Ziamat clings to life while Tixylix tries to take down another of the skeletons. Both his and his drone's shots miss, though, and the skeleton prepares with its fellows to retaliate.
The purple skeleton lunges toward Elwin and slashes out with his claws.
Red and blue both raise their rifles and fire at Hesperrio and Tixylix.
Thankfully, the party is spared this round as they try to finish the fight!
Once again, the skeleton's bones fall to dust as Hesperrio finishes it with a shot, and the same chime rings out as "+10" appears on screen overhead.
"Aaaannnddd STOP!" A dome descends over each of you, protecting you from further attack from the skeletons, while the voices of the announcers sound the end of the final challenge. "That's all the time we have for our final challenge today, friends," Quell calls out.
Lethea replies excitedly, "Let's have both teams return to the stage to see how our competitors fared!"
Each of you feel the ground lower beneath you as you are brought back below the surface of Eox, then are escorted through the backstage area and onto the stage. Ziamat, having received healing from Elwin, is able to join in the procession, even as he is covered in wounds. Eventually, both teams are gathered on risers on either side of the stage, facing toward the middle.
A wash of sparkling confetti and the sound of upbeat brass instruments heralds the arrival of Zo! onto the stage. The undead mogul effortlessly swings a microphone in one hand, while casually pointing and smiling at members of the live studio audience. As the music calms, Zo! turns to provide both teams with a shot from his finger guns before addressing the audience.
“Trials and tribulations! Drama and intrigue! Dangerous obstacles and murderous animals rendered into appetizers! Really folks, we have it all, don’t we!?” Zo! revels in the crowd’s adulation for a few seconds before a blinking red-screen causes the assembled masses to stop, save for a few lagging zombies who continue. “Now, if it were up to me, I’d call each of these teams a winner! But this is prime-time
vidcasting, so there simply has to be a winner! If there wasn’t, well, all of you might kill me—for a second time, that is!
“So, for this episode of Pact World Warriors, the winning team is...”
A scoreboard lights up at the back of the stage, showing
"Starfinders: 110
Challengers: 90"
"With an additional 30 points gained from their fight against the skeletal hordes, our Challengers now come to a total score of...120 points!!!"
The scoreboard changes to reflect the additional points
"Starfinders: 110
Challengers: 120"
"But the Starfinders don't go down without a fight, and were able to come up with some last minute kills, bringing their total to..."
The scoreboard changes again, showing the final score for the day:
"Starfinders: 130
Challengers: 120"
"130 points! Whaddya know?! They pulled it off, folks! The Starfinder Society’s team is the undisputed victors of the event. Congratulations!"
A second rain of confetti follows, this time accompanied with lightly falling balloons covered in comical cartoon visages of Zo!’s face. The hosts go on to take over the ending broadcast, congratulating each of you and offering up some final verbal jabs before encouraging you to return for future shows. The crew then escorts you back toward a shuttle bound for Absalom Station, where a jubilant Radaszam awaits.
On your way to the shuttle, the rival team makes one final showing, vowing that you haven’t seen the last of them. Mia Moxie promises you that she’ll be “visiting sometime real soon” and that this time, it won’t be a game show, but instead a full-on fight-night spectacle.
During the shuttle ride back to Absalom Station, Radaszam offers refreshments and listens to each of you retell tales from their journey. The journey to Absalom Station only takes 3 days, at which point Radaszam escorts you to the Lorespire Complex for a more thorough debriefing with First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo.
Within the Lorespire Complex, Radaszam leaves you in a waiting room while he goes to confer with First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo prior to the debriefing. As you wait, you notice a well-stocked and eerily familiar food assortment waiting on the currently abandoned reception desk. As you move ahead to investigate the basket, you also note that one of the vidscreens behind the reception desk is active and displaying a live news feed. A ryphorian news anchor explains that the Stewards are investigating an incident involving a shuttle explosion over Eox that claimed the lives of several Pact Worlds citizens and the rival team on Pact World Warriors. While the investigation has yet to conclude, there’s some leaked evidence that may point to the Starfinder Society’s involvement.
At that moment, a shirren arrives with a second basket for the food arrangement, as well as an accompanying letter. One of the apples in the second basket has a single bite taken out of it, and the unsigned card that accompanies the basket reads: “I don’t like people who fail me, but I’m really starting to like all of you.”
The shirren courier has no information on who arranged the basket, only that it was commissioned through funds associated with AbadarCorp. Further investigation into the delivery yields no results.
The End...?
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Elwin looks relieved as the domes cut off the undead. During Zo!'s speech he can't help but grin a little at mention of the "live" studio audience.
After the party he wearily rests and makes sure that the remains of thier fallen comrade is taken back to Absalom station.
Elwin smiles at the food layout but then frowns a bit at the news, "I can't help but wonder if that dwarf is really freind or foe.."
He still happily digs in.