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Dr. Morvius continues to have a good-natured chat with the technician.
"Your color looks good, but I always like to check vitamin and nutrient levels. Perhaps I can get a specimen from you, and we'll do just the quickest lab work up. I have a good feeling that everything is fine, but it pays to be cautious."
Dr. Morvius hands him a specimen cup, though the rest of the starfinders recognize it as a serving glass from the galley.
"Wait what?" he looks a bit confused "Is this part a job offer? Before I hand over samples to a potential employer I think we need to work out what the offer is and who is hiring, I'm not up for being a casual mercenary, but if there is something else...?" he seems very interested, but not off to wee in a cup mid conversation.
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Sully raises his eyebrows. ”Well, just between us, there’s a competing dragoncorp that would love to get their hands on that data. You should talk to the Starfinder Society, I think they’re in cahoots with the competitor and are always hiring. That’s how the free market is supposed to work, no? Talent moves to the better workplaces?”
"One dragoncorp to another? Sounds like 'different dog, same fleas'. Perhaps the Starfinders might be more useful"
He throws Sully a datachip.
"I've perfected a project called K-BLD, a cybernetic implant allowing a user to control implanted creatures from any computer running K-BLD 6.0 software. I intended to show my K-BLD-augmented Triaxian drakecats to my superiors, if I was ever given a meeting. There's enough there for you to get a good taste, and they know where to find me for the full suite"
With that he takes his cup and cat to his accommodation to go get you the sample.
Looking around there isn't much of interest in the area other than the computer terminal.
The rest of the party begins their extraction, but Sully hangs around until the scientist comes back to give over the sample.
"I look forward to hearing from someone soon" he offers hopefully.
You are all able to leave without further incident.
***
With Karezen’s data, you return to the Ercinee and report back to Naiaj.
"You got the data AND recruited the scientist? An excellent result to get him over to us, he will be a great resource to us in the future. Excellent result and credit to you all"
"I'll get Celita to go through the data, and send a copy to the client"
"When you are ready, I have another mission for you..."
Now rested and back home, your comms light up - Naiaj again.
"We have another mission"
“Resurgent Technologies has requested our services at one of their R&D departments on Aballon. They’ve been vague about what the job entails; the most I’ve been able to tell is that there’s been some, as they’ve put it, ‘unexpected results’ from one of their experiments that needs to be discreetly cleaned up. As I’m sure you know, reputation is vital for any organization. Be sure to keep ours in mind during your mission. Best of luck, Starfinders. And be careful.”
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After saying farewell OP-1 returns with the other and after some rest reports back for his next assignment.
"So far we've been successful in keeping both the Society's reputation intact as well as cleaning up things discreetly. I have very little doubt that we won't be able to succeed again this time around"
"..maybe somewhere between 1 and 49% chance. Certainly not more then 50...*re-calculating odds* ...."
Meeting up for the next mission, Quig greets you all warmly. "Incredible! The same team for three straight jobs. You guys are getting to be like family."
You all head off and catch the shuttle to Aballon and the megaplex settlement of Endeavor. There, a guide directs you to a Resurgent Technologies research campus, and then to a spacious office.
A woman with ash-colored skin and hair that resembles a plume of blue fire sits behind a desk while a drone hovers around her left side taking measurements for a prosthetic arm. She looks up and offers a strained smile. “Being such an eclectic group, I suspect you must be the Starfinders. I’m Eshazi Seza, a researcher for Resurgent Technologies, and I’m ashamed to say you’re here to clean up my mess. As I’m sure you know, we pride ourselves on creating the best hybrid technologies in the Pact Worlds, but a little over a week ago, a test went horribly wrong and briefly opened a rift in the planar fabric, which pulled in everything nearby before closing.” She gestures wryly to her missing limb.
“However, at the time, we didn’t realize the rift also allowed something else to cross to the Material Plane. Only days after the accident, bodies started turning up in one of the company housing districts nearby, and we suspect the incidents are related. We contacted the Society in the hopes that this can be taken care of discretely, as the higher-ups naturally worry about our image should news of something like this come to light. I have a few suggestions as to where you can start investigating, but if you have questions before we get into that, feel free to ask.”
“It’s been ten days since the lab accident. Since then, six bodies have turned up with similar injuries. Reports state the cause of death appears to be energy damage, perhaps from a weapon. The body of the most recent victim is still in the morgue, if you wish to inspect it yourselves.”
"The victims seem to be a very random mix, but all around the Mystic Hearth neighbourhood right near the research facility"
***
What Doc knows:
Aballon is the closest Pact World to the sun, making its natural environment unsuitable for most organic creatures. Anacites, intelligent, self-improving machines said to have been left behind by the mysterious First Ones, are the most common species on the planet, though many other constructs also reside there. Aballon is a center of industry and manufacturing, which are centered in the megaplexes—country-sized cities run with machine efficiency. These megaplexes are some of the only locations on Aballon’s surface that have an artificial atmosphere that allows organic creatures to survive.
She looks over to Jack ruefully "Far far away I imagine, or I'd have been keen to retrieve it"
****
"Good suggestion" she replies to OP-1, "Investigate the witnesses"
"It’s been difficult to tell who’s actually seen something and who’s just making a scene. You could try talking to Ex-Maintenance-22, an anacite who runs a food stall in Mystic Hearth and may have seen something. You could also try the Mystic Hearth online message boards and see if anyone’s discussing these events. I’m not a member, so you’d have to procure an invitation from someone or see if you can find a back door to the infosphere site.”
****
What Jack knows:
Endeavour is one of Aballon’s megaplexes. It gets its power from the Sun Basin, a massive solar array. Endeavour is a place where magic and technology meet in spectacular ways, such as the collection of interplanar and interplanetary portals maintained and operated by the Resurgent Technologies corporation. As such, it’s an interplanar travel hub, meaning visitors may rub shoulders with any kind of outsider alongside the more common settled races of Aballon.
Resurgent Technologies is a Pact World–wide corporation based in Endeavour. The company has operated since before the Gap, specializing in magical and technological hybridization. Today it remains at the forefront of such innovation. The corporation’s mysterious director is known only by the name, “the Last One,” and is frequently at odds with anacite leadership.
"Infosphere gossip!? Sweet. Do ya have a public access code or a high speed terminal I could borrow?"
Quig takes whatever she can offer to get his on-line investigation started.
Borrowing a nearby terminal, Quig doesn't manage to hack into the boards.
Per OP's suggestion, you head to the morgue.
The Body
The most recent victim was a male android named Version-12 whose body was found in an alley the day before your arrival.
You are led to a spartan, chrome-colored, frigid room where the body lies on a table covered with a cloth. Upon inspection, it’s clear the body suffered severe energy damage of some kind.
You identify some of the damage as electrical burns and the rest as acidic erosion.
You identify the energy damage as the result of magic, rather than technological weapons.
You identify evidence of blunt-force trauma and constriction, as well as signs the body was dragged across a rough surface
Much chagrined that he was unable to find the neighborhodd chat room, Quig follows the others to the morgue.
The good Doctor has no luck with cracking the messageboards.
Bluff OR Diplo OR intimidate :)
Quig tags along, chattering observations, reading sign text, buzzing the group with his drone in CAP mode, and otherwise being noisily useless.
OP-1 blinks his eyes as he suddenly registers Quigs comment about not being able to hack something
"Allow me to try"
untrained, charisma based aid:
Doc manages rotor smoothly pick up a password to the message boards after the rest of the party rattles and shakes the locals.
About the same time, OP manages to crack the boards.
You ffind several threads discussing working for Resurgent Technologies and living in Mystic Hearth, discussions of workplace safety and benefits, and finally a thread where residents compare their creature sightings.
Several users state that they saw a cloaked shape roughly the size of a human that floated instead of walked roughly around the time of the murders. One person claims to have seen the creature vanish into thin air.
*****
You collectively hone in on the suggested witness. Ex-Maintenance-22 is found on corner maintaining their food stand. The anacite seems to be running a business catering to the organic residents of Endeavour.
"Noodles! Noodles and broth! Hot and tasty!" he calls out to passers-by.
He spies the Starfinders and plates up several hot bowls almost instinctively "You there, try some of my chefs special!" he shouts enthusiastically (you all stand out in the anacite dominated community)
"I'll take some." Quig heads straight to the food stand. "Nice to see some real people chow. How'd you get into this business though? Organic life forms are a little thin on the ground around here."