Ignoring the questions from Modern Body and Vyankar, Hermot looks at the others. "Senndi said you could help her. Can you?"
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Uncertain, but possible. Willing to try at the least.
D'zyliit approaches Maija. Kneeling, the shirren looks closely at the marks on her neck as he uses his microlab to take a scan.
Hello Maija. I am 'Diz'. Doctor. Going to take a few scans to determine what is wrong. Please relax. This is not invasive.
The doctor injects himself with a minor serum as he takes and interprets his scans.
D'zyliit thinks it would be possible to remove the augmentation, but he'll need supplies.
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Thank you. Hellih, please keep this directed at her chest. Vyankar: please keep her as steady as possible.
The shirren looks at Maija. Maija, I believe the augment you acquired is defective in some way. I can attempt to remove it, but need your assent. Are you all right with my attempting the procedure?
With Maija's consent, D'zyliit begins the operation. With the help of his companions, the surgery goes extremely well, and you are able to remove the faulty augmentation completely. D'zyliit shows Tanit how to provide long-term care for Maija, keeping her comfortable while the family finds a replacement.
After it becomes clear that his wife will survive, Hermot comes up to Modern Body. "The man who told us about Renew-You is called Shenge. He's kinda shady, but supports the local community. He'd likely know how to find the owners of the clinic. Last I heard, he was living in a nearby workers' lodging camp."
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Agreed D'zyliit says as he cleans his hand and puts away his equipment. Once she rests more, bring Maija to the Lorespire complex. We can install a corrected augmentation - free of charge for you. The shirren turns to look one more time at Maija to make sure she is comfortable and all incisions are properly closed. Despite what the latest tab-vids are saying, the Society does work hard to assist those we can.
D'zyliit also driects his thoughts towards Hellih and Vyankar. Thank you both for your assistance. And supplies Hellih. We may have saved a life today.
Modern Body examines the removed augmentation. He knows that the augmentation was originally a set of adaptive biochains mimicking a respirator compounder. However, the biochains have continued expanding unchecked like cancer within Maija’s lungs. It looks like this failure was due to the corrupted programming of the implant. The biochains had begun expanding into healthy tissue and creating unnecessary cells, draining Maija’s life force in the process. A dark thought comes to him - such an augmentation could reanimate a corpse if the recipient died.
Hermot and his family are extremely thankful to you for saving Maija and while they don't own much, he offers you a few familial trinkets as thanks: a merciful fusion seal , a pair of falcon boots that belonged to a distant ancestor, and a bright gemstone .
--
After you take your leave of the halfling family, you head to Lodging Camp 66. It takes about a half hour before you arrive. Foot traffic is low in this neighborhood, and most of the roughly dressed citizens ignore newcomers and expect to be ignored in return. Short halls connect several basic square lodging units together in simple patterns, while exterior areas with open tables and chairs act as communal gathering points. Few people walk the dirty streets here, and many of the doors are unnumbered with multiple locks installed.
To your immediate north is a personal defense gun shop. A little south of you is a local clinic.
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“Terrible, just terrible. Saying this product needs work before market release is an understatement. The augment keeps growing inside the patient, not unlike a sort of tumor. If left unchecked, it could take over a person, resulting in a “zombie” of sorts, animated or controlled by this technology.” He puts it inside a bag of metallic shards hanging from his waist.
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“If these augments are hurting people, there’s probably no better place to look for them! Let’s move while the trail is hot!” Modern Body moves towards the clinic. If it’s open, he’ll go inside. “Greetings, citizens. Did anyone here have a Renew-You augment installed recently? If so, you may be eligible for compensation!”
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Enhancement augmentations without built in limiters? D'zyliit starts as Modern Body explains the situation. The shirren keeps its broadcast localized to avoid worrying the halflings any further. Extremely troublesome. And radically irresponsible. Whoever installed this is either amateurish...or something worse.
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As they reach the Lodging Camp, D'zyliit communicates telepathically to the group as Modern Body is more...overt in his inquiries. We are looking for the man Shenge. If halfings are hesitant about augmentations, searching for the man instead of those committing to surgeries may get more replies.
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As they walk towards Lodging Camp 66 Hellih throws to the Stephen
"You handled it well. I was reluctant about the kid but you were right. They needed our help."
Or Hellih thinks that he is the most naive person in the whole universe and should not go to the spike or he will be conned hundreds of times.
Modern Body enters the clinic to ask about Renew-You. The small group of people there seem to be suffering from a collection of more mundane aliments. Behind the desk an annoyed man looks up and says "There's no soliciting in here. Beat it." He then returns to his paperwork.
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Vyankar thanks the family for the directions and follows the other Starfinders. He agrees with Diz on the matter of the investigation and replies telepathically: Indeed. Should try not to draw too much attention; if owner of the clinic wanted to disappear, must be reason. Would not want him to flee from us.
The kasatha enters the clinic with Modern and Hellih, toying absent-mindedly with his robes and looking around the room. He tries to help them convince the attendant to talk. "Yes, important matter. Would be grateful for your help."
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Kargarama glances into the gun shop and starts to say something when Modern Body marches off in the direction of the Clinic. He just shrugs his shoulder mumbling under his breath, "No discussion or plan of action." shakes his head and continues to look through the gun shop window. He takes a casual stance and waits while keeping an eye out for any trouble.
"Your friend there sure sounded like one of those infosphere shysters," replies the clerk. "Anyway, I don't know this 'Shenge' you're after."
One of the patients speaks up, an older female ysoki, "What's he done this time? Eh? He lives just over there," she adds, pointing out the window to a small block of apartments. "Ain't seen him around recently though."
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Modern Body approaches and sits down by the ysoki. "Thank you, my good lady! We believe Shenge is using an experimental, possibly faulty new type of augment, which might even be bad for his health. We'll talk to him, see how he is doing. Would you happen to know a shirren couple as well, the male goes by the name Vrisken. You're being very kind and helpful, unlike that rude attendant." he glares at the clerk.
"Oh, I wouldn't know what he's gotten himself into," she says. "Not that anything would surpise me. Hangs with a bad crowd he does."
The area contains six single-occupant dwellings crammed together. Each space is a ten-foot-cube chamber with a single door. Some of the chambers have armored windows, though each of these is covered by posters or shaded over by crude spray paint. A communal restroom unit is located near the center of the accommodations.
You head over, and easily find that the sealed entrance to one of the dwellings bears a battered nameplate that reads “Shenge. No solicitors.”
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Vyankar frowns as Modern takes out his tools. "Do not like this. We are Starfinders, not petty burglars." He looks around at the building, trying to find an alternative way of entering and failing. "Maybe could ask other residents? They would know if Shenge here or not."
Vyankar walks to a nearby apartment and knocks on the door quickly. He waits for the occupant to respond , then begins speaking: "Hello? We Starfinders looking for man named Shenge. He is not answering door. You know where he is?"
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Kargarama nods his head at Vyankar's words. "I agree. We are not the police force. That is what the Stewards are for even though they probably do not even show up in these parts. The point is Shenge even if described as "kinda shady" is a citizen who supports the community but received an augment just like Meija. This is a community and breaking & entering should be a last resort after searching around like at Renew-You. These are apartments and we can ask around, see if there is a manager that may let us in, see if there is a neighbor that has a spare key or even see if he left one in hiding. We should get more info on Shenge and when he was last seen. He may just walk around the corner for all we know."
Kargarama keeps his eyes open and scans the other buildings for any trouble.
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“Abandoned building? That’s just rich! I couldn’t tell by the closed door that I had to force open and barred windows! I guess when you vacate a house anyone can come in and help themselves! I had no idea apostae morals were so spread out over the pact worlds!”
He turns to Kargarama. “Does your landlord give the key to your place to any stranger that comes asking for you? Remind me to never become your neighbor!”
“Watch it, Stephen! You might be arrested for burglarizing!” he points at the halfling.
He finally knocks on the next door over. “Hello, anyone home? Starfinder Society wants a word with you, about Shenge, the upstanding citizen living next door! It’s a health issue, we think he might have installed a faulty augment that made him sick! Could you give us a hand?”, he looks back at the group, shaking his head. “The upstanding citizen that almost got a mother killed…” he mutters to himself, cracking his knuckles.
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“You accuse me of theft, Vyankar? If we weren’t members of the society we would be drawing weapons now.” Modern Body taps the bag full of metal shards hanging from his belt.
“But that’s too late, now - we are here due to my actions, and I wasn’t alone in breaking and entering Renew-You. You are already down to our level, Vyankar. Covered in filth and disgrace. Now, go annoy the neighborhood as well. If that fails, you can turn your back while I enter the house of this criminal. Keep pretending you are better than me.”
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Hellih stands leaning on the wall and listens to the conversation
"I never met a landlord who would not give the keys to six armed individuals."
He simply comments.
As he hears the treats being made, Hellih simply shakes his head
"How about you cool down, leave your anger for the fights that matter."
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“Does your landlord give the key to your place to any stranger that comes asking for you? Remind me to never become your neighbor!”
"I never met a landlord who would not give the keys to six armed individuals."
"You miss the point entirely. We tell the landlord our concerns and ask them to see if Shenge is inside. If he is and needs medical attention then it's dealt with. If he is not there then we go search for him elsewhere." He just shakes his head at the ongoing discussion.
“But that’s too late, now - we are here due to my actions."
"That's part of the problem, Modern Body. We are supposed to be working as a team and you rush off on your own with no concern for anyone else, what they have to say or even discussing ideas and plans. One day you may rush off, get into a spot of trouble and find that the rest of your team is not there backing you up. Teams or units work together and compliment each others weaknesses with their strengths. They come up with a plan of action instead of blindly rushing forth."
As for Shenge being a criminal, where's the proof. From what we know, all he did was try to help Maija by giving her a reference to augmentations. Maybe he didn't know the augmentations were bad. We can discover that when we locate and question him."
He looks around for any nameplates or signs that indicate a Manager's Office.
No answer comes from Shenge's apartment, and Modern Body hears nothing from inside. The door locked, but doesn't look difficult to get passed.
A quick scan of the other "apartments" doesn't uncover anything that looks like a manager or landlord office. Most likely they have better accommodations elsewhere.
Vyankar knocks on one of the neighboring units and is greeted by a grubby looking dwarf in coveralls. "Shenge? Haven't seen him." He sniffs the air. "Don't stick around too long or you'll get caught in that gods awful stench." But as they shut their door, the local air recyclers kick on and a rank odor fills the area.
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“Career advice from a grunt, that’s all that was missing from my life! Have you any idea how many people I have helped and saved throughout my career, Kargarama? Here’s something you might have forgotten from your days in the veskarium army: a mismatched group requires strong leadership. And I don’t see anyone stronger than me around.” Modern Body stretches his arms, yawning, an obvious display of his impressive physique.
“Concerning Shenge’s “good intentions”... you do know what they say about good intentions, don’t you? And all I can see is that if we didn’t step up, a family would be without a mother. Perhaps said mother might even rise as a mindless undead and cause even more harm. Who knows who else Shenge has hurt or killed? He’ll pay for all of this. I’ll make sure.”
Modern Body watches as the neighborhood interrogations turn out blank. He’s got a wide smile on his face.
“Well, I’ll give you an E for effort. Now if you don’t mind, we have an actual job to do. If you don’t want to be a part of this, look away, or take a walk. I’m sure there’s a squox stuck in a tree in a park somewhere, waiting for a paladin of justice to arrive…” he grabs his engineering tools again.
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As Modern Body moves to continue his efforts to crack the door, D'zyliit lays a claw lightly on Vyankar's shoulder. Thinking directly to the kasatha, he counsels: Understand concern. And you're right: half-elf is reckless and blunt. But trail is cold everywhere else, and other options tried and failed. We're here -we'll ensure nothing is taken or touched if Shenge not here.