Dot in here.
You all gather in the meeting room with Fitch, a white ysoki technomancer.
The meeting room is well furnished and stocked with various refreshments, but Fitch—the meeting’s initiator—is nowhere to be seen. After several seconds of silence following the last arrival entering the meeting room, a large holoscreen descends from the ceiling of the northern wall. Fitch’s small, albino ysoki face appears in clear resolution. She whispers quietly to the assembled group. “I have a very important mission for you. You should be aware that the Master of Stars, the best ship in the Starfinder Society’s fleet, is undergoing extensive renovations. Well, we’ve hit a bit of a roadblock. We need some clophirium to complete the next repair, but supplies have been quite scarce in the Pact Worlds for the last forty years. Luckily, we searched our archives and found a planet in the Vast with substantial reserves: Arniselle.” Fitch’s transmitted image picks up a datapad but accidentally knocks a screwdriver off the desk while doing so. She flinches as the tool clatters to the ground, then continues whispering in an even lower tone. “NO! I’m sorry about that. They’re finally all asleep, you see. “Now, back to the mission. We established a lodge on Arniselle about a century ago. It was abandoned when the First Seeker at the time decided to refocus Society resources closer to the Pact Worlds and abandoned several outposts in the Vast. Unfortunately, our scans show that Arniselle has undergone substantial seismic activity during the intervening years, and now the whole lodge is underwater. We assigned a special team to go investigate; they’re all kalos, call themselves the Manta Corps. Maybe you’ve met them. Anyway, a ship dropped them off, but the Manta Corps never reported back for their pickup.” Suddenly, a loud shriek erupts from the holoscreen, followed by quick pitter-patter footsteps. Fitch drops the whisper and turns away from the screen. “Hey, you’re all supposed to be asleep for another hour! Back in the beds before I duct tape you in and leave you to find a way out!” Fitch turns back to face the screen. “Anyway, the current First Seeker agrees with me about the importance of this mission and has authorized me to mount a second expedition. We must finish repairing the Master of Stars, and to do that we need Arniselle’s clophirium. This could be dangerous, so I’ve selected you, some of our most experienced agents. Go to Arniselle and investigate the submerged lodge. See what it will take to re-establish our presence there. And try to find out what happened to the Manta Corps. Best case scenario, they’re just down there working, but it’s not like them not to report in. “I’m sending you information on the planet now. Oh, and remember! There could easily be intelligent life on this world. The lodge wasn’t staffed long enough to really explore the oceans. If you meet any new species, be diplomatic! It’s not only our mission as Wayfinders, but locals might help us with getting that clophirium as quickly as possible. Any questions?”
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"How large is Manta Corps? I know I will certainly be keeping and eye out, but should we specifically be searching for them as well?"
All'ok pauses for a moment. "Also, will any underwater equipment be provided? My armor could handle the air issue, but I am not what one would call an adept swimmer."
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A heavily armored kasathan walks in as the briefing ends, "Don't kill everyone on site, no problem. Make friends, I don't do so well. I suspect our environmental protections will function just fine underwater, as for weapons, you'll probably want to get one of these.", Lau holds up his tactical pike.
Folks, folks, your armor will help you breath underwater. As far as swimming fast, that is up to you, or buy some technology if that is what you want. Did I mention piercing weapons work better underwater? It's true.
He then answer the other questions. Yes, Starfinder Lodges are built to withstand anything, including floods with minor or no damage to the lodge. Anything except for a nuclear blast, but let's not test that. There’s usually one airlock to enter the building, an airlock to go between levels, and an airlock to get into the records room
He then turns to All'ok Can't tell you how large, I don't know their heights, but I can tell you this about the Manta corps. There are four of them. The leader, Deepspeaker Alluguoth is a spiritual type. He doesn’t say much, but when he does, I’d advise listening. Then there’s Mantarider Ushuul; he’s a lot more talkative and loves to show off his gun. You might have seen Mantarider Suulhu-Huur around the sparring rooms. She’s a fighter and uses some kind of fancy cryopike. Lastly, there’s Wavetreader Vhoosh. She’s even quieter than Alluguoth, but that’s probably a good thing. She can be a little bit unnerving. She always wants to know about how many people you’ve killed. They’re good agents, all of them
He gives All'ok an odd look, like he is trying to figure out what you are asking, or maybe you misunderstood. How much is needed, well I can't give you an exact dosage. But since you asked about it. “While it’s a major strategic asset for the Society, the symbolic impact of the Master of Stars is even greater. Getting this ship back in action is my highest priority right now.
How important is the clophirium? Shouldn’t we cut our losses? “While it’s a major strategic asset for the Society, the symbolic impact of the Master of Stars is even greater. Getting this ship back in action is my highest priority right now."
CULTURE (RECALL KNOWLEDGE) OR DIPLOMACY (GATHER INFORMATION)
ENGINEERING (IDENTIFY TECHNOLOGY) OR PHYSICAL SCIENCE (RECALL KNOWLEDGE)
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The heavily armoured shirren soldier had been a silent observer during the briefing, leaving it up to his teammates to ask the questions.
Bristling with an array of weapons, the shirren's antenna twitch in agitation at the mention of the potential purchases. "I'd been savinhk my creditsh for some fresh upgradesh," he announces, mandibles waving disconcertingly. "I've jusht picked up ssome new gear but it hash left my fundsh depleted."
Taking out his comm unit, Chk'tarlsh scrolls through a few screens before swiping this way and that and eventually pressing on an entry. Slipping his comm unit away, the shirren explains, "I've placed an order for a tactical doshko. It'sh all I can afford, but should do the trick."
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All'ok bows. "Thank you for the calrification."
I suppose some introductions are in order. I am All'ok Starsgift, discipline of Desna and most recently of the Sun here in this system. I am a Mystic and interpreter of dreams and I am strongly gifted in the healing arts."[/b]
All'ok is a Ryphorian female, standing approximately 5'4". She has the slightly reddish tint associated with Summerborn. She is currently wearing light armor and has a rifle leaning up against her seat.
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Turning to All'ok, the shirren inclines his head. "An honour to be workinhk with you," he says audibly, mandibles clicking. I'm Chk'tarlsh."
Although many prefer to call me Charles, he sends telepathically to the group, with a hint of amusement.
"I'm but a ssimple ssoldier," he says with a shrug. "I know how to do many thinhksh. Mosst of them involve neutralissinhk threatsh."
Although reasonably tall for a shirren, he would only be considered of average height for most other humanoid races. His matte grey heavy armour has a sheen about it attesting to its newness. The breastplate is emblazoned with two insignia; one the helm of the Exo-Guardians, the other a stylised black butterfly.
He carries a pistol at his hip and a hammer strapped to his chest, while grenades are fastened to the outside of the backpack resting on the floor by his feet. A long sword and a laser rifle are propped up against the backpack beside his seat.
This shows that clophirium is the name of the ship, not a substance or chemical.
If you can take it back with you, that be great, otherwise just secure it.
With some aids in play you are able to figure out the following.
10+: The Manta Corps are all kalos. Kalos are an aquatic race from the Brethedan moon of Kalo-Mahoi known for their bluegreen skin, batlike wings, and glowing, protruding eyes. These four kalos are quite tight-knit and go on assignments together, typically deployed to underwater locations.
15+: The Manta Corps prefer action-oriented assignments, and have been known to avoid assignments with a lot of detail or paperwork. Because of this, they’ve earned a reputation as underwater commandos but also as a group that doesn’t do well in overly social settings.
15+: Both lightweight and thermally stable, clophirium featured prominently in many early Drift engine designs, but natural sources were limited, and Pact World planets with clophirium deposits quickly exhausted their supplies. Alternate Drift engine designs that do not require the mineral have become more popular in the last 40 years.
20+: It would be possible to update the Drift engine of the Master of Stars with a more modern design, but the entire engine structure would have to be rebuilt, taking years. Finding additional clophirium supplies is the fastest way to get the Master of Stars up and running again, even if the Society must identify a new mine to do so. The substance is incredibly difficult to find, so any charts or maps identifying existing veins of clophirium would be invaluable to the repair operations.
Also...It takes for the PCs’ ship to make the necessary journey through the Drift to reach Arniselle.
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"Call me Steelscales," the vesk states simply. Sarangari usually doesn't need to explain what he specializes in, nor does he care to. He's decked out in a battle harness painted the exact shade of green of his scales and moves so naturally in the armor he may as well be wearing pajamas. He also has a very large machine gun strapped to his back.
Later, after preparing for this underwater excursion, Steelscales has left his power armor at home. He's now wearing a suit of light armor that he somehow seems less comfortable in. He still has his machine gun but also brought along a strange looking gun that the rep from Ulrikka Clanholdings promised would work much better under the sea.
After 14 days of being in the Drift together, you are finally here.
Several morlamaws stand ready as soon as the PCs enter the lodge via the exterior airlock and into area A1. Read or paraphrase the following. The airlock door spins open, and two creatures await on the other side. One creature is a vibrant teal and the other a similarly bright indigo. Both are large creatures with an imposing presence, each with a stout body that ends in a single wide flipper. They have articulated side flippers with a surprising level of fine motion, brightly colored whiskers, gills, and four long tusks, two on each side. The tusks are lightly carved with decorative patterns. They both wear white robes that flutter with the movement of the ocean, and the indigo creature speaks in slightly accented but otherwise perfect Common. “Hello, and welcome! I am Hinevera, and this is Teltham of the morlamaw people. Welcome to our home. You must be more Starfinders, I presume? The last group left rather quickly, so we assumed another group would arrive soon. Greetings!”
Hinevera does all the talking while Teltham stays quiet.
When asked about the other Starfinders, Hinevera seems quite happy to tell the story.
“They were quite funny, weren’t they? With their… wings? Is that what they’re called? The other Starfinders visited for a little while, and we offered to let them inventory and take back all the Starfindermarked property. We certainly have no need of your weapons and armor; it’s hard for us to use them!” Hinevera waves one of her flippers to demonstrate. “They left quickly though; I don’t think they were keen on inventorying.”
When asked other questions about them Sorry, I can tell you all that I know
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Antennae twitching in irritation, he sends telepathically to his companions, This one does not know what happened to the Manta Corp, but doesn't want to admit it.
Chk'tarlsh nods his agreement Laubeso and Sarangari. "Yeah. Pleasse show ush were the previous Sstarfindersh visited before they left. We are under ordersh to re-esstablish the sstronghold."
Well, they visited the entire place here, but our place isn't big, so it seems they left in a hurry or at least weren't here long.
Feel free to explore the rooms, you are our guests here.
A large curtain divides this room, and faint lines on the ground indicates that several walls were likely removed to make this space more open. A five-foot-high stage and eight rows of benches fill the northern half of the room, while the southern half has several large tables. An airlock on the eastern wall acts as a front door, and airlocks on the northern and southern walls lead to other areas. Steel doors lead to the north and south.
A half-dozen morlamaws, in colors ranging from blue to green to violet, pray quietly at the benches and work busily at the tables, some cleaning fish and others repairing clothing and equipment.
Tchisk doesn't see any symbols or markings to show who they are praying for. No books or anything, nothing to indicate who they are praying for.
His name is OSHESSA. He is setting up for his guests and doesn't want to be bothered right now, but you will get to meet him and have dinner with the guy. And it is an honor to meet you all, he too will be honored.
Tchisk tries to figure out which deity they worship, except their prayers all silent. They seem to be prayers of Earthly desires though if you ask them.
Tchisk: Workshop: This crowded workshop has benches and a large cabinet lining the walls. The room is filled with disassembled computers, weapons, and gadgets. A door exits to the north, while another door exits to the east.
Sarangari: Kitchen and Meal Hall: This small rectangular room measures about thirty feet across. It has a single entrance to the north. Cabinets and small counters line most of the walls here, with a cooking table and stove combination resting against the southern wall. A pike lies along one long counter with several fish speared on it.