all sorts hunt in the depths of the Spike, from simple criminals to bizarre creatures with no apparent reason to be on the station at all, creating whole ecosystems in the gloom.
After a few minutes of a slow ride down, the elevator opens into the dirty but trendy Downlow neighbourhood. Offering affordable housing and retail space, Downlow is the largest and safest of the Spike districts, as well as one of the most cosmopolitan. Complex maraquoi family units live above shirren-run option bars along the crowded corridors, while kasathan youth and ryphorian battleflowers dare each other to visit dangerous Kuthite sensation houses. Like poor but trendy neighborhoods everywhere, Downlow is disparaged by wealthy residents of the Eye even as they
succumb to its allure. While law enforcement can be scarce except during raids, the powerful Lowrigger gang keeps the neighborhood relatively safe.
After a few minute walk through the twisting service corridors the group finds the address stored in your comm units. Garbage litters the ground around the district’s largest art park—a cement lot filled with undulating metal sculptures and covered in graffiti of grotesquely adorable creatures. The sounds of music and chatter drift over from the nearby clubs, chronically interrupted by the roar of the local gangsters’ engines. A heavily augmented host shirren is sitting on one of the park benches, eating a simple meal of cold grub-noodles and rice candy. Their antennae perk up at the tremor of approaching footsteps.
< “Welcome, new Starfinders! And congratulations! Happy!” > the shirren’s voice telepathically projects. < “My speech-name is Zigvigix, but feel free to call me Ziggy, if that would be easier for you. Have some rice candy to celebrate your graduation! Today is your big day! Proud!" >
< “When you are ready, I have two assignments I could use assistance with. The first is to help me secure a new headquarters on Absalom Station. I’ve been in talks with our station’s protectors, the Stewards, and they were kind enough to give us ownership of a warehouse here in Downlow for that purpose! Eager! The current owners no longer want it because a vicious alien took it over and kills anyone who goes inside. Troublesome! Once the alien is gone and the warehouse cargo has been returned to its owners, we can start installing desks and computers, so please go in and incinerate the creature! Grateful! My second assignment...” > Zigvigix twitches their tooth barbs for a moment and then holds out a credstick. < “Please buy the brand-new Strawberry Machine Cake album, Star Sugar Heartlove!!!, which is out today, and give it to Historia-7 when you see her. She is the head of the Dataphiles, so you should meet her today! I wish to do it myself, but I... I have trouble standing for long periods of time. Thank you very much!” >
Hugs sits on the bench beside Ziggy. "Thanks!" she says. Bun-Bun flies beside her. Hugs and Bun-Bun eat some of the tasty rice candy. "Yummy! Thanks!" Hugs says again. She gives Ziggy a big six-armed hug!
"Okay! Where is the warehouse? I wonder what monster it is!" She smiles brightly and nods her furry head. "I love helping! This will be great! Where will we buy the CD? ...I wonder how much money it costs."
When it is almost time to go, Hugs stands up and opens her arms. "Hug?" she asks.
Ookaroo grins a big toothy grin. "Sounds fun!" he bellows. "Can I buy it for myself while I'm there? I love Strawberry Machine Cake! WHOOO! Do you want a copy too, Ziggy?"
"Zigvigix, huh? It's a pleasure, pal. Nice upgrades you've got there." She pulls out a card and hands it to him. "Let me know when you're in the market for something new! I'll hook you up, pal!"
"Exterminate some vermin and buy an album? Sounds like a piece of cake! Let's head to the warehouse first." Gevra remarks. "What do you know about the creature?"
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< "I believe the creature is a feather stalker -- a predator far more unpleasant than its name
implies. As far as the Stewards have been able to piece together, a two-bit crime lord illegally imported the creature, and the beast promptly ate him. Hilarious! I can provide holorecordings of the incident taken off the station’s security cameras if you desire to watch it main and murder some warehouse workers! Gruesome!" >
At Ookaroo's offer, Ziggy gasps out loud. "Oh, that would be most delightful!" he gushes aloud. "I do ADORE Strawberry Machine Cake!!! And I would love their new album -- Star Sugar Heartlove!!! is going to be HUGE! -- But, I... " He hesitates, then sighs. "No. I don't need a copy. Only Historia-7 needs one. She has been VERY down since losing her mentor in the Scoured Stars Incident. I hope that the happy, sugar-pop, beats of SMC music will cheer Historia-7 up and bring back her smile! Hopeful!"
"I would love to see some beautiful bunny creatures eat people. Is the feather-stalker rabbit like?"
"That's so sad!" Hugs give Ziggy a big hug. "Feel better? I will give Historia-7 a hug later, too!"
Then Hugs nods her head at Gevra. "I can't wait to meet the bunny!"
"Every one deserves Strawberry Machine Cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !
Newt pulls out a juicebox on the ride and drinks it. Slowly. "Oh, yeah. Mmmm."
"Hey there, Ziggy. Nice to meet ya'. I'm Newt.""
"Weird monster in the warehouse, hey? Bummer. yeah, I guess we could do that." He thinks a moment. "Huh. Really? Let me have a look at this footage."
"Oh, yeah. We can do that. No problem. We'll get that album."
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Zigvigix passes Newt a datapad, loaded with holorecordings of the feather stalker attack. Anyone who watches the video with Newt can make a Life Sciences check to attempt to learn about the creature and how it hunts.
< "Not rabbit-like at all, I am afraid. It looks more like a large crinoid -- a sort of lobster-bug with long feathery head decorations." > With a twitch of their antennae they continue, < "Have you any other questions?" >
Gevra leans over to watch the holorecordings.
Ookaroo watches the video, too.
Hugs leans in and watches the video, too.
Bunna flies over on her hoverpack to watch, too.
Newt sips on his juicebox as he watches the video. "Oh, man. That's messed up."
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The feather stalker is a large black and white creature with feathery appendages and little else. It has very long reach (10 ft.) and its feathers are very sharp. It can slash them against an enemy to cut them apart, or fire them at an enemy like a harpoon! It all looks very deadly!
In time the group leaves Ziggy behind and heads to the warehouse. Station security stand outside, and a force barrier has been use to secure the entire perimeter of the building. When security sees your Starfinder Insignia they lower the force field for a moment, wave you inside, and raise the forcefield again.
"Good luck," they tell you through the barrier.
A few steps ahead of you are the warehouse doors. They look like they were forced open from the inside and no longer lock. Inside the warehouse looks dark...
The warehouse is quiet and dark. Near the entrance enough light comes in from the halls outside that you can tell the warehouse ceiling is 30 feet high, and a catwalk runs 15 feet above the floor. There are light up there, but they are quite dim, and not nearly bright enough to make a dent in the darkness. The ladders to the catwalks are nearby. There's a lot of crates and vehicles in the warehouse. Both are about 5 feet tall, while cylindrical barrels are nearly 10 ft.
Ookaroo is used to the dark. He heads inside, squeezes up onto the catwalk, and moves a bit further into the building. Then he looks around some more.
Because it is dark Hugs turns on her glowing hand implant. "Bun bun! Do the thing!"
She heads up onto the catwalk behind Ookaroo and follows him. Suddenly she giggles. "Why are you so big? You don't fit up here at all! Hahaha!"
She climbs up Ookaroo and stands on his head to get a better view.
Bun-bun shakes her paw, making her symbol glow. She looks confused!
Hoverpack flies after Hugs, making sure Bun-bun doesn't get left behind.
Gevra enters the warehouse and walks through the centre of the room as far as she an see without air. Then she pulls out a needle and injects herself with it, attuning herself to every vibration and subtle change around her...
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As the group heads inside Ookaroo can make out a metallic clanking sound that seems to be coming from across the warehouse. Like the rapid sound of metal striking metal, claws drumming on a table, or insectile legs scurrying across metallic ground. No one else hears the sounds, and no one yet sees the feather stalker...
Gevra continues deeper into the warehouse...
Seeing a pile of rubble and debris she starts to sift through it.
Ookaroo frowns. "Be careful in there. I hear something."
He heads deeper into the warehouse, towards the sound.
Newt walks inside. "Hey? Is someone there?"