As the elevator doors open, steps out a rather small height kasatha. He is wearing a travel clothing, he is limping just a big and he is leaning on his cane. The cane has a Besmara symbol as a holder. On his back, he has a backpack and a sniper rifle. On the side of his head, he has a tattoo that continous on his neck which represents a spider.
As he walks towards the doors, he is surprised to see them closed.
When the other agent shows he speaks:
"They call me Spider."
And he shakes their hands, or hand if they have only 2 of them.
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A rarity among the Pact Worlds, much less the Starfinder Society, one of your companions is a living-and-breathing elebrian - a native of Eox who isn't an undead. Despite the fact that he wraps his body in black and dark brown leather strips, even moreso wrapping his enlarged cranium up as if wearing a turban, he isn't fully able to hide his cultural heritage.
He stays off to the side of the briefing room, seeming to sigh as if bored. He keeps as much of his skin covered at all times - usually just leaving the area around his eyes open when his armor's environmental seals aren't active. He doesn't appear to have much weaponry on him except for a snub-nosed sonic pistol with a bayonet bracket on it...or else the rest carefully concealed among all those layers of wrapped cloth.
When people are offering greetings, he just sighs a bit and shrugs, offering two meager words: "Name's Oz."
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The doors to the conference slide open with a soft pneumatic hiss. Inside is a well-lit and nicely carpeted conference room. Venture-Captain Arvin, a handsome and determined-looking damaya lashunta stands at the door motioning you all to enter. As you all file in, he nods to each of you. After a heartbeat or two after the last of you enter, he pushes a button to close the conference room doors, and then moves to stand in front of the table , his eyes riveted on a holographic display of a shifty-eyed Star finder agent slowly revolving in it. ”Be seated if you like, although this shouldn’t take long.” Arvin taps a button on a console and a small display appears. He murmurs to a digital assistant, “Croyd, put everything on hold for a few minutes. If anyone calls, please explain I’m in mission briefing and I’ll get right back to them.” He then darkens the digital assistant display to give you his full attention.
“Right. I have an assignment for you. This one is a little a different than others you might have received.” He pauses before he explains, “It’s an internal matter."
"You’re probably aware that after the Scoured Stars incident many of our colleagues elected to leave the Society. That is unfortunate, but not surprising. We hate to lose good field agents, but no one is conscripted into our ranks. Normally we wish them well and that’s that. In this case, the defector, former field agent Reynald Talbot,” he motions to the holographic display of the man, ” stole an artifact from the Lorespire Complex before departing. Theft is where the Society draws the line; I need you to get that artifact back." He gives you a hard look. Those of you who have met Arvin before recognizes that he is very irritated about this.
“Unfortunately, Talbot left a couple of weeks ago and we only discovered the theft in the last 24 hours. We launched an immediate investigation to determine the identity of the thief and their last known whereabouts. It’s our bad luck that Talbot was smart enough to get off the station and head to Akiton, where there’s no central government or law enforcement to easily call upon. I need you to track him down and recover the artifact. We know Talbot caught a shuttle to the Akitonian city of Maro, so that’s a great place to start. The Society will, of course, cover your travel expenses.”
You know basic information about the Pact World of Akiton. It is smaller than the Golarion standard with ×1/3 gravity and a thin atmosphere. This means non-acclimated people, like you, can jump three times as high and carry three times the normal weight, although you gain no additional movement speed. Likewise, unless you wear any type of armor, you must succeed at hourly Fortitude saves or become fatigued. You also know Akiton suffered an economic crash when the revelation of Drift technology rendered the numerous pre-Drift fuels mined on Akiton virtually worthless.
Akiton is generally lawless, except for whatever laws a local authority might impose. Akiton survives on trade and commerce. Strangers find loyalty hard to come by, especially in the big cities. Newcomers are consequently likely to be observed and watched, especially if an organization believes it can take advantage of the strangers. If Talbot acted or did anything at all out of the ordinary, someone is likely to have noticed. To avoid being found, it is unlikely he stayed in Maro for more than a few days.
Wealth is hard to come by on Akiton. If Talbot fled to the red planet, he did so for a reason. It’s likely the ex-Starfinder had a plan, and that plan involved gaining a large number of credits. Given Akiton’s unstable economy, such a surge should be identifiable for those who “follow the money.”
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Just before the Venture-Captain opens the door comes in a tall, slender android with a crest of auburn hair falling lazily on his shoulders. Contrary to some androids who try to mimic the features of humans or other species, this one clearly deliberately lets his mechanical nature show: circuitry pulsates with a soft blue glow along his arms and runs down his neck, and mechanical hinges can be made out beneath the pale, translucent skin of his limbs. The android casts a quick circular gaze across the waiting room and waves a curt greeting.
"Room #213... Yeah, that's it."
Rather than taking one of the chairs, the android leans against the wall, one hand in a pocket of his stained cargo pants, the other toying with a clockwork device floating in the air in front of him. He speaks to the assembled Starfinders, eyeing the group with interest:
"Spider, Meia, Oz." he nods by way of greeting. "Nice to meet y'all. I'm Helios-4, by the way." He frowns, looking at the empty table. "Had hoped there'd be refreshments. Oh well."
"Liquids and gum usually don't mix so well, old friend", she jokes.
"Spare me the lecture, grandma, he spits back with a sly grin. "Good to see you again, furball."
Helios enters the briefing room and greets the Venture-Captain.
"Hey cap'n. Long time no see."
The android listens closely to the briefing despite his laisser-aller attitude. Suddenly, his jaw drops at the mention of Akiton.
"You gotta be kidding me." He turns his back to Arvin briefly and clenches his teeth. After taking a deep breath, he turns back, the circuits on his face now giving off a red glow. "So much for writing in my dossier never to send me back there." The android paces around nervously before adding: "This artifact better be bloody important."
Sensing an uncomfortable gaze from the VC, Helios tries to calm himself down and listens to the rest of the briefing in silence.
Helios grimaces when prompted for information. "Bleh, I'll send y'all some info." Upon saying so, he sends a very basic file containing information about the red planet on your comm units.
"What exactly is this artifact? Is it magical or somethin'?
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Leaning on her cane in the corner of the room, an old ysoki greets everyone with a nod as they arrive and carefully listens at each of their introductions with wise eyes. When Helios-4 enters the room hoping for refreshments, the frail humanoid smiles.
"Liquids and gum usually don't mix so well, old friend", she jokes.
She then looks around before introducing herself: "I'm Twang. Don't worry, my old age won't be a burden to the team! This grandma knows her stuff more than most of you younglings."
Twang enters the room last and looks around before listening to the Captain attentively.
"Akiton... I spent a lot of time there in my youth working as a barmaid. Seems like our thief is a greedy one. I'll send you what I know about this planet on your comm units."
Twang types something on her own comm unit before turning to Helios-4: "Bad memories? You wanna share your burden with an old rat?"
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Taking in the info, Oz just...sighs.
In response to hearing Helios's reaction to their assignment, Oz's eyes actually take on a kinder look for a very brief instant. "Best to leave him be...I've got a 'no assignments to Eox' in my file, and that got ignored, too. Just goes to show what happens when Jadnura's not the one in charge I guess."
"Let him work out the frustration however he wants...or he may end up shooting a tv camera or something."
...
"Not that I've maybe done that, or anything..."
sigh
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Spider nods to Helios-4 and Twang. Apparently two aliens that comes from Akiton. It is a good planet, decent to do some money laundry, Catsial has done some legal work to drag a few artifacts bough from black market to make them 'clean'. Money can do wonders on Akiton and this is a feature that Spider likes them most.
"Let him work out the frustration however he wants...or he may end up shooting a tv camera or something."
"Shooting the camera! I knew I saw you somewhere. Pact World Warriors! You were on one of the shows. Oh, that was a funny one!" Spider is clearly excited to connect those facts.
"Captain do we know why Talbot left Starfinder Society? Our ranks are not lacking in smugglers and pirates but most of them are not stealing from society."
He begins to look through the information shared by the others.
"As much as Talbot presence was noted the same could happen with ours." shares as his two hands hold datapad, third is scratching his chin and fourth is drumming on the table.
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"Do we know of any known associates that he has that might be in the area? He was a starfinder."
Arvin looks to Meia, ”Talbot was mainly a loner, though he is smart, capable and a bit brash. As a field agent he was a reasonable one. Knowing that, it is likely he won’t have any known associate that we know of helping him. But he is pretty charismatic, and was even being looked at to eventually becoming a venture-captain. So be prepared for whatever he is up to there to have dragged others into his scheme.”
"What exactly is this artifact? Is it magical or somethin'?
Avrin smiles at Helios-4’s question and nods ”Good question, but the answer is complicated because it is actually two questions: ‘What the artifact is’, and ‘What Talbot thinks it is’. We are going to operate under the assumption that Talbot thinks he’s stolen an object from old Golarion called a philosopher’s stone. Legend has it that the stone could transmute matter, among other properties. What Talbot actually stole was something that Royo and Chiskisk had just recently reclassified as a charlatan’s stone. Apparently those two found out via trial and error that the items it transmutes is only temporary—depending the material and amount transmuted. They believe that its power is more in the order of a very potent illusion than a real transmutation. We think ancient con artists used it to make false gold.”
"Captain do we know why Talbot left Starfinder Society? Our ranks are not lacking in smugglers and pirates but most of them are not stealing from society."
Turning to look at Spider, Arvin answers, ” Going back to what I mentioned to Meia, Talbot believed he was very likely on the fast track in being promoted to a venture-captain. When the Forum convened to start looking at prospective venture-captains, they put in his file that he needed more time as they felt he was still a bit too rash. We believed he found out what they said in his record and got angry, and that this theft was his retaliation.”
Spider nods to the answer that he got. Hurt pride can make for a dangerous enemy. If Talbot is as resourceful as Arvin speaks it could not be an easy task to pin him down.
"So the mission is to get the artifact right? Do you want us to bring Talbot back? " clarifies kasatha
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Arvin gives Spider a thousand meter stare for a second, ” Your mission is to get the stone back. Talbot’s not worth the expense of the oxygen to be dragged back here, so you can do whatever you think is necessary with him. That said, you do not have a license to go on a mass killing spree. Do not make the Society look bad here…though it might be tough to do on Akiton, do not take this as a challenge. “
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Helios nods silently, taking in the information from the briefing. He dismisses his fellow Starfinders' concern with the back of his hand as he types some info on his datapad. "If there are TV cameras they sure as hell won't be pointing at me for long. But don't worry, that's just incentive for me to get off this rat-hole fast as I can."
The android sighs and puts his hands in his pockets. "Well. No point in lingering here." he nods to the lashunta in a stiff motion, eyes still filled with frustration, and walks out of the room. "I'll be waiting at the docks." he shouts without turning back.
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Arvin nods and dismisses you all, telling you to be at Docking bay 71 in two hours, as that will give you enough time to grab new gear if you need to.
Getting to the ship, a decently maintained Starfinder vessel, you get ready for lift-off. As it takes 2 days to get to Akiton (as it is relatively close to Absalom Station right now in its orbit), you have time to talk to each other if you want to.
As you get within sight of Akiton, you see though the observation windows a world the color of blood, rust, and red clay. A thick shell of white caps both poles of the planet. As the shuttle descends toward the planet, a perceptible shift in gravity occurs as the ship’s artificial gravity begins to weaken and the planet’s natural gravity begins to take hold, as it is less than what the artificial gravity was maintaining.
From suborbital heights, a handful of small towns, large complexes, and industrial sites that spew noxious fumes into the thin atmosphere surround the trench city of Maro. A spidery web of dirt roads scratched into the rust-colored ground by regular traffic connects these sites to the metropolis.
Maro, the so-called City of Lights itself, comes into view as the ship begins its final descent. The city occupies more of a vertical space than horizontal, built into a six-mile-long section of trench that is half as deep and a half mile wide. Entire neighborhoods and business districts are built into the walls, accessed by patio entrances. Lights, neon signs, and holographic advertising bejewel either side of this urban canyon, while an active spaceport and industrial zones occupy the ground level. As the shuttle lands, it does so beneath the backdrop of an immense mural of brightly glowing neon-green graffiti that reads in Common: “Git Out! Planet’s Broke!”
As you get ready to exit, you see that while Akiton is known for being broke, they still need to bring items in like foodstuffs and essential items that they might not be able to construct here. Dockworkers—almost all without mechanical means like forklifts or jacks—move crates and machinery around through brute force and manpower.
Spider takes his belongings to the docks and boards the ship. He is never leaving his cane behind which helps him walk. When hearing Twang questions Spider looks at her for the moment before responding
"If we catch Talbot alive, I see no reason to kill him. I would vote to let him loose. But during the confrontation, we might be forced to kill him. Let us see how the situation develops on the ground."
Beside chatting during flight Spider spends considerable amount of time looking at different races living on Akiton. Especially Shobhads, hey analyze their way of speaking and moving. Few times you see how he prepares a synthetic mask that he could wear to change his appearance.
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As the group arrives at the docks, Helios is already walking around the ship, examining the hull and thrusters. The android has donned his armor and holstered a laser rifle ostensibly at his hip. Without turning away from the ship, he begins to speak:
"Been hired to make a test run for this baby's precursor a few years ago. Half-decent ship, if you ask me. Propulsion is good, but I do hope weaponry's been updated from the first model line." With a shrug, he boards the ship and immediately mans the pilot chair.
Bleh, had I known they'd send me back on this bloody rock I'd have stayed in bed today. To hell with it! T'least I probably won't see any old faces in Maro.
During the flight, Helios can mostly be seen running scans on the bridge, tinkering with tech stuff or working down in engineering. He rarely speaks to the crew for the first day, seemingly trying to deal with his anger, but opens up a bit on the second day. Walking in on Twang and Spider discussing, Helios grabs a chair and listens before chiming in:
"Yeah. We might not have a choice." the android ponders. "Though I ain't so sure I'd let him go; if he's half the man Arvin painted him to be he might be trouble for the Society in the future. Arvs said not to go on a killing spree, but that doesn't mean we can't make sure he doesn't bother us anymore."
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Twang listens carefully to her squad members, leaning on her cane like always.
"I'm sorry to agree with Helios-4 on this one. In my many years of experience, I crossed paths with a lot of greedy men like Talbot. This guy is smart and has many connections, it would be too dangerous to let him roam freely in the Pact Worlds. He would be up to no good in no time."
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Twang listens carefully to her squad members, leaning on her cane like always.
"I'm sorry to agree with Helios-4 on this one. In my many years of experience, I crossed paths with a lot of greedy men like Talbot. This guy is smart and has many connections, it would be too dangerous to let him roam freely in the Pact Worlds. He would be up to no good in no time."
Spider listens to the opinions shared. He now knows at least where they stand. He himself was a thief, but maybe with less luck than Talbot. He wonders if he would steal from Starfinder Society. If he would, then at least he knew what would await him.
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Noticing the absence of answer from Spider, Twang turns towards him and explains with a caring tone:
"Don't get me wrong, I understand your opinion on the matter. In other circumstances, I would have agreed with you, but Talbot seems to know the dark scum ways and with his connections, I would be worried about our safety if we let him loose after hitting his pride like we're about to do."
Twang spaced out for five seconds, fixing her hands tightly pressed against her cane, before adding with a severe tone:
"I lived a pretty full life. I hung out with good and bad crowds throughout the years, but my time on Akiton, among others, taught me a lot about the... 'lower' community. I was young, naive, reckless and stubborn. And yes, I confess: I witnessed and partook in countless thefts like this for different gangs.
Don't make the mistake of judging Talbot like any other thief. He gathered a lot of information throughout his years in the Starfinder Society, and knowledge is the most dangerous weapon. Also, he didn't steal something simple like money, weapons, or a ship, he targeted a dangerous artifact for an unknown purpose. He knew exactly where to hide, and he may be connected to pretty dangerous criminal organizations. If we take the artifact back, Talbot will obviously get mad and who knows how he'll take vengeance upon us.
I may not know you so well, but I care about this team and I don't want any of you to get hurt later because of this mission."
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"Shooting the camera! I knew I saw you somewhere. Pact World Warriors! You were on one of the shows. Oh, that was a funny one!" Spider is clearly excited to connect those facts.
Oz just narrows his eyes, but you think you can hear teeth clenching and grinding under those wrapped layers.
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"No plan survives first contact...with anything, really. Just look what happened when we went to the Scoured Stars. Let's get him first, then figure out what to do about him. If he's stupid enough to steal an artifact and think he can get away with it, he might not leave us with any options other than a bullet."
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As you get ready to exit, you see that while Akiton is known for being broke, they still need to bring items in like foodstuffs and essential items that they might not be able to construct here. Dockworkers—almost all without mechanical means like forklifts or jacks—move crates and machinery around through brute force and manpower.
You all realize that trying to find Talbot in this might require some kind of talking to people and maybe greasing a few palms. So....where to and what next? There are people at the space landing port, there are numerous bars and dives, and street urchins galore.
Spider leaves the ship saying
"Let us meet in 6 hours in that canteen over there. During that time let us try to get some info on Talbot."
Spider begins his search, at first he goes to the nearest bar and attempts to get in contact with and the gang that is controlling docks. He attempts to recruit them into looking for artifacts on Akiton, as an black marketer he can resell some of the things that they can supply him with.
Later on casually he asks if they didn't hear about his compliance a human traveling under Talbot name. He was sent to Akiton to get in contact with the gang but disappeared. Spider wishes to get information while talking his way through the Akitonian dock underground.
After the 6 hour mark Spider comes back to the designated spot.
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"Yeah. See y'all in a bit."
Helios walks away, slightly sulking, and wanders aimlessly in the city for a while, stopping at a belvedere on the side of the ravine cloaked in shadows to stare at the bottom of the city. Having some respite from the sultry air, he looks at the dockworkers, working their pants off, struggling to make ends meet, perhaps dreaming of a future that will never be theirs.
The android shakes his head and enters a nearby pub, sitting at a table in the corner. He orders a dry gin and pulls out a datapad to search the local infosphere. As he leans back, he tries to recall the most famous gangs and corporations from his time on Akiton, trying to find who could have helped Talbot in any way.
His research does not prove overly fruitful, and he shortly returns to the meeting point designated by Spider.
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Twang nods at Spider's idea before strolling the streets around the canteen.
As she wandered around, the old ysoki tried to remember her time on Akiton. Some flashbacks made her smile, others brought tears up to her eyes. She recollected her past acquaintances, colleagues and friends, making her wonder what happened to some of them, and tried to list all the criminal organizations that she either worked for or heard of on Akiton. The memories of her troublesome youth caused a wave of nostalgia in her old heart.
Those were some good times... But now I need to focus!
Twang ditched the emotional part of her memories and switched to a fully logical approach, making lists of all the shady people, shady businesses and black market she once knew about. From there, she began to think:
Who could be interested in such an artifact? Where could Talbot be doing business?
After two hours, she came back to the 'Rusty Sprocket' to meet with her colleagues.
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You all head out to canvas Maro, to see what you can hear or learn about Talbot.
Helios-4, all you can remember is that the biggest homegrown corporation is VitariTech that survived the thasteron bust. The corporation is very shady, and survived thanks to the virtually nonexistent research regulations. If Talbot where there however, you would likely have zero chance of getting the artifact back, or finding Talbots body, come to think about it. Thinking this is very likely a rabbit hole that you really don’t want to go farther into, you finish your gin and head back to the canteen.
Spider, your look into the gangs that controls the docks is mostly successful. They don’t know of anything about any artifacts, unless you are talking about something on one of the ships that crashed near Khefak Depot. Though that is over a week away, and as one of the gangers says, ”just a tourist trap, nothing worth looking in those derelicts”. When talking to them about Talbot, you are directed to a ‘reputable’ man selling guns out of a hover cart that usually hears a thing or two. After a few moments looking at the weapons, you remark to him about looking for a strange black haired human that might have came around here. After a few small micro-transactions, he looks at you and says, ”Look here, you didn’t hear this from me, but a guy resembling what you said came to me not two weeks ago, asking if I could remove the identifiers on his gun. Wasn’t anything special, a simple static arc pistol, but he was worried that people would identify it. After a few credits, I just swapped him one of mine for his. Heh, it was a decent transaction. He did mention something as he left saying he needed to get out of Maro, needing a place to lay low, I told him about a town called Tasch. Why if you want to lose yourself and still be near the spaceport in Maro, that is as good as a place as you can go. Lots of old buildings and mines out there.”
Twang, you remember an old—well for a ikeshti old—congregant that ‘retired’ back to Akiton after doing some work with the Free Captains. Hilix was her name, and she ‘retired’ to be an infomonger, collecting information like a dragon collects artwork. You don’t have her comm number, but spending a little time tracking down other contacts you finally get to her place near the top of the ravine.
Finding her, you see her living quarters are quite luxurious, with her sitting on top of a seat you swore is the captain’s chair of a Idaran Voidrunner, smoking some noxious weed. After a few pleasantries, the subject of information is brought up.
”Ahh, the little mouseling comes to Hilix, wanting something now. Let’s see, normally that would cost you quite a few credits, almost enough to get the rest of this ship,” she scoffs while thumping the armrest,”Buuutttt, I do owe you for that one social save back then. So this is free if you agree to cross off that debt. I heard of a man, calling himself Talbot of all names, wanting to find a good place to hide out and try something. He didn’t say what he wanted to do, but I heard that somebody told him Tasch should be a good place to hide. And whoever told that is right, that place is mostly human and ysoki with shobhads coming in from their nomadic life to trade a little, and a few even staying. He should fit right in, and have plenty of places to find a hidey-hole. Just realize those people are dour and sullen, not much work is left in that old town. It is a couple of hours out of town via vehicle. Rent one, or find a ride into town would be best, as I can see you are not adjusted to the thin air here...or is that age I see on your white whiskers?” She laughs a weird coughing hiss, though you are certain her hiss used to have less coughing.
After a couple of hours you all get back to the Sprocket, and meet up.
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Spider limps into the bar around the time that they agreed upon. He orders a drink: 'Minner's sorrow' and sits at the table with his allies.
He takes a sip and chills run down his spine.
"That has a kick, and nothing else. I wonder... Ok, I found a guy that can get you unregistered weapons. He recalls a gentleman wishing to wipe serial number from his pistol that wanted to lay low for a moment. The gun merchant gave him a new gun in exchange for the old and suggested to lay low in Tasch. A small town not far from Maro."
He looks at his allies wondering what they discovered.
"And one more thing, don't buy this drink."
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As she arrives at the Canteen, Twang spots her friends, smiles at them and sits. She listens carefully at Spider before adding:
"I made the same discoveries. Tasch is a poor town filled with humans, ysokis and shobhads merchants. It's only a couple hours away if we find a vehicle."
She then laughs silently through her whiskers before adding with a wink:
"You should try the 'Holy Black Hole' next time, a local must. I know my drinks; I've been a barmaid my whole life after all. "
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Oz would be able to confirm what Twang and Spider have found out, and Oz also recalls that Tash had a lot of thasteron mines before the bust. And without any direction, trying to find a specific person in those mines would almost be impossible.
As it sounds like you all agree to head out there, it is pretty easy to take a commuter shuttle out to Tash. It costs just a couple of dozen credits for you all, though you are all certain that Arvin will reimburse you for something like this.
An elongated buggy type bus takes you from Maro into the red dunes of Akiton’s surface. It takes about 2 hours, the bus stopping a couple of times to drop off or pick up an Akiton resident as it maneuvers out of the city limits of Maro into the peripheral towns.
The buggy gets to another town, and you all can easily see the Welcome sign, almost all of the words in a bleached out blue color.
Both ‘modifications’ appear to be done in the same red lettering.
The long dusty road running though the town of Tasch is lined with single-story dwellings,. Some of the powered vehicles you see are obviously not working: some are on blocks as their tires are missing, hoods open with the engine laying on the ground nearby. The ones that appear working are often chained to the owner’s home. You are dropped off next to a small general store that is in the center of the town. Another building nearby appears to be full of locals, the signpost reads “Digger’s Dive”. It is clearly the towns watering hole of a bar. Although the sun beats down on this desert town, its citizens that meander into and out of the bar seem to be in good cheer. Most you see are ysoki and humans, though the lumbering shape of a four-armed shobhad mingles among them.
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Spider leaves the buggy like a bus and looks around. He eyes the bar and a general store later turning at his allies
"So where to? Everyone knows that we are here already. "
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Helios disembarks from the shuttle, breathes deeply and takes the scenery in with a hand on his forehead to shield himself from the sun.
"That's Akiton for you: sandholes all over the place with bugger all to do, and people buzz all over, working their asses off with half a shovel and two swigs of whiskey." The android spits on the ground and crosses his arms. "Well, let's find our man, shall we?"
Helios acknowledges Twang's suggestion. "Mmyeah. I could use another drink, too. Y'coming?"
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Faint electric lights dangle from the ceiling, while the open sky is visible from cracks between the planks that serve as a roof. The floor is solid wood. The interior walls and ceiling supports are mud brick, the latter being carved in a rare attempt at ornamentation.
The tavern is divided in two halves by an energy field with an opening on the northern end. The bar lining the southern wall is open to either side, with a wall of half-empty bottles behind it. The tables are wooden and makeshift, but solid. The east end has square wooden platform about a foot above the floor. Two sets of double doors are built into the northern and southern walls on the west end, both ajar. A single closed door provides an exit behind the west end of the bar.
Several miners and their families occupy the bar. A sharp-tongued ysoki bartender slings drinks behind the bar, though even the least alcohol savvy of you easily see that her ‘mixing’ is usually just combining two different liquids—and often not stirring or shaking them.
As you all walk into the bar, you all see on the stage a dark skinned human singing a song with a simple banjo like guitar.
Song being sung quietly in the corner
As the ysoki sees you come in her high—but slightly gravely—voice chimes up ”What’s up Newbs! Come here to Tasch to see our resurgence from a dying town!? First drinks on the house, thanks to Talbot!”
As she says Talbot’s name, a lot of people lift their cups up and say ”Here, here“, or ”To Talbot!”, or just ”TALBOT!”’
Yeah, you can see almost everybody doing that, but maybe give me a to notice more……
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The android walks into the bar, casting a circular glance across the patrons before deciding on a stool as far as possible from the man with a banjo. On the mention of free drinks he smirks, though his smile falters at the mention of Talbot. He looks uneasily at his fellow Starfinders before approaching the innkeep:
"Do tell, we've just arrived in Tasch. Wassup with this 'resurgence' stuff?"
Spider limps into the bar following Helios-4.
When he began to order at bartender
"May I have a drink, Twang what was it?"
He got a drink before he said the name. It was strong and it was in a glass. Spider made a sour face that was mostly hidden under his mask.
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Twang smiles at the bartender as she enters the bar. Her eyes sparkle subtly at the mention of Talbot's name. She looks around out of habit, quickly scannning her environment, before following Helios-4.
Bartenders in crappy towns can get away with anything... I'd show him what a real mix is if I didn't need to focus on this mission. What a shame for the profession, ponders the old ysoki, hiding her discontent behind a polite smile.
When he began to order at bartender
"May I have a drink, Twang what was it?"
The old ysoki, proud that someone asks for her opinion in her domain of expertise, answers with a giggle:
"The 'Holy Black Hole'. But since you seem to prefer sweeter stuff, I suggest you try the 'Jasmin Drop'. It usually is a young bachelorette drink, but you do you and no one's here to judge. However, bartenders are quick here, so you better order faster next time. Or wait until we're back in the city."She then turns to the bartender and asks with a wink:
"I'll take a simple shot of whisky. Don't water it down, I'll know."
She swallows the shot in one gulp as if it is water. Her attention then turns towards the bartender, waiting for his answer to Helios-4's question.
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The ysoki listens to everybody’s order of drinks—and pulls out random bottles—if the same 2 bottles count as random—mixes one or the other bottle with either tonic water, cola or a sour syrup for your drinks….yeah, you are not getting what you ordered. If you wanted something sweet, it was a rum and cola, if you wanted something straight, you got a bourbon neat, and if it was something exotic you got bourbon and sour syrup.
"Do tell, we've just arrived in Tasch. Wassup with this 'resurgence' stuff?"
”Resurgence! You haven’t heard???? Well, we got lucky here, real lucky for poor Tasch. We used to be a big supplier of thasteron until the bust…dang the Triune for giving Drift travel. Thasteron isn’t used for Drift engines, it isn’t ‘powerful’ enough fuel. Drift fuel—there are a few types from what I hear—is pretty rare, and quite valuable. Well, Talbot,” the ysoki says, and again the bar rings out with and such, as she continues,”came here saying he could help us. He had this device with him that could trans-e-mute thasteron into drift fuel, make it more energetic, and it did.”
One of the patrons near you, a male orc miner from the looks of things, smiles and says, ”Yeah, Podswald here,” nodding towards the ysoki bartender, ”is correct, and Talbot even started the process of making a big sale I hear, lots of money for this drift fuel. Money is a-flowing again here in ol’ Tasch, and will for a long time. I bet that ol’ mine hasn’t seen that kind of traffic in a century or more! “
As you all eye the bar, Oz, Spider and Twang see over in the corner (i.e. the south east side on the maps), a slightly out-of-place sight. A shirren is sitting in the corner wearing a grey-white suit with a drink in his hand, but not actually drinking, and two vesk bodyguards stand against the wall keeping an eye on the bar.
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Helios looks down at what was served to him with a frown, then takes a gulp. He makes a face and puts the glass down immediately.
Oh, how I did NOT miss akitonian bourbon. T'least Twang used to make better drinks.
The android wipes his mouth with his forearm, listening to the folks.
"Mmyeah, you and every other bloody mining town on Akiton. It's been what -- three hundred years? -- since the Drift was revealed. And you're telling me you still chasing the hope thasteron's gonna magically become valuable again? Yech." Helios gulps down the rest of his drink and shakes his head as if to forget the taste. "Pitiful. Get on with the damn times, man."
How many generations have they wasted!? They'd give up Drift travel and all the opportunities it gave us for a chance to earn a few creds. Too stubborn to try anything new, and crying out loud like the children they are. We'll all be buried ten feet under the sand before anything ever changes on this damned planet.
The android's train of thought is interrupted by his allies eyeing the shirren in the corner of the bar. Helios tries to recognize him, and carefully lowers his hand next to his rifle.
Spider takes a drink and looks through the people there.
He approaches some table and begins to ask
"Hey, I am new here looking for work. The rumors have it that your mine is prospering well. Can you tell me something about it? And who is that Shirren over there? Do you usually have Shirrens here with bodyguards?"
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Twang judges the bartender's "skills" for a while, hardly keeping a poker face.
If I didn't have a cover to keep, I'd gladly hop behind this stupid bar to teach this incompetent how to do his job. Heck, I knew my drinks before I could climb my way up stools! I asked for a shot of whisky, a simple, pure shot, not even a mix! You take the bottle, pour it in a tiny glass, et voilà! What kind of dumbass doesn't know what a bottle of whisky looks like? And he dares call himself a bartender... How can he have clients? Are people here all tasteless? Poor citizens... If this is the only bar in town, they don't have much of a choice, she keeps grumbling in her head.
The experienced barmaid takes a deep breath as she realizes that her hatred towards the bartender messed with her focus on the mission. She spots the odd shirren and his bodyguards as she surveys the bar.
Seeing Spider wandering around alone, asking risky questions, she decides to come to his aid.
"Please excuse my young friend here. He can be very nosy and talkative when he drinks. That shirren must be important to be guarded like that. Is he the owner of some parts of the mines? If so, maybe he could give us some work."
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Oz grumbles at the overly happy folk at the bar, grinding his teeth together at the kitschy music.
Song being sung quietly in the corner
Hearing Spider's words fall out of his mouth like Oz fell off the rope during his time on Pact World Warriors, his grumbling continues reminiscent of an annoyed freight train as he shuffles over to join the pair, slapping a hand on Spider's shoulder (not hard but none-too-gently either) as if to help "excuse" his awkwardness while lending credence to the story they're crafting.
"The kid's had a few too many before we got here. Keeps a long sippy-straw concealed somewhere under those scarves, I'd bet. Sorry about that, 'boss."
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And you're telling me you still chasing the hope thasteron's gonna magically become valuable again? Yech." Helios gulps down the rest of his drink and shakes his head as if to forget the taste. "Pitiful. Get on with the damn times, man."
The orc looks at Helios a little blearily. For being early evening, the orc is definitely a few sheets into the wind so to speak. ”Get over the fact that the Triune made Drift travel, and bankrupted this planets whole econonmy? Why should we? Triune hasn’t done us no favors lad. And you should know it.”
Spider approaches another set of miners, and really seems to not hit it off, but before things go any further Twang and Oz smooth it over. Though it seemed that the female didn’t take offense, but the male was starting to.
That shirren must be important to be guarded like that. Is he the owner of some parts of the mines? If so, maybe he could give us some work."
The human male looks at the kasatha one more time before turning more to Twang and Oz, and nodding his head towards the Shirren with the vesk bodyguards. ”Him? No, he isn’t an owner of the mines. Not certain who he is, but I hear he is from Abadarcorp. The rumor is that Talbot just completed a shipment of the Drift fuel to some of Abadarcorp’s fleet, and that is where Tasch got a windfall.”
Oz notices that the Shirren seems to have caught on a little that he was being talked about. One of the Vesk seems to nod and start to non threatening walk towards you small group. As he gets to the force field partition, he nods and waves Oz, Spider and Twang to come closer.
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”Get over the fact that the Triune made Drift travel, and bankrupted this planets whole econonmy? Why should we? Triune hasn’t done us no favors lad. And you should know it.”
Helios, paying no mind to the bartender who slides a second drink on the table, chugs the drink in one swift motion and bangs the glass back on the table, leaning forward, eyes wide open.
"Yes! Yes, exactly! Triune hasn't done you any favors! So what? You're gonna spend your life in this @%?thole, wallowing while you dig your own grave back there in the mine, crying to the gods to apologize for taking your precious little life? There's dozens of planets out there full of opportunities, and you're gonna stay here forever asking yourself why it had to be you? For all your crying, Triune's never gonna give your old life back!"
The android looks around and realizes a few of the patrons have fallen silent during his outburst, and that he is standing up, towering above the orc miner still in his seat. With a dismissive wave of the hand, he adds a short "I rest my case" before heading over to where the rest of the party is meeting with a Vesk, bumping into a few stools and patrons on the way.