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Khwam glares at Sully as he follows him out of the rec room and rejoins the group. "I was making progress there. She was telling us about another clinic trying to poach patients near the Lorespire Complex. Have any of you seen or heard anything about that? The competition might have wanted Respite closed down."
Jiwalla nods, satisfied that you're willing to take patient confidentiality as seriously as she does. She continues to join you on the excursion to the Rec Room.
In the Rec Room, Khwam goes to take the lashunta's hand, though she pulls her hand away with a raised eyebrow at the total stranger that just arrived to ask her questions. "Hurondo is my boss, and a good friend." She gets up and massages her temple with a hand. "I'm going to take a walk. Jiwalla, message me if we get any news."
The ysoki nods, then turns to the rest of you with a thoughtful expression. "This is the first I'm hearing of another clinic. Maybe they caught wind of our woes and decided to see if they could get some credits in their pockets. Capitalizing on fear." She scowls "Must be an awful sort of place."
"Well, I don't know who they are, but you keep your eye out for them."
As the group of you seem ready to proceed, Jiwalla offers to walk out with you to see you off.
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You head out of the Lorespire Complex with plans to head down and investigate the addresses you got in the lower reaches of the Spike. Jiwalla wishes you all luck and asks that you keep in contact if you learn anything at all. Just as you're about to hail an autocab, you notice two humans distributing pamphlets and talking to passersby about a new medical clinic in the Spike. One steps back and raises his voice to advertise to the crowded avenue.
The pair of humans stand at the opposite side of the 20-ft wide street, which is crowded with creatures traveling to and from the Lorespire Complex and other nearby locations.
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Sully's eye twitches almost imperceptibly as Khwam chastises him. "Apologies. I saw a lead and jumped on it. I want to help, but too much time among other mourners might be...counterproductive, for me. We can certainly investigate this rival clinic."
Sully makes nothing of the sales pitch at first, walking with purpose toward the cab, but stops when Domak speaks. "It does seem convenient to be advertising this service just outside a therapy group." He follows the vesk over to the two salespeople, eager to hear their reply to Domak's questioning.
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Sully's eye twitches almost imperceptibly as Khwam chastises him. "Apologies. I saw a lead and jumped on it. I want to help, but too much time among other mourners might be...counterproductive, for me. We can certainly investigate this rival clinic."
"No worries. She seemed to lose interest any way."
Sully makes nothing of the sales pitch at first, walking with purpose toward the cab, but stops when Domak speaks. "It does seem convenient to be advertising this service just outside a therapy group." He follows the vesk over to the two salespeople, eager to hear their reply to Domak's questioning.
Khwam also veers toward the memory modification hawkers. As he does so, he falls into an easy slouch, and adds a slow drawl to his voice "Hey, guys, didn't I see you up but our Lorespire Complex? What's your pitch? How can you hook me up?"
Finding the two humans suspicious, the team converges upon them. One of the two, a light haired woman, passes Domak a pamphlet. The pamphlet is positively glowing with neon excitement for the revolutionary new procedures described (in vague terms) within - but it's sparse on detail. On the back is written:
"Want to know more? Ask one of our Representatives!!!"
"UNITERS - Uniting you and the Services You Need, Today!"
The woman does her best to look enthusiastic. "Interested in memory alteration services? We're currently on a trial run with the Uniters, so we're not clued in to all the details on the treatment, but tomorrow one of the full members will be around to answer any questions you might have." While she speaks, the second human, a skittish looking male, eyes your group nervously. After a moment, he steps up to her and tugs her sleeve while whispering.
The woman looks like she's about to answer your questions, but the fellow eyeing you all with suspicion tugs at her sleeve. He whispers "They're trouble. Let's go before... y'know." into her ear while staring at your group.
She pauses. Then manages a "Uh, thank you for the interest but we, uh, gotta go." before her ally grabs her arm and begins pulling her through the crowd and away from your group. The moment they've gained a bit of distance, the skittish one looks over his shoulder at you, and then pulls the two of them into an outright run through the crowd! The two recruits have little concern for the other creatures travelling in the thoroughfare, rushing and shoving them out of the way as they try to get out of your sights!
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Khwam quickly gets stymied by the crowd and loses the pair almost immediately, but the rest of the team has a slightly better time. When the two split up, running down separate alleyways, Gulkyn and Domak follow the skittish guy. Unfortunately he proves slippery as well as skittish and they lose him.
Sully and Anuzoreus follow after the woman as she takes them on a chase on foot down into the depths of the Station. While she never quite manages to pull free, they also don't manage to close on her. The chase takes the two down into the depths of the Spire - where finally, they see the woman slip into a rundown freestanding single-story apartment.
This structure lies in a sparsely occupied part of the Spire's housing developments. There are few people on the streets here - and those that exist seem to be particularly happy to mind their own business. The apartment has boarded up windows, a faded plastic front door, and a side entrance accessible via a rickety fire escape. Graffiti, both fresh and half-scrubbed, adorns the outside walls. Unpleasantly, the smell of sewage intermittently wafts through the area.
Anuzoreus and Sully keep a reasonably close eye on the building's two entrances. They don't see anyone entering or exiting, nor do they spot anyone other than themselves loitering about. There don't appear to be any signs of life from inside either. If they hadn't just seen the woman enter, this would be just another abandoned building on a street with quite a few of them.
A few minutes later, Gulkyn, Domak and Khwam arrive at the scene.
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Khwan arrives breathing heavily. "I lost you all in the crowd. Nice work tracking her down. So she's in there? I could have a look at the door. Just a quick fly-by."
Khwam backs down the street and returns on the building's side. In passing the door, he checks if it is locked, and assesses the lock and any security. If there's a window, he looks into the entry area.
Khwam scouts out the building and finds that it has two entrances - a side entrance at the top of a short fire escape (elevating the door only a few feet above ground level), and a main front door. The front door doesn't appear to have any locks or security, but the side entrance sports a basic physical lock that he thinks he'd be able to deal with.
The windows are boarded up and he can't get a clear look inside, though up close to them he can see a small amount of light bleeding through, suggesting that the building *is* occupied.
He doesn't hear anything on his sweep through.
Domak finds the front door easy enough to open. Inside, the building is not in much better shape than it was from the outside. The entry foyer you step into is musty, with two moldering sofas and a bare light fixture providing illumination. To the west, rooms half-filled with debris and plastic sheeting stand largely vacant.
A white-furred wolf-headed humanoid (a vlaka) stands behind one of the two sofas, evaluating you as you come in. Two of her allies stand to either side, guns in hand but pointed down - ready for a fight if one happens to break out, but not threatening one right away.
The vlaka raises a hand as if to tell you to pause, and then makes a series of rapid hand motions. Her ally next to her translates them into verbal common "A bad hour for visitors. I'd heard some Starfinders were harassing our young recruits up near the Lorespire Complex. My poor pups are traumatized from being chased through the street." The vlaka grins slightly. "I am Bargai. Why've you come here to cause us trouble?"
You don't see sign of the female recruit you were chasing earlier anywhere.
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The young human slips into the conversation, "Nice to meet you, Bargai; I'm Khwam Sinb. As you can see my friend Sully is verbally aggressive, the result of traumatic experiences as a Starfinder.
"We offered your 'pups' no harm, but only asked questions about the treatment and their employment, questions they couldn't answer. They panicked. (As an aside, I could help you with your sales training. They were totally unprepared. It doesn't look good to have amateurs hawking professional services.)
'Anyway, when they ran, my friends may have leaped to conclusions about their intentions. There've been a number of cases of smooth-tongued con men, trying to take advantage of psychically scarred Starfinders, and we look out for our own.
"Can you answer our questions?"
Bargai's wolf-like face turns slowly to a scowl as you explain your intentions. She fires off a rapid set of hand signs to her ally, who in turn says "You've found the Uniters, yes. But everything our recruits were doing was absolutely above board. They're just nervous. First time with an important job, you see. I am sure you have Starfinder recruits that are the same."
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"Just because recruiting is legal doesn't mean the thing you're recruiting for is. If this work is so important, why don't you show it to us. From what we understand several Starfinders have already accepted your services. They haven't been seen since. Perhaps you can point them out to us?" Sully's tone hardens at the obvious stonewalling.
Bargai eyes your group for a moment, then starts a rapid-fire discussion with her ally in tactile Common. From the way her fingers flash, it looks energetic or angry, though her face remains relatively mild. The exchange is obviously lengthy, but when Bargai's assistant speaks, its with a fairly diplomatic tone. "The Uniters are a... facilitator. We just connected the underserved victims - your Starfinders - with a reputable medical establishment. One that wished to remain confidential. And the treatment isn't any of our business."
You also get the feeling that they're looking for an angle to negotiate, probably for money.
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Sully's eye twitches. "Clearly I have been traumatized and am in need of medical support. Why don't you tell me where I should get help? Go on, facilitate my contact with a confidential, reputable medical professional." His voice is laden with cynicism.
From seemingly nowhere, Sully's therapist steps in. "Please excuse the sarcasm. My client's point stands though; why can't he get the same forwarding you gave the others?"
After another exchange in tactile Common, Bargai's assistant scowls at Sully and Domak and says "You must think we're stupid or something. We betray our client and what little profit we're getting out of this deal is toast. And its clear as day you're not looking for them to get treatment for yourselves."
"Now you seem like reasonable sorts. And while we can't betray our client like that, we might be able to help you with something else. Bargai's betting that you're here about a particular missing Starfinder. Sound familiar?" The assistant raises an eyebrow at you while Bargai keeps a close eye on your weapons. "We've got some information on that topic you might be interested in. Maybe we can even help you 'find' him again. Lets say... for 400 creds?"
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After another exchange in tactile Common, Bargai's assistant scowls at Sully and Domak and says "You must think we're stupid or something. We betray our client and what little profit we're getting out of this deal is toast. And its clear as day you're not looking for them to get treatment for yourselves."
"Of course not for me! I'm perfectly fine. The treatment is for a friend." Again taking care to block SUlly's sight line, Khwam motions toward him.
"Now you seem like reasonable sorts. And while we can't betray our client like that, we might be able to help you with something else. Bargai's betting that you're here about a particular missing Starfinder. Sound familiar?" The assistant raises an eyebrow at you while Bargai keeps a close eye on your weapons. "We've got some information on that topic you might be interested in. Maybe we can even help you 'find' him again. Lets say... for 400 creds?"
Anu is done being nice. "You guys are awfully tense for people working 'above board' and there's something you aren't telling us. I have a counter offer: tell us what's really going on and things won't get ugly."
Khwam quickly changes tack to back up Anu's new play, "Now you're starting to piss off my nicer friends. Didn't your b~!~*-mama teach you not to ask traumatized combat vets for money!? Someone could get hurt."