1-28 It Rests Beneath (Inactive)

Game Master Saashaa

Opening

As this scenario starts on Absalom Station, where is your character and what are they doing? If you are not on Absalom Station, how and why are you going there?

A muscular ape-like yet bug-eyed creature with a long tail extending from its back sits in a leather recliner chair in a small-dingy apartment. It holds up a lit cigar from an ash tray and takes a puff from it, the creature's large fingers nearly squashing the tobacco. The apartment looks like it hasn't been cleaned in days.

The Maraquoi, Ko'Ka, sits in its recliner and flips between programs on the infosphere. Since its last adventure in the Scoured Stars, work has quieted down for it. For the time being, Ko'Ka has been just sitting in it's apartment in Absalom station waiting for the next anything to happen.

Finances are not an issue for Ko'Ka, as the Scoured Star invasion paid rather well, but boredom has certainly taken its toll on the Solarian. It doesn't miss the moons of Bretheda, as the traditions of Marata was something Ko'Ka never understood nor cared for. Travelling space and being a bad-ass was far more interesting than teachings of the old ways. Little did Ko'Ka know that this meant being away from its family.

The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul erosion produced by high gambling a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension becomes unbearable, and the senses awake and revolt from it.

The tatoo like luminescent streaks of circuits that criss crossed the dark skin on Umbro's face, not only identified him as an Android, but either shined brightly or gave off a muted glow matching his emotions.

Sweet smelling smoke from a vape stick swirled around Umbro's face as the slovenly Vesk sitting next to him at the 3-D baccarat table lazily exhaled the pent up vapor he had so greedily sucked into his gaping maw of a mouth just moments ago.

Absalom Station has a way of eating away at your soul if you let it.

Just one more job and then it all ends...

Ko'Ka looks at the message on its Comm unit. Without looking away, Ko'Ka stuffs the cigar into the ash tray, snuffing it own, before blowing out a big puff of smoke through its smile.

Pulling the leg rest lever up, Ko'Ka stands and heads over to its wardrobe in the bedroom. Opening the wardrobe up, where the armor and throwing spear that Ko'Ka uses resides.

Equipping both of these battle items, Ko'Ka steps outside of its apartment, looking ready for action. The neighbors, a family of thirteen Ysoki children and their mother, are in the lounge of this building. The mother looks up to Ko'Ka, "They finally got work for you?"

"Bout' time too. Rent is in the safe. Be back in a month or two." Ko'Ka's gruff voice says gently as it walks out the building. Along the way to gate 23, it makes a stop at a nearby weapons dealer and a general store to get some last supplies before beginning another mission for the Starfinders.

A muted beep pulls Umbro's attention away from the 3-D baccarat table. Reaching his right hand into the inner breast pocket of his finely tailored jacket for his comm unit; he already knew who it was.

Glancing at his jacket he made a mental note to pay a visit to Zowald Boatengi the elven tailor whose business, Zowald Boatengi & Co., was located in the Nyori Palisades district of Absalom Station. Boatengi had hand crafted this particular jacket for Umbro at a time when credits had been hard to come by for the android.

Boatengi was different in that way. Usually elves are locked in tighter than a Bloodbrother consuming its prey, but when Umbro had commissioned the design of this jacket; that now so comfortably hugged the contours of his shoulders, he hadn't had any idea how he was going to pay for it.

Androids don't usually display much emotion, but Umbro had felt an unmistakeable tension inside of him when he had explained to Boatengi that he couldn't fully pay for the completed garment. Boatengi had smiled, displaying his perfectly aligned elven teeth.

"Well, wouldn't want my hard work to go to waste now would I. I've seen your kind before. Something tells me that if I ever needed a blunt instrument you'd be the one to call. I can tell your not the kind of person who leaves a debt unpaid. I got a job that needs to be done..."

Umbro rose carefully from his seat at the baccarat table.

Damn it, nostalgia, it will get you killed in the business your in. Tuck it away, in the past where it belongs. Better to be cold, focused on the reality of the present, on the job at hand. Duty calls...

Darkrunner's being exists in a virtual space, interacting with abstract representation of data stores, and protection barriers.

He approaches the presence of a small data-science company, who he's been informed has a new algorithm for personalized targeting of misinformation about competing products to consumer segments. The Dataphiles have tasked him with infiltrating this minor agent of a much larger scheme and extracting the algorithm.

Unfortunately, his hacking isn't traceless, and their systems detect his presence. A barrier of ice synthesizes in his path and forces him to stop and deal with it. He has to allocate precious resources from his personal computing rig, attempting the break the barrier.

With his typical cold focus, he brings it down and makes a small data collection to further improve his own attack algorithms. He's arrived at the process cache of the small contractor. He finds horrific amounts of personal data on innocent residents of Absalom. But, that is not why he's here. He copies the key algorithm and then sets to work, reconstructing their barrier and cleaning up all traces of his entry that would have tripped their protections...

Thankfully he completes it just in time as his comm unit beeps, intruding from the physical world. He unplugs from his rig, adjusting to the actual light pouring into his simple, unassuming apartment. He opens the message..

-----------

Darkrunner is a bit of an activist-hacker, working for the dataphiles on their most idealistic projects and efforts.

A large formian with red chitinous hide stalks the halls of Absalom. The mother wants me to stay. The mother wants me to learn. The mother says another mission awaits. Where is this mission? Tired of walking through the crowded streets, Majko stops rounding the block and turns inside one of Absalom Station’s biggest libraries. Her gender is clear from the large abdomen swaying behind and beneath her thorax. She grunts to the guard then approaches the front desk. ”Hello. I seek technology. “ After a bit more give and take, the librarian understands and leads the formian to a section dedicated to the technologies of early civilizations - the maraquoi among them. The formian spends many hours in the library, squeezing her large body into a humanoid-styles chair and learning.

Zak complains at the mission, but his father told him he'd be unworthy if he didn't go.

Majko smiles and begins to prepare for her mission. "The mother smiles on me. She is always right."

A shuttle carries you from Absalom Station to the vessel through the Armada. The repairs to the Master of Stars appear to be almost complete, and although a few rings of scaffolding remain visible around sections of the ship, its armor-plated hull, powerful engines, and sleek lines are almost complete. The shuttle lands in a spacious hangar bay, and a drone leads them to a briefing room on an upper deck of the ship.

Fitch is waiting with a plate of bread, jams, and sweet pastries when the you arrive.”Get out!” she semi-yells as she tries to chase off three young ysoki who bear her resemblance to varying degrees. She continues scolding them, " These snacks are for the visiting Starfinders!”. The three young ysoki flee past the you as Fitch hurls a doughnut to chase them off. The target nimbly snatches it, takes a bite out of it, and grins triumphantly at Fitch which is met with an exaggerated scowl. Though once the door closes, her face exudes smug pride. ”My have they gotten clever,” she coos proudly.

”Please, have a seat.” Once the you all are situated in the briefing room, she begins. “Vabaimus is a planet in Near Space,” Fitch says, gesturing in the air as she paces atop her desk. “Green, lots of water, bright sunlight, beautiful, if you go in for that sort of thing. Plenty of animal and plant life, but the most intelligent species is a marsupial no bigger than my kids. Look kind of like sloths. I like them, but we’re leaving them alone till they advance enough to at least get a language. Could take a while.“

“But there is a research station on the southern continent. The scientist in charge is Dr. Mora Motressi, a xenobiologist. She and her people have been checking out the local flora and fauna, and they’ve just starting a geological survey. Vabaimus is a resource-rich planet; we could do a lot with that, but we need to be careful to do it right. We don’t want to make decisions we later regret, disrupt the ecosystem, and create problems for ourselves and the locals.” Fitch pulls a datachip from her cheek pouch and waves it around. “I was reading the first report from their geological survey, and apparently they’ve got a weird landmass down there. A plateau hundreds of miles across covered in a slick gray shell, like a giant lobster or something! No water or plant life at all— maybe it got blasted by some kind of curse, I don’t know. Mora and her people, they don’t have the equipment to do a proper survey, so I figured we could give her a hand. I’d like you to take some vehicles and survey equipment to Dr. Motressi and her people on Vabaimus, and help them get to the bottom of this mystery.” Raising her hands and shaking her head, Fitch goes on. “I know, I know. This doesn’t sound like the sort of thing a bunch of super-stars like you usually go in for. There’s no first contact to figure out, no Swarm army to blast into smithereens. But this is how the hard work of research and science gets done, and besides, if this lifeless plateau is the result of a curse or a magical accident or something, Mora and those scientists will need help, maybe even an evacuation.”

“So, what do you say? Can I trust you on this one?”

Fitch, she never changes. How in the hell can she run an outfit like the Wayfinders and not have any control of her own children.

Umbro had seen those like her before, leaders of men, but completely lost when trying to discipline their own offspring. It was as if she had a split personality; one for the Starfinder Society and one for her own home. On the inside the android resented Fitch for that fact. What happens when she has to make a truly difficult decision. Do I trust her to make the right one?

From the back of the briefing room Umbro addressed Fitch, "Venture Captain, you mentioned we will be deploying with vehicles? Also, what can you tell us about Dr. Motressi and her team?"

Ko'Ka takes a pastry in it's large hands and consumes it quickly. Letting out a quiet burp, Ko'Ka wipes it's mouth and lets out an apology. "Mmm excuse me. Delicious as always, Fitch. So not even the local wildlife go on this plateu?"

Majko looks at Fitch intently, completely ignoring the incident with the children. "Is this a starfinder outpost? Or are we being brought in as contractors?" The formian stays standing, knowing the small ysokis chairs rarely hold her bulk comfortably. "The local wildlife, is any of it dangerous? In the mother land, everything is dangerous. Even the plants." She sticks a hand in a pouch of junk technology at her waist, ready to head out.

Fitch nods, "Yes, I suspect that your ship will not be able to get you everywhere you need to go. As I said, you will be taking some vehicles and research equipment. As for Dr. Montrossi and her team, they are mostly all scientists. Dr. Montressi herself specializes in the evolution of pre-sapient life."

"That question would be better asked to Dr. Montressi."

"Yes-ish. More specifically it is a Wayfinder outpost. Again, that question would be better asked to Dr. Montressi. I would assume, going in, that it will be dangerous so that you are prepared for the worst."

Umbro casually glances in the direction of Ko'Ka and Majko.

We better take extra rations for the hairy one just in case we get stuck in the jungle for an extended period of time and as for the rather large formian. It seems like she might be able to communicate with whatever primitive lifeforms we could run in to.

Umbro turns his attention again to Fitch, "You mentioned a curse, do you think there could be some kind of ethereal magic related to the land mass?"

Trust me on this one, you can count on me.

Fitch gives Umbra a knowing smile, "That question would be better asked to Dr. Montressi."

Majko frowns and prepares to leave. "Then we know where to go. Thank you for your time." The formian turns towards the door and waits for her companions.

Umbro grabs a doughnut on his way out the door of the briefing room.

“We’ll want more than doughnuts as compensation when we figure this one out for you Fitch.”

The android pipes up from the back.

At the risk of being told it's best to ask Dr. Montressi... how certain are those on the planet that this "plateau" isn't, in fact, the shell of some very large organism?

He waits only a moment, and nods at the Formian.

No? Very well, we should head out then and inspect it up-close.

Fitch turns her smile to Darkrunner and does not say anything.

I will not be updating until tomorrow (something like 16 hours). At which point I'll be working to get into a rhythm of a time during the day in which I will always be available, so that I can stay on the aforementioned 24 hour based progression.

That said, feel free to do purchasing and slot boons

Ko'Ka purchases some cables to help it's allies for climbing and scaling potential peaks on the plateau.

True Silver is meditating in Jatembe Park when he receives his summons for the Starfinders. When he stirs, several small creatures that had been using him as a resting spot scurry away. He looks up at the Lore Spire. "They do keep life interesting." he says to himself as he begins to walk.

The silver android with green circuit/tattoos is simply attired. His only ornamentation is the bright holy symbol for Oras. His hair is long and tied back, though he has a full beard.

He listens quietly to the presentation taking interest in the unusual formation. "You are wrong, Fitch. This is exactly the sort of thing that interests me. I look forward to finding out what's going on down there."

The trip to Vabaimus takes 9 days through the drift. What do you do during this time?

Ko'Ka mingles with the others. "So.. How many of you were in part of the Scoured Stars invasion? My crew did many assaults on the ground itself. Most of the others were not confident in space battles."

Majko shakes her head. "I was not chosen for that sacred mission. It was not the Mother's will, perhaps. " The formian bows her head. "I still have much to learn." The formian spends most of the trip fiddling with her pile of junk tech and creating small gadgets and weapons.

"I did not go on that mission."

True Silver does not know much about the operation of a starship. He spends time learning things to make himself useful aboard a starhip.

During the travel in the drift, Darkrunner spends most of his time in his cabin, gathering information on their destination from the info sphere.

However, if any teammates pop in he welcomes them in as friendly a manner as you could expect from an android.

Zak does absolutely nothing except stare out the windows for sightseeing.

"Can't say I was there, but from what I heard we lost a lot of good people."

Umbro spends his 9 days in the drift getting to know his new teammates. He wants to know who he can depend on in a firefight. As the end of their transit approaches he religiously disassembles, cleans, and reassembles his weapons as he's done countless times before in preparation for a mission.

When you arrive at the planet, a cursory scan confirms what you’ve been told by Fitch: Vabaimus is a temperate planet with considerable surface water and a variety of native life. It looks like a perfect colony world. There is, however, a strange geological formation, a stony plateau which covers approximately 85,000 square miles on the southern continent. Within minutes you receive a hail from the planet. When/If you open comm your screen shows a female human with brown hair and brown eyes. ”Greetings! Welcome to Vabiamus! We’ve got a spot for you, sending the coordinates now,” as she speaks to the you, you can see a sloth-like creature clinging to her torso and playing with her ears, while a human child plays with a datapad in the background.

Assuming you go to the coordinates..

The outpost is a simple affair on the grassy shore of a broad river, with two dormitory buildings to the east, two science labs to the west, and between them a common room for the staff to relax. All the buildings are white half-cylinders obviously assembled from prefabricated parts. A basic chain-link fence surrounds the compound, an improvised exercise track loops around the entire campus, and a pair of researchers in athletic clothes are jogging in the morning sun. The mysterious plateau looms only a few miles away. As the you land at the outpost, some of the scientists and assistants emerge to help unload the vehicles and survey equipment. Dr. Mora leads the way, carrying the sloth-like creature and with her young and curious daughter following close behind. ”This,” as she gestures to the young human girl, ”is my daughter little Mina, and I am Dr. Mora Montressi. But please, feel free to just call me Mora. We’ll be heading to the comm room first.”

After activating a handheld control, Mora gestures to a holographic image of an imposing, gray plateau. “This is Big Mina. You probably saw it as you came down from orbit. The plateau’s covered in a gray calcium compound, somewhat like a shell or a bony crest. There’s nothing like it anywhere else on Vabaimus and, frankly, we’re not sure what to make of it. But that’s where you and the equipment you’ve brought us come in.” The image of the plateau rotates to a top-down perspective, and three circles of light appear. “The survey equipment will allow us to construct three towers, one at each of the these locations: Forsaken Canyon, the Windy Cliffs, and this dry riverbed. Once the scanners on the towers are calibrated to the computers we keep here at the station, we’ll perform a deep scan of the entire plateau, going down thousands of feet. We’ll have a three-dimensional map of Big Mina’s interior, we’ll know the chemical composition of the soil, and hopefully we’ll figure out whatever caused this formation to appear in the first place. We have an office pool going, and right now the popular choice is some kind of magical accident, but my money is on an anomalous weather pattern. Anyway."

“Those enercycles and explorer buggies you brought will be handy to travel across the plateau, so use any combination of them you want. We’re currently loading them up with the equipment you’ll need to raise the towers, plus some climbing gear just in case. Once you arrive at each scan location, you’ll need to assemble the tower and calibrate the computer. I can help you with that last bit from here. We have twelve hours of daylight left, and while I’d love to knock this out in a day, you don’t need to be reckless. You can bunk on these sofas for the night if you need. There’s one other thing. It’s probably not important, but just in case—we found a small, abandoned starship a few months back. It was centuries old and clearly kasathan in origin. It didn’t crash; we think its pilot landed safely. But there’s no sign of what happened to them. Whoever it was must be long dead. So, I think that’s everything. Any questions?”

"Yes, actually. Who is this that you're carrying around?" True Silver slowly reaches up to pet the creature Mora is carrying."[/b]

"Before getting to business, were you able to find anything of interest in the old starship?"

"And what do you know about the three sites we'll need set up at? Any flora or fauna we need to be aware of or any dangers that may present itself once we're there? How likely is that we can get it all done in a day?"

Is the starship still operational?

“This is Bud. He and his mate Beky are visitors from the northern continent. Their species aren’t yet sapient, but they’re on their way. Right now, Bud’s pretty good at using a stick to get insects out of the ground, but eventually he and the rest of his species could be farming, building towns, or doing whatever else expresses their evolving culture. We have avoided interfering with the species overall, but we do want to know more about them and maybe find a way to communicate, so we brought Bud and Beky here for a closer look. They’re easy to get along with, and my daughter likes them.”

"We just found this," Mora says as she pulls out a small prefab crate with three mk 1 serums of healing, and 2 doses of zero.

“Yes. We’ve seen some native life in the canyon, resembling birds. I don’t know how anything survives on the plateau, where there’s no plant life or water. Maybe you can get a closer look at them when you’re setting up the scanning tower? The second site is along the cliffs; try to get a tower up anywhere along the ridgeline, but be careful: the wind can get pretty intense up there, and it’s a long drop. Finally, there’s the riverbed. We tried to set up a scanner there when we first arrived, but it stopped functioning after a few days, and we eventually found it knocked over and smashed up. It looked like it had been hit by a meteor or something!”

"As for dangers, this is a developing world where Bud here is the most complex and intelligent. We haven't spent too much time out and about because we are only scientists. That is why you are here."

Mora highlights the locations on the projection. “The canyon and riverbed are both about 60 miles away and a fair distance from one another. The cliffs are about 75 miles away. Once you get out there, all three of the sites are roughly equidistant from one another.”

"The starship has long since been operational."

Two doses of zero? What is zero?

Majko nods. "This planet is beautiful. Reminds me of home. How quickly can we cross the terrain in these vehicles? Perhaps we can do this tonight." The formian scratches her chitinous hide and begins taking notes on a datapad. The mother demands speed in her assignments. She speaks up again. "Are meteor showers common? Sounds suspicious."

Exploration Buggy
Item Level 1; Price 1,000
Large land vehicle (5 ft. wide, 10 ft. long, 4 ft. high)
Speed 15 ft., full 350 ft., 40 mph
EAC 12; KAC 14; Cover partial cover
HP 14 (7); Hardness 5
Attack (Collision) 4d4 (DC 10)
Modifiers +0 Piloting, –2 attack (–4 at full speed)
Passengers 3

Basic Enercycle
Item Level 1; Price 700
Large land vehicle (5 ft. wide, 10 ft. long, 3 ft. high)
Speed 20 ft., full 200 ft., 22 mph
EAC 10; KAC 12; Cover none
HP 7 (3); Hardness 5
Attack (Collision) 2d4 (DC 8)
Modifiers +2 Piloting, –1 attack (–3 at full speed)
Passengers 1

True Silver speaks to Bud

Medicine: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Zero is a stimulant. Its pretty addictive though so should only be taken in dire circumstances.
Was she offering the serums to us?

True Silver will take a buggy.

"So, how many of us can actually drive a buggy? I call shotgun."

"I can also drive a buggy. However, I think we should take at least one enercycle if someone can drive it just so we can stay mobile and not make us one big target if we run in to trouble."

Medicine: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Umbro picks up one of the doses of Zero and stores it in his armor's utility belt.

Umbro turns to Mora and walks toward her, "You mentioned there might be a magical reason for the plateau. Can you elaborate on that?"

"Also, for us to get to the tower location on the cliffs will we need to do some climbing? If so do you have any equipment you can give us to assist in our ascent."

As Umbro approaches Mora he stares intently at Bud.

I want to take a closer look at Bud and see if I know anything more about it. I'm a Xenoseeker so the DC if it is a Life Science check should be reduced by 5

Life Science: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

The formian takes a long look at the buggy. "I am not a trained driver, but I can suffice in an emergency." +4 She shrugs her shoulders. "I am also happy in the back. I am better close to my enemies than at a distance." Majko looks at her large arms and thick fingers with a frown.

Who really wants to take a buggy or any vehicle? You know it only takes six hours or so to run a Marathon. Assuming we run for eight hours a day, the equivalent of a full time job, it would only take us 2 and a half days to get there. I'm just kidding. Actually Might try it. Are we buying the vehicles, or renting them out, or they get loaned to us?

edit Looks like we have them already. Two exploration buggies should cover the whole party and get us there quickly.

Darkrunner considers the initial briefing, and how it only raises more questions.

Give that you don't yet know the composition of the plateau, it seems entirely possible that its makeup could interfere with the constructed towers, whether for natural or magical reasons. Have you verified that this is not the case? Speaking of the analysis method generally, if any sort of deep scan would work, what prevents an orbiting satellite from performing it?

Finally, you've surely taken samples from the edge of the plateau. Have those given any hints as to what you expect to come out of this survey?

Bud begins a sort of chitter and play with Mora's hair...

"Nope, can't elaborate because we don't know any more than that. That is why we need you to set up those towers. You shouldn't need any climbing equipment, you can drive up to the location. As for the equipment itself, it is going to be reading both above and below ground. So, a satellite couldn't really tell us what we don't know. The towers are not going to be on the plateau itself. Each one will be close, but not on top of." Mora then gives Darkrunner a little smirk, "Science works best when you analyze what you find, not analyze before you find. It is a calcium compound, that is all we've found thus far."

True Silver smiles at Bud's response.

"So we have the survey equipment, the buggies and enercycle, and climbing gear. Is there any other equipment we can make use of like rope or tents for those who didn't bring their own?"

If everyone else wants to use the buggies, True Silver will take an enercycle.