"Hacked into Bluerise Tower? That's quite exciting..." Ceren closes her eyes for a moment in deep thought. "Okay, well, it seems I may be in a bit of trouble then.
"You see, I've had a bit of a medical condition, and I got an neural implant to help treat it. It's really helped halt the degeneration, but it seems I've been having some blackouts. Furthermore, I do have these files you're asking about, although I must admit I don't remember acquiring them." Ceren reaches up to the back of her head and pulls a small data drive out from a subtle implant.
"It seems we're in a bit of a predicament though. If the Starfinder's noticed my activity, I'm absolutely sure that the Bluerise Tower security forces have noticed it too. I don't think I can really evade them with all these blackouts happening though. What if you kids help me give them the slip? A good old death fake-a-roo could be pretty effective. In exchange, you can have these files you're asking about." Ceren has a glint in her eye and she speaks, slowly getting more excited.
Jubair seems to be in mild shock.
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So the old witch is the hacker, eh? And a conniving one too! I suppose she had this "exit strategy" prepared all along! Best play along to acquire the data we need, calculates Morvruul.
"We would be... happy... to help you with the implementation of your--how did you put it? Ah, yes-- 'fake-a-roo'." Morvruul announces. He reaches out of one of his many hands to receive the data drive. "Let us hold onto the data for you--you wouldn't want to be caught with it on your person. Then, we would be... honored.. to make arrangements for your death--or, should I say, the reasonable facsimile thereof?"
I must have that data! The secrets of Bluerise Towers must be mine for the taking! the witchwyrd contemplates.
"Please, let me help you."
Just hand the data drive over already, you old bat!
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Gardam slaps Jubair on the back. "Don't worry, youngling - I remember when I found out that my grandmother was a stronger than I was. Granted, I was but a child..." He gives Jubair an appraising look. "...and it looks like your skiff has sailed. Oh well." He claps Jubair on the back again. "Villages need farmers too."
"Now, Memaw Ceren - why would we fake the deaths of the Bluerise's warriors? Wouldn't simply killing them be more efficient and less confusing?"
Ceren hands the data stick to Morvruul.
"Fake the death of the Bluerise Tower security? No, no, no. We're going to fake my death, so they'll stop looking for me. If you were to kill their security forces, I'm afraid it would be starting a fight you don't want.
"Now then, I have some affairs to close up, but let's meet up at that nice bridge in Jatambe park next to the waterfall in a few hours. While I'm doing that, why don't you folks get started. I think a nice new identity and a fresh death certificate ought to be enough to let me slip away." Ceren is pacing back and forth excitedly as the teapot begins to whistle. "Oh yes, wouldn't want you to go without your tea!" She quickly pours out half a dozen cups of tea. "Anyways, what do you say? Are you up to it?"
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The witchwyrd greedily holds fast to the data stick. His mind is focused on little else. I must find some place to quietly download this data to my own personal storage units so that I can analyze it and exploit it!
"Bwahahahahaahaha!" Morvruul seems to laugh spontaneously, before realizing that Ceren had been talking. "What? Oh? Yes, yes. Run along now. Run along." One of his multiple arms, waves towards the old woman and the boy dismissively, almost as if to shoo them away.
Another hand, then holds the data stick up to his eyes for closer inspection. "I assure you. I now have everything... well in hand."
Ceren grabs a few small things while giving Jubair a short list of instructions on things to pack before heading off.
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"Should you be in need of a corpse for a stand-in--or is it a lie-down?--I am certain that I could find a mortician that I could convince to allow a body to disappear." suggests Morvruul. After all, it wouldn't be the first time he has done so!
"Bwahahahahaha--!" the witchwyrd again releases a laugh, before awkwardly stifling it. Stowing the data stick under his cloak with one of his many arms, Morvruul asks "Shall I be going then?"
He seems eager to leave.
Jelly is able to create documents for a new identity and to forge a death certificate.
Gardam's unlikely suggestion that about living off grid does lead to the realization that some of the ships in the Armada could be a convenient place to keep a low profile. You realize you'll be heading out to the Master of Stars later in your commencement even.
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Morvruul departs to look for a suitable body double for Ceren. He stops off briefly into an alley to make a personal copy of the contents of the data stick for himself, to transfer onto his Starfinder insignia. And to think that they provide me with this technology!
With the action complete, the "merchant" seems rather pleased with himself, that is until he attempts to access the data. "It is encrypted?!?" he howls. "This is of little use to me!"
He pounds one of his many fists in rage. "Very well." he concludes, "I will have to find a skilled hacker to retrieve it. Perhaps, I have use for Historia-7 after all..."
His initial plans thwarted, he goes on to look for a suitable corpse to explain his extended absence from the party.Upon spying one, he approaches the coroner pretending to be a grieving relative of the deceased.
"Oh, there she is!" he cries upon finding a suitable body. "She never wanted to end up in a place like this!" he counts the woman's arms. Satisfied that she has only two, he continues, "Please allow me to take her home and give her a proper burial--or reasonable facsimile there of."
Once he has a body secured, he goes about attempting some cosmetic alterations on it to make it more closely resemble the hacker. He pauses a few times to make sure that he doesn't accidentally add an extra arm in his attempt.
This pesky detail throws off his work a bit.
With the body disguised, armed, and disarmed, and connected to Jelly's forged death certificate attached, you are convinced that there are very few cracks in your work and this should dissuade pursuit.
You are able to head to your meeting point with Ceren at a bridge in Jatembe Park. Park Map
When you arrive, you see Ceren looking up stream and leaning on the edge of the bridge handrail.
Ceren chuckles and smiles at Gardam. "Oh, I fully understand. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with the Starfinder Society." She takes the ID datachip from Jelly. "Thank you for the hard work!"
At this time a few of your might notice a trio of dejected looking thugs are walking through the park, 50' away. "Boss? What are we gonna do? The old lady already kicked the bucket! How are we gonna get paid for taking her out now?" one of them asks a little too loudly.
As they look forward towards the bridge one of them perks up and says much quieter, "I see an old lady up there's. What's says we to gettin' that little old lady and tellin' everyone it's was us who offed the hacker like?"
The thug in the lead seems to take kindly to this idea and jumps into motion, confidently striding up to the bridge. "Oh, folks, we are so grateful you done found Grandma here! She's a bit senile these days and gets to telling some crazy stories. She's been missing from the old folks home for the past week and we been so worried! Granny, let's get you back to Happy Days before your friends and family worry anymore!"
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"Whaaat?" Morvruul responds as Nikon's inquiry disturbs his scheming. Suddenly noticing the thugs arrival and potential threat to the old woman, the witchwyrd realizes that their interference could impede his efforts to garner goodwill from the Dataphiles' faction leader and, thus, his potential access to her decryption abilities.
"You ruffians are severely mistaken if you believe this woman to be a relative of yours!" he loudly announces, revealing his multiple arms, more than one of which brandishes lethal weapon. "I can assure you, there will be no 'Happy Days' for this woman! Nor will there be any for YOU unless you extricate yourselves from this park immediately and tell no one of what you have seen this day!"
"Bwahahahahahaha!" laughs the witchwyrd, almost madly, as he waves his arms menacingly.
"Boss... This funny looking Kasatha has a nice looking gun. And if you look in back, I see some spears, an axe, a bow, and one of them solarian monks folks. I hear solarians can choke you with their force powers. I think the elf even has a gun." The resolve of the group seems to be fading.
Suddenly, another member of the group pipes up, "Okays boss, what's says we to not killing nobody, and just sayings we done dids it?"
The leader of the group speaks, "Oh, this ain't my grandma! Sorry for the confusion folks, we'll be on our way now!"
And with that, the thugs turn around and briskly walk away.
Wait till the thugs are out of hearing range
That is what I thought. Great job team
You are able to report to Historia-7 either in person or remotely.
When you speak to her, she thanks you for your work. "Good job Starfinders. Excellent work on forging Ceren's death documents. You've done a great job and from chatting with Ceren it seems that she's really enjoyed the activities and will be helping out the Starfinder Society for now.
"I've taken your suggestion that she keep a low profile on the Master of Stars for a bit, and I've reached out to Fitch to clear her stay on the ship. Why don't you bring her out there while you're on your way to meet Fitch?"
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Gardam nods decisively. "Weaklings. True warriors would not have been dissuaded by the display - station life has made them soft. You took great advantage of their mental fragility, Morvruul."
"Causing such spineless cowards to bow to one's will is not too difficult." Morvruul replies. Indeed, one day soon, ALL will bow to the indomitable will of Morvruul.
"Bwahahaha!" the witchwyrd laughs, before again catching himself and calmly noting, "I mean, even a mild-mannered merchant like myself can do it."
Upon reviewing the android faction leader's discreet request, Morvruul crosses one of his sets of arms.
Well played, Historia-7. Well played. he notes mentally. But, it will not stop me from decoding this data... someday. His vow made, the witchwyrd transmits the data digitally to the android.
One task for the android completed, Morvruul suggests to the others, "Let us deliver the woman to the Master of Stars."
For who knows what untold secrets and technology I can find there, aboard the pride of the Starfinder Society's fleet, to exploit?
The Starfinders and Ceren head to a busy docking bay to grab an Armada Shuttle Taxi Company shuttle to fly out to the Master of Stars. After everyone's loaded, the shuttle launches.
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.
You are able to traverse the ship via lifts and maintenance tunnels to reach E-Deck. When you arrive, you realize the power is indeed out. E-Deck is in total darkness, and the doors and magnetic locks are all unpowered. You can manually open the doors with a bit of elbow grease.
Jelly is able to reroute some power and the lights come on dimly. From here you are able to access the diagnostic systems and detect a short in the C block. Check the systems there, you realize there are security cameras in this area. If you view the live footage of the cameras, you see two small human children playing some 'game' where they're taking turns tripping each other.
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"Children, eh?" Morvruul notes with suspicion. "Not likely. Undoubtedly, we are dealing with some advanced life-form attempting to sabotage the ship or, perhaps, appropriate its technology."
"Clearly, we are dealing with an invasion by some of shape-shifters." the witchwyrd concludes. "To keep the technology aboard ship safe from their sabotage, it would be a good idea to collect as much of it as possible--remove it from their grasp before they can get to it."
It's a short walk down to the C block. When you get there the door needs to be forced open. The door opens onto a small platform. Scattered barrels and boxes line the lowered floor of this. On the main floor and to the left, there is another doorway leading father into C-block.
However, you do not see the children you'd seen on the camera feeds.
Nikon doesn't recall any supernatural phenomena that are likely to explain this.
Jelly is able to look at the video feed and rewind a few minutes. When you were opening this door, it looks like the kids hid behind the buckets in the corner of the room.