Skrivix casts Mind Thrust on the nearest target and launches himself further into the room.
"The jokes might be more painful than our shots! Hope you like 'em!"
Rafelo groans in pain as Skrivvix blasts his mind, and Shovyzam shouts as Talc critically shoots her. "They're coming from both sides!" Rafelo yells. He points at Talc. "Get 'em!" he says as he fires on the soldier. Shenvyzam shoots at Talc as well but misses.
Karyn shoots Tillik as the operative comes around the corner, entangling him. Despite this, he manages to shoot her with his icy pistol.
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Harrac hears the sounds of battle but can't see anything helpful. He moves along the wall and flings himself across to the couch. He sees the other team as he goes sailing by and calls out, "Come give me a hug sister!" There's a sudden force as much of the air in the room is sucked toward Harrac. His friends feel it pass around them but hopefully Shovyzam and Tallik find themselves drawing closer.
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"My normal reserves are out. I am working on backup solutions"
Rei reaches into her beltpack and retrieves her spare battery, sucking the life out of it as she once again boosts herself.
{A}Energize Spell
{A}Cast Supercharge Weapon on self
Once per day as a move action, you can use a battery or a weapon’s power cell to power your spellcasting, enabling you to cast one spell you know without using a spell slot. This expends 20 charges per spell level from the battery or power cell and requires you to touch the battery, power cell, or weapon. You must cast the spell before the start of your next turn, or the charges are wasted with no effect.
Skrivix pushes off the wall, boosting out into the middle area of the room, thrusting his hips emphatically into the air with his hands on his lower back.
"Unh! Unh! You like my Talc impersonation?? Unh!!"
”Gah! My brain!” Rafelo groans, falling to the floor as Skrivvix’s hip thrust overwhelms his mind. Talc shoots Shonvyzam twice, then both she and Tillik are yanked towards Harrac. Karyn scores Teo good hits on the pahtra operative.
Shonvyzam switches to a war club and swings wildly at Harrac while Tillik shoots at Karyn and misses!
Skrivix continues his obscene gesticulations. "It's painful to watch when you do it too Talc, see??"
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Hearing the commotion behind her, Rei turns around and spots the cat through the door bothering Karyn.
"I must ask you to stop, otherwise Karyn will be up all night complaining. Trust me. This is a benefit to all of us."
Rei then lines up her sights and blasts kitty with an empowered shot from her rifle.
After the blast, she pauses then says "Oh yes, right. Hey there. You have something on your face"
Energy blasts and magic fly through the simulated spaceship, and both Shenvyzam and Tillik quickly fall! You bring the flag back to your base before heading to their base, where Mia Moxie defends her team's flag. The halfling makes a valiant stand, but the outcome is inevitable, and soon the audience is cheering your sweeping victory!
The film crew gathers the two groups—hefting all of the unconscious combatants and reviving them off-site—and brings them back to the stage where you first met your rivals and the show hosts. Both Lethea and Quell congratulate the teams for a job well done, adding in some final quips.
A wash of sparkling confetti and the sound of upbeat brass instruments heralds the arrival of Zo! onto the stage. The undead mogul effortlessly swings a microphone in one hand, while casually pointing and smiling at members of the live studio audience. As the music calms, Zo! turns to provide both teams with a shot from his finger guns before addressing the audience. “Trials and tribulations! Drama and intrigue! Dangerous obstacles and murderous animals rendered into appetizers! Really folks, we have it all, don’t we!?”
Zo! revels in the crowd’s adulation for a few seconds before a blinking red-screen causes the assembled masses to stop, save for a few lagging zombies who continue. “Now, if it were up to me, I’d call each of these teams a winner! But this is prime-time vidcasting, so there simply has to be a winner! If there wasn’t, well, all of you might kill me—for a second time, that is!
“So, for this episode of Pact World Warriors, the winning team is... the Starfinders! They are the undisputed victors! Congratulations!"
A second rain of confetti follows, this time accompanied with lightly falling balloons covered in comical cartoon visages of Zo!’s face. The hosts go on to take over the ending broadcast, congratulating each of you and offering up some final verbal jabs before encouraging you to return for future shows. The crew then escorts you back toward a shuttle bound for Absalom Station, where a jubilant Radaszam awaits. The vesk offers you refreshments and listens to you retell tales from your journey.
The trip back to Absalom Station takes 3 days, at which point Radaszam escorts you to the Lorespire Complex for a more thorough debriefing with First Seeker Luwasi Elsebo. The vesk leaves you in a waiting room while he goes to confer with the First Seeker. As you wait, you notice a well-stocked and eerily familiar food assortment waiting on the currently abandoned reception desk. You also note that one of the vidscreens behind the reception desk is active and displaying a live news feed. A ryphorian news anchor explains that the Stewards are investigating an incident involving a shuttle explosion over Eox that claimed the lives of several Pact Worlds citizens and the rival team on Pact World Warriors. While the investigation has yet to conclude, there’s some leaked evidence that may point to the Starfinder Society’s involvement.
At that moment, a shirren arrives with a second basket for the food arrangement, as well as an accompanying letter. One of the apples in the second basket has a single bite taken out of it, and the unsigned card that accompanies the basket reads: “I don’t like people who fail me, but I’m really starting to like all of you.”
Rainbow-colored lights dance around the glittering asteroid temple known as Songbird Station, one of the premier performing-arts centers in the Pact Worlds. Zigvigix nearly presses their eyes against the starship’s viewscreen as they watch the station come closer, their antennae vibrating with a visible excitement. “Look! There it is!” Zigvigix’s telepathic voice exclaims with a high-pitched psychic punctuation that resembles a mental squeal. “I’m so happy that all of you were able to come! I know this was short notice and that everyone has been so very busy lately.” The last remark seems sincerely directed toward the other occupant, the android Historia-7. After a long moment, Historia-7 nods in acknowledgment of Zigvigix’s words.
“When my friends were trapped in the Scoured Stars, all I had left were these tickets to remind me of what I and the Starfinder Society lost,” the shirren continues, clasping their hands together to keep them from shaking. “It means so much to me that those seats didn’t stay empty. I can’t think of a better memorial for my loyal comrades than to attend this concert with new friends and new Starfinders, to show everyone what the Society has gained!
“Wow! I hope that didn’t make everything awkward! Don’t worry, you haven’t replaced anyone!” Zigvigix reveals a set of palm-sized discs, which activate to create 3D images of a diverse group of Starfinder agents. “It’s the best I can do for them now, but we’ll all watch the concert together, just like we planned. Afterward, I’m going to take them to meet the band. Strawberry Machine Cake always sends holoavatars out to interview some of their fans after their concerts, and they post all of the most interesting pictures and stories on their band page! If I asked, I’m sure they’d offer a shout-out to my missing friends... and to the Starfinder Society as a whole, to let everyone know we’re still here!” They look to the screen. “Oh, it looks like it’s our turn to dock. I should get back to the comm.”
Zigvigix then excuses themself and steps out to pilot the shuttle, leaving you with Historia-7. The android waits just long enough to make a sudden segue into a different topic appropriate, then addresses you.
“Starfinders,” Historia-7 says, without preamble. “I understand most of you are here for the revelry of the concert, but I must confess that it was not my motive for joining you and Zigvigix. There is a person of interest on Songbird Station, a human man named Hira Lanzio, whom I believe to be connected to a conspiracy involving the Scoured Stars. I require a group of Starfinders to briefly detain Hira Lanzio so that I can conduct an interrogation on this matter. I hope that you might be amenable to helping me with this task. So long as this mission is carried out cleanly and with precision, I do not foresee this interfering with your presence at the actual concert. It would also be efficient if Zigvigix remains unaware of this secondary objective—there’s no reason to ruin their much-needed relaxation time. Questions?”
10+: Strawberry Machine Cake is a holoavatar sugar-pop band that has recently exploded in popularity across the Pact Worlds and beyond. Tickets to their Songbird Station concert have been a hotly sought-after commodity, to the point that several highprofile cases of ticket theft, fraud, and scalping have been in the news in recent weeks.
15+: The band recently installed a high-powered force shield to keep over-enthusiastic crowds off the stage, after the band’s manager was nearly trampled by fans attempting to reach the band during a station layover.
20+: The band’s holoavatar projector is rumored to be one of the most sophisticated in both the Pact Worlds and Veskarium, routinely accomplishing feats that many would have considered impossible with current hologram technology. The band has a staggering amount of legal protections in place to keep anyone from accessing or studying their equipment, leaving their performance secrets a mystery.
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Talc knows that Harrac has been awaiting this assignment his entire Starfinder career and that there is nothing that could stop him from attending the concert. He slaps Harrac on the back and turns to Historia-7 to address her.
Sure thing, we'll help out, H7, no problem-o. Can you download the specifics over to Rei and we'll pick up Hira for you in time for Rock to catch the show."
Skrivix eyes Harrac suspiciously. "Who'd you pay off for us to get this gig? How much did it cost? No, scratch the last one. Just tell me later if it was worth it."
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"I'm happy to help with something other than Harrac's fanboi festival. I mean, SMC has some catchy music. I have one of their albums, the limited edition one. And I hear their concerts are amazing. I mean, I'm a biologist, right? But their hologram tech is out of this world advanced. Even Rei might get worked up if she saw it in action. Still, I'd rather be hunting a criminal than listening to a thousand Harracs screaming themselves hoarse."
"What do we know about this Lanzio? Is he a hitman, a hacker, what? Is he in some kind of protective detail? I mean, if I need to saw someone's arm off to get the principal, I'd kind of like to know in advance."
Bone: An enormous white-scaled vesk with black skulllike patterns on her face who wears an extremely elegant white kimono. Bone plays a black electric koto that is covered in wicked looking spikes, and she occasionally offers deep bass rumbles or heavy metal roars for the band’s more experimental sugar-pop numbers.
CAPTAIN✶CARMINE: A petite human woman of Tien ancestry who wears a flamboyant red pirate coat over a red-and-black knee-length dress. CAPTAIN✶CARMINE is both the lead singer and percussionist, dancing out the beat on top of a set of hoverdrums.
Mimimetal: A small human woman with dark skin who wears a black haori over her pink-and-black knee-length dress and has her black frizzy hair pulled into a pair of pompoms on top of her head. Mimimetal energetically plays a rose-pink electric guitar.
Tsuchi-ko: A cobra-headed girl wearing an extraordinarily frilly pink-and-red lolita-fashion dress, as well as a red ribbon on her head. Tsuchi-ko plays a bright-red electric bass guitar.
“Ever since the events of the Scoured Stars, I have researched several information anomalies that I believe to be connected to a conspiracy surrounding the event," Historia-7 says. "Specifically, an unknown person or organization withheld crucial data involving the Scoured Stars and later destroyed information related to the event. The Dataphiles were fortuitous enough to gain access to restricted documents from several corporations that confirmed my suspicions. The Starfinder Society was able to infiltrate one such organization and retrieve further information. As I suspected, the company is a front, existing solely to offer a pretense for secretive meetings of unknown purpose. My conclusion is that the people attending these meetings are part of a conspiracy, and their conspiracy has somehow involved tampering not only with the Starfinder database but possibly with our operations. The data provided to me has allowed me to identify only one attendee of these meetings: Hira Lanzio. Mr. Lanzio is commonly surrounded by multiple high-class security details, but since he would be unable to buy enough tickets for all of his bodyguards, this concert will be a rare opportunity to reach Mr. Lanzio without his usual security force.
“I am unaware of his exact location on Songbird Station. You will likely have to discover that information by consulting with other people and any other means of investigating that you deem appropriate. When you locate him, learn what information you can about his activities and about any other members that are involved in his secretive meetings. If possible, search for any evidence you can find of a connection to the Scoured Stars incident. If you find enough evidence, or find a means to detain and interrogate him, I will be able to investigate further into the conspiracy surrounding the Starfinder Society.
“I will assist you from my remote computer station as required, as my physical presence would be of little use to any of us. Please contact me with your comm units if you discover anything of importance or apprehend Mr. Lanzio.”
"They will not be too concerned with your armor. They may attempt to check your weapons as a formality, but Songbird Station has a massive magical field that converts any form of lethal rounds into nonlethal damage upon impact."
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Harrac stand in the center of the room, mouth open, staring. He hasn't moved since Zigvigix said they would get a chance to meet the best band in the history of music, Strawberry Machine Cake. And they might appear on their band page? Inconceivable! His wrist softly chimes over and over as fans of the Harrac Squad channel share his joy.
He makes several attempts to ask pertinent, work-related questions, he is a bounty hunter afterall, but the only thing anyone nearby hears is a high pitched "Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
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Talc facepalms at Harrac's response and shakes his head. He places a hand on the vesk's back and says "About the only thing that will keep Harrac focused is that he will want to get back in time for the concert."
Turning Historia-7, Talc says "Don't sweat it, H-7. We'll be in touch as soon as we've snatched up Lanzio."
Nodding to the door and grabbing Harrac's shoulder, he says "Let's get going."
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Once Talc physically removes Harrac from the room, he seems to settle down a bit, "Guys, guys, guys, did you hear that?! Duude! This is ... Guys! We're going to meet ... ohmygodohmygodohmygod." He frantically searches through his pack before pulling out a metal case. Visibly relieved, he opens it with some reverence and shows off a disk, a paper ticket, and sharpie inside, "I thought I'd left this at home. It's from my first concert. I can't even tell you what I had to pay for an actual ticket - this is real paper!" He hugs it lovingly and then stows it away. "Ok, we need to knock this mission out ASAP so we can get to the concert."
”Sorry, I do not,” Historia-7 says.
Zigvigix docks the starship, and soon you leave the docking bay and enter the concert waiting area. A sea of pink and red fills the theater lobby of Songbird Station as fans of all shapes and sizes loudly cheer and wave handmade signs above their heads. Bright-pink spotlights illuminate the gigantic posters of the band members that plaster the walls, and upbeat music blasts from speakers on the ceiling.
The Exo-Guardians leader cheerfully sings along to the music with their telepathic voice. The shirren encourages you to mingle and have fun before the concert starts.
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Harrac fits right in with his fuchsia tank top and neon green boots. He mingles in the crowd, steaming the whole time, "Harrac Squad, this is amazing. I know every one of you is a super fan, too, so I wish you were here with me. If anyone was able to get a ticket, come find me!" He mutes the mic briefly and thumbs the comms, "I'm going to take a quick look around, see if Mr Lanzio is here yet."
Dancing through the crowd, he pans the camera around, "you getting my feed Reister? Work your magic!" Periodically, he asks the other guests if they've seen his missing 'friend', "I swear! I go get one drink and he disappears!"
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"Before we depart, do you have any sort of sedatives you can provide for Harrac? I fear he may become more of a liability than an asset once SMC gets involved"
"Just keep talking Rei, that always puts me to sleep."
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"Were you using my Datapad again. I told you to use your own."
"No way I'm browsing those sites on my pad, Rei. Pfft!"
Talc shakes his head at Harrac's silliness and sets about searching around himself.
Searching on the infosphere, Rei learns that Songbird Station is a temple of Shelyn and art school, founded a few decades ago on an asteroid in the Diaspora. It resembles a gleaming, jewel-studded stone adorned with rainbow streamers radiating outward from its perimeter. Shelyn's priests instruct the faithful and visitors in various art forms both practical and therapeutic, and the concert hall frequently hosts celebrities across the Pact Worlds. These performances are seen as both worship of Shelyn and a beacon of hope for residents of a remote, hostile corner of the Diaspora.
Harrac's questioning is met with blank stares or shrugs, as most of the crowd is too focused on enjoying themselves than caring about "some suit." Scanning the crowd, Talc can see two possible directions to push towards. The station's housing area is to the left, while its engineering and reactor sections are to the right.
Talc leads the way twoards the engineering section of Songbird Station. This involves wading through a sea of about 50 hot-pink skittermanders, accompanied by a pair of teenage vesk. The vesk are clearly embarrassed to be here, rolling their eyes.
"Ugh, Strawberry Machine Cake is so lame!" one of the vesk loudly declares.
"Yeah, totally overrated!" the other one agrees.
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Harrac sidles over to the vesks, "you'd think that, right brothers? But listen to the message in the music and you might chance your mind. With all the negativity in the world, Strawberry Machine Cake is a positive voice leading us out of the darkness." He looks at them a little closer, "if you're not fans, what brings you here today? Are you here to see me? Are you Harrac Squadies? I picked up a bunch of followers after our Pact World Warrior win. You caught that, right?"
The vesk drop their surly facade when Harrac approaches. ”Aw, no way! You’re really him! Harrac Squad for life!” They offer the solarian hearty fist bumps. ”You rocked it out on PWW! Dude, you gotta take a selfie with us!”
The skittermander mob do their best to photobomb the vesk trio. Once the picture has been taken, the teenagers look a bit sheepish. ”We, uh, we actually like Strawberry Machine Cake a lot. But, y’know, it’s, like, lame to admit you like things.”
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Harrac mugs for the camera, "I hear ya! Most of my friends here won't admit they're fans either. But it's all good, just have fun and be safe!" He shakes their hands and thanks them for being in the Squad and then continues looking around the room as he talks to his camera, "I'm waiting here at the SMC concert, and I just ran into two awesome fans! They know who they are! Out here representing the best of the Squad! Make sure to Like and Subscribe for more updates!"
While the teens gush over Harrac, one of the skittermanders approaches the rest of you. ”Hello, nu-friends! Do you need help? We love to help people!”
”Helping! Helping!” several of the other hot pink furry creatures chant.
Skrivix waits to see if there is any recognition from the crowd. If none or if hesitation, he adds "I heard he has free souvenir minimetal pompoms!"
”We have not seen this man, but we will find this nu-friend and get some pompoms!”
“Pompoms! Pompoms! Pompoms!” the skittermanders chant as the entire pink mob streams out through the crowd and into the station.
***
You continue on through the crowd. After a few more minutes, a burly korasha lasunta woman runs up to you. ”You there! You gotta help me! Do you have a copy of the special edition physical Star Sugar Heartlove!!! album? I own every piece of Strawberry Machine Cake merchandise ever sold, except for that! I had a medical emergency and I missed the promotion and I really really need that album!”