All of you separately are given instructions to meet a venture captain for a mission involving some mild athleticism and lots of botany. You arrive in a small, rarely-used chamber within the Lorespire Complex. When you open the door:
“Ah! By the stars, you startled me!” Venture-Captain Naiaj, a white-haired gnome, reveals herself by swiping away the barrage of buzzing displays around her. “I did not expect you to arrive so soon. Just finishing with a bit of legalese, nothing interesting. Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with details.” As the last screen disappears, she moves forward and waves at a holographic image of a floating planetoid.
“Aballon is known for its technology and constant innovation. Today, its magnificent natural resources draw the Society’s attention. Rapid industrialization is threatening Aballon’s few natural areas, and it’s only a matter of time until they are gone. The Starfinder Society requires a group of agents to delve into the Gullet Ice Well and document the flora and fauna found deep inside before it’s too late.”
Naiaj furrows her brow in frustration and continues, “While this sounds straightforward, it certainly isn’t, and the exasperated state you found me in attests to that. You see, the Xenowardens—a group of little more than glorified eco-terrorists—guard the entrances to the remaining Ice Wells, including Gullet. I was eyebrow deep in legal documents looking for a way around our next dilemma, but these plant herders seem to know their rights.
“We had to agree on a condition to gain access to Gullet. The condition requires that an ecological advisor accompany you to monitor your activities. If this advisor determines that you pose a threat to the ecosystem, our future rights to explore the Ice Wells may suffer. Starfinders, may I introduce you to Hemlock.”
The door swings open and a vine pokes out in an exploratory gesture. A moment later the vine fully emerges, revealing itself as one limb of a plantlike humanoid wielding a flamethrower. The creature leans against the doorway, the seedpod cluster that serves as their head glowing a mix of muted pastels. With this kaleidoscope of hues Hemlock makes their telepathic introduction:
“Dudes, I’m so excited to be delving down the Gullet with you. The name’s Hemlock.” Without waiting for an invitation, Hemlock submerges a vine into a nearby receptacle of cloudy water. Their scintillating pastel seed cluster brightens to a vibrant shade of orange, and Hemlock’s mental voice addresses Naiaj. “Thanks, that totally satisfies the munchies.”
Niaj turns to you as if she expects questions
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The streetwise looking Ysoki simply takes it all in, clearly reading the room and taking mental notes before questioning Naiaj - "So these Xenowardens, you say they are guarding icewells? Who are they, and do they have any specific rules were are supposed to be following so we don't upset our 'escort'? Also, what exactly is an icewell?
He then turns to the new arrival "Name's Roquefort..." the ysoki extends a paw to shake towards the plantlike humanoid "Psychic Detective"
Naiaj straightens up and clears her throat. "“The Xenowardens, such as our guest Hemlock here, are an eclectic group united to protect the sanctity of the wilds. While the majority of their membership is mystics and scientists, they aren’t without their career soldiers like Hemlock. Indeed, our honored guest is a fierce and passionate environmentalist who acts as our advisor on behalf of the Xenowardens.”
Hemlock twists one of his appendages to make a passable approximation of a thumbs up gesture and wiggles it back and forth a bit.
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Whistling as he takes his morning shower, he hears several chirps indicating important messages on his comm. Quickly finishing and drying off he pops out and checks the content.
With a smile he sees there are two things of note, firstly his order has arrived and is available pickup at the local cramazon package depot. But more importantly, he has been pegged for a new mission!
He mumbles to himself as he finishes his daily routine, "Botany and Athletics? I'm far from the most athletic so probably not picked for that. And botany isn't my field either, though I did just take that tactical med course so that might have helped. I'll bet they just need me to be there in case talking is needed. Or... they are really low on actually qualified agents. Either way, a paycheck is a paycheck!"
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Noting that he can easily pick up his order on the way to the briefing, he grabs a bite to eat at a local kiosk and heads out. Swiping his id to confirm receipt of the items he shoves them in a pack and moves on to the meeting.
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Entering the room, you all see a male human with light brown skin, bright white hair and matching close cut beard. Like most humans he is from Absalom Station, or at least that is what he calls home. He carries a variety of gear for many different situations but is not overly armed or armored. A set of pistols are holstered at his waist and slipped into a shoulder holster is a non-lethal stun gun. All the weapons appear to be well used. A sturdy backpack is slung over his shoulders.
He gives a genuine looking smile, "Greetings all, Alejandro at your service. I was called Captain a lot on my last mission, but I don't actually hold the title. Either way though, I'm looking forward to working with you all today." He sits for the briefing quietly taking a couple notes.
Replying to the psychic greeting, "Hemlock, great to meet you! Looks like we will be working close on this mission. Any dangers we need to know about in the Gullet?"
Hemlock pipes up: Well, you’ll be climbing down a very deep hole. Very deep. We have repelling equipment for all of us but, uh, I’m told there is like, no light, which I guess some of you use to, like, see? Biggest threat there is YOU though dude. Ecosystem is like, super delicate down there so you could really really mess with their delicate balance. I mean, I GUESS there are some apex predictors down there, but you guys are a lot bigger than their usual meal so, like, don’t go near their babies and you should be golden brah.
Naiaj continues: ”Remember our goal is twofold. We want to collect rare specimens without damaging the ecosystem down there, and we want to prove the Xenowardens that we are good and faithful allies. Show them that all this negative press we have been getting is nothing but baseless accusations.”
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Xenal stomps her way into the room, ducking her head sheepishly at her tardiness. She's a typically towering Vesk warrior in bulky plate, her matte green scales shot through with ribbons of gold and crimson where they stand revealed.
"A pleasure to meet you all, I am Xenal Doshbinder. I hope that today's mission will allow us to show the strength of mind and arms that the Starfinders of the Pact Worlds may bring to bear when we stand united!"
She makes a lot of gestures with her hands as she talks, but despite the warm tone of her voice, she doesn't really smile. Then again, a face-full of fangs might not go with a friendly greeting anyways...
"What makes you call the Xenowardens terrorists? They seem to be willing to negotiate with us in good faith."
"Oh - and should we be careful about light sources? Sometimes creatures in the dark parts of a world are stressed or even hurt by light."
In a nervous laugh, Naiaj responds "Oh, of course I was only joking!" while giving Xenal a death stare. "What I mean is that the Xenwowardens are . . . very staunch and ardent defenders, sometimes almost to the point of violence, of natural ecologies and resources."
Hemlock appears not to have heard the eco-terrorist remark and responds both to Xenal and Data. Whoa bro, let's not get talking about life expediencies. That's bordering on biasing people based on that kinda thing. We love all beings equally. Oh, and good call Xenal. Yeah, there are some parts of the decent that require us to go lights out. Naw problem brah, I totally can let you know when to douse the lights. Good catch my man!"
And with that Naiaj pulls out six lanterns, a few batteries, several spools of cable, and a small army of carabiners. She also pulls out what looks like a technological briefcase.
"I have here a lantern for each of you, along with enough batteries to keep them powered, and to keep the environmental protections on your armor powered, for the trip. Also enough clamps to keep all your gear secured during the repel. This briefcase has been modified to hold biological samples in stasis for a week, so it should be good.
The Xenowardens have cables on sight as well as harnesses to help you get down, but here's a bit of extra cable just in case. Now, as I understand it, the Xenowarden's decent and accent gear is for advanced climbers, so those of you who want some extra help may want to go out and get some climbing gear before you go. Sadly, I was not able to procure that for you."
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-EARLIER-
A human with perfectly coiffed hair enters the waiting area near the briefing room. He is speaking on his comm device.
"Yes. . . .yes, everything is covered. Doctor Phlox is taking care of my rounds. Yes, it's Starfinder business. I will call you when I'm back inbound to Absalom."
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"What can you tell me about these rare specimens? What are we looking for? Hemlock, I assume you'll be able to assist in identifying the specimens we can sample?"
Hemlock seems to hem and haw as much as a plant can before he continues. So brah, like, there's like, a bit of a problem. Like, we've done our research, but like, your higher-ups want to do the independent verification thing, so, like, we don't want to interfere too much. Plus, like, technically I'm supposed to be watching you and seeing how well you do so I can report back to MY superiors. So, like, I'll point out any interesting specimens, but it'll be your job to collect and analyze 'em. I'm not supposed to, like, influence your results I guess? Kinda lame but it's like, the thing we agreed on."
Naiaj attempts to translate. "Hemlock here is an ecological advisor. His job it to assist you, but we want to independently verify what the Xenowardens have found. Additionally, it is understood that he will be reporting back to his people how well you do on this mission so try to be ecologically conscious while there. Hemlock has been ordered not to interfere with your data collection. In other words we have enough rope to hang ourselves but good if we don't do things properly."
Hemlock taps his Flamethrower.
Wha? Ah, Naw bra, I mean, not unless you, like, wanna buy one I guess. I just use this thing here to burn away invasive species . . . or the occasional poacher. Just, kinda, feel naked without it. I don't think we'll need this much firepower for this little jaunt, but I always keep it on me just in case.
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A pale lashunta woman slips into the room, face flushed from recent exertion. "Sorry... I'm... late," she puffs around a shortness of breath. She tries without success to gather errant strands of dark hair back into the loose bun atop her head.
Bending at the waist, a vine and flora embroidered satchel momentarily slips from her shoulder as she rests her palms on her knees, trying to catch her wind as she listens to the rest of the briefing.
She telepathically returns Hemlock's greeting. Her breathing slowly returns to normal with time, and her interest sharpens as they discuss what to expect on the mission.
"I have testing equipment and sample kits packed, but will need to get some climbing gear," she admits.
"And, if it's not too much trouble," she ventures to Hemlock, reaching into her pack. "Could I bother you for a selfie? For my vidlog?"
I . . . uh, sure? What's a selfie?
It takes a moment to get Hemlock to face the right direction because he doesn't have eyes in the traditional sense.
After everyone makes their purchases and gets ready, a chartered space-flight takes you to Abellon. From there you take a surface-skimmer to the Ice Well. On the way Hemlock familiarizes everyone with their gear, including the repelling apparatus that has a build in winch and motor strong enough to pull everyone back up to the surface when you are done.
Arriving at the Ice well, there is a bustle of Xenowarden activity, who all hail Hemlock and greet him warmly. Behond several large rigs have been set up that feed industrial cables into the gullet. The Xenowardens make sure everyone is securely fastened into their gear.
Then Hemlock turns to everyone:
“Are you ready, fellow well-divers? It’s three days’ ride to the bottom, so let’s do this!” Without further discussion, Hemlock’s tendrils latch on to a nearby cable and they rappel headlong into the chasm.
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Alejandro takes a deep breath as the massive hole opens up before them. His voice crackles on the comms, "Wow, that's a sight."
He double checks all his environmental seals and battery levels, making sure the darkvision mod is ready to activate when the lights go out. He tries to familiarize himself with the climbing gear and when it is his turn, he begins the descent.
You repel, and repel, and repel, and repel some more. After about three hours the light from up above dims and those without darkvision have to switch on lanterns. Hemlock occasionally points out 'interesting' parts of the icewall, such as scars made from predators, or how some of the moss in the area is the same found all over the planet (meaning you don't need a sample from here.) He's quite chatty.
Towards the end of the first day he directs everyone to a decently-sized hole in the ice wall where everyone is able to land, detach their cords, and sit down. Though he doesn't eat, Hemlock says he loves cooking and soon has a small eco-friendly camp stove going with some food that actually smells pretty good. There are seven hammocks already set up in the area (Hemlock informs you that this is a frequent rest spot for those going down in the gullet.) then he starts in with some more talking.
“Dudes, it’s paradise!” As Hemlock offloads their gear into the hollow, they rub a few burrs off their feet and mentally transmit the safest way to enter a sleeping hammock without falling to the cave floor. The demonstration is psychedelic and goofy in nature but gets the point across. As the demo ends, Hemlock’s familiar mental drawl resumes. “Oh yeah, there’s a batch of slushflowers to the east. It’s an easy climb, and I think your venture-captain would like a small sample. As long as it’s not too many, then you should be fine to take some.” Hemlock projects an image of a slushflower and exclaims, “Get to it, Starfinders—chow’s in an hour!”
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Data is disappointed he don't have a fly spell or levitate, so he has to climb Why didn't I learn certain spells?
as he grabs 5. Someone can grab a 6th one if they want, but lets not grab more than half of them. I'm going to go with a 50% rule, besides the more we grab the better chances we have at damaging something.
Data is able to harvest some flowers and return. When he gets back Hemlock looks over the samples.
"Hmmm, Almost got greedy, but I think that colony should be fine. unfortunate, it seems three of the flowers had their growth stunted when you removed them. That means they won't be able to be transplanted. Still, you got at least two good specimens and you left enough for the colony to thrive, so, not bad for a day's work. Now, I've got some porrage ready, who's hungry?"
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Roquefort moves over at the suggestion of a tasty meal "Sounds terrific!"
Now that the flowers are back, Roquefort examines them in more detail.
Medicine
"These Slushflowers have medical applications as antibacterial agents. The particular strain down here in the icewell has not been studied very much."
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"Oh, thank you!" Saeron exclaims excitedly, as she joins Hemlock to snap a picture or two with the Xenowarden. "They're fantastic! My subscribers will love them," she gushes as she scans over the pic reel.
Licking her lips nervously, Saeron tentatively checks her harness and slowly follows her companions into the well. Every so often, she pauses in her descent to take a picture of the latest item of interest their guide has pointed out.
Eager to see the slushflowers for herself, Saeron joins Roquefort as he inspects the collected samples.
Unable to confirm or refute the others' knowledge of the flowers, she contents herself with capturing some documentary images of the flora. Once completed, she gratefully accepts the warm, hearty meal after the physical stresses of the descent.
The next day Hemlock wakes everyone up early.
“Rise and shine! We have a gnarly change today that should get the adrenaline flowing. A simple fungus, the blackshroud cap mushroom, blooms in this portion of the Ice Well, and it hates light. Out of respect for the blackshroud cap, we need to make this portion of our dive without lights!” Hemlock switches their lantern off and secures it into their pack. “Don’t worry, buddies! I can still see, and if you can’t, I’ll guide you.”
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Alejandro twitches a bit as they begin the first day of decent. But it becomes just a routine like most things and he relaxes, enjoying the slow repetitive motion of rappelling. He begins to look around and finds the well to be fascinating. His voice crackles through the comms once, "I never thought in a million years I'd be doing something like this... for science."
At the base camp he allows the better gifted of them to manage the plant retrieval and such, simply assisting with setting up the hammocks and starting dinner. He mentally chats a bit with Hemlock about non-mission things, life, family, friends, etc...
When the android returns he gives a nod, "Excellent work Data, well done."
After dinner his aching body finally gives in to sleep and he crashes hard. The next day he wakes, a bit sore but ready to go at least. His visor provides all the vision he needs as they begin to rappel again.
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Sleeping soundly through the night, Saeron wakes feeling aches from the previous day's exertions. The excitement of another day in this most unusual of places soon cures her of any ills.
Activating the infrared sensors of her armour, she gives Roquefort a sideways glance as takes her place in the line, waiting to continue their descent.
"I'm sure Hemlock has it covered," she says in reply.
Seeing as how everyone has Darkvision, the PCs manage to repel though the lights out zone with very few difficulties. At one point Hemlock stops and points out a patch of mushrooms.
Those are the black cloud mushrooms dude. Think your Vantage captain would like a sample?
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Dr. Morvius manages to collect three mushrooms with no problems whatsoever.
At the end of the second day, Hemlock lands the group on a fairly large ledge and commends the group.
Well done dudes. You did really well repelling in the dark. i was a bit worried that one of you might biff it and damage some lichen in the area. Stuff is medically worthless but that doesn't mean it deserves to be scrapped off by careless repellers does it. Also, you did super well not over-harvesting those mushrooms, so, super job on that. I really appreciate it.
He then gets to work setting up a fire on his Eco-friendly stove and making some food again.
As you have another supper of surprisingly tasty porridge, you hear a sudden crack and then a weird sound like rolling spheres. Hemlock goes out to investigate.
Scores of oversized eggs with spindly legs and manifold blinking eyes skitter down the Ice Well and scamper across the ledge in single file before leaping into the void. A moment later, a second herd of mobile eggs appear and crawl frantically toward the precipice.
Hemlock looses his mind. He babbles about the precious eggs shouldn’t be doing that and how how this is atypical behavior. He starts telepathically shouting for everyone to help him collect the eggs.
[dice=life science]1d20+11
Dr. Morvius appears to be momentarily confused by this spectacle, then jumps up to help once he realizes what is happening.
"These are sharpwing eggs. Believe it or not, they'll eat food. Try to coax them with food!"