Luck smiles in his best imitation of a sincere one, despite the wrinkles, half healed scrapes and scars here and there. "Yup, we truly mean no harm to the wildlife here and want to experience and observe, but if possible from up close. That wouldn't be too much of a problem would it?"
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Kruvenosh approaches the guards and explains the situation.
"We are here on orders from the Starfinder Society. Ambassador Hammer of Hylax has requested such a creature, and it is our duty to provide for her needs. Please understand that it is crucial that we help the Ambassador in any way necessary."
Kruvenosh and Dr. Everbrite sure have a way with ghorans - at least when it comes to rubbing them the wrong way. Enough with the importance hoolaballooo one says, as the other menacingly comes up with a sonic hedge trimmer...
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Luck
Dr. Everbrite
Z'tel
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Ghoran
Ghoran
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Kruvenosh
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Luck gives a mental signal to the cloud of nanites around him to reach out towards the ghorans as he starts to take aim with his laser. "Ambassador, I'm sorry this has descended into a fight. I wish I was better at using words, but working around a dwarfs for long periods can degrade even the most eloquent to grunts and monosylables..."
The gnome then tries to take out the closest ghoran as painlessly as possible.
Luck manages to fire off a lucky shot, just barely hitting a ghoran, but with all the same consequences. Z'tel quickly draws a conclusion on the intent of the Ghorans, and decides to take out the first one.
Two more ghorans appears on the scene ()
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Luck
Dr. Everbrite
Z'tel
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Ghoran
Ghoran
Ghoran
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Kruvenosh
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Everbtite's outline becomes a bit fuzzier as the ghorans open fire!
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Kruvenosh
Luck
Dr. Everbrite
Z'tel
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Ghoran
Ghoran
Ghoran
---
---
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As the shot impacts with Z'tel, several of the buzzing Nanites that make up their form shift to absorb the bullet - robbing it of it's momentum but damaging a few of the tiny machines. Determined to ensure the Ambassador's safety - Z'tel rushes to close with the ghoran wearing a red sash and strikes out with the Nanite blade.
for
Luck grumbles slighty as he finds that the ghorans are further way than his cloud can reach. He recalls the nanites in his current cloud, as he rushes through them, getting in closer with the ghorans and reposisioning his cloud again so he can shoot with the benefit from it in just a little bit.
You can use your Constitution modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making this attack
As Tried moves up, grumbling as he tries to position a cloud, Z'tel's nanites just eat through the ghoran, leaving him reeling from the attack.
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Kruvenosh
Luck
Dr. Everbrite
Z'tel
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Ghoran (14)
Ghoran
Ghoran
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Dr Everbrite repositions, while Kruvenosh knocks out the ghoran, leaving a trail of nanites in his wake.
The two remaining Ghorans open fire on Everbrite!
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Kruvenosh
Luck
Dr. Everbrite
Z'tel
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Ghoran
Ghoran
---
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With two foes remaining, Z'tel is confident that the Ghoran's won't continue to engage when so outnumbered, that is until they both take shots at the good Doctor. Shaking their head as their nanite sheathed remains buzz in irritation, the Shirren closes in on one of the attackers and lashes out with their Nanite blade, this time keeping it blunted.
for
Kruvenosh tries to intimidate the ghorans, but a gunshot searing past his head makes the attempt less convincing.
Dr. Everbrite's nanites eat away at he ghoran, who look in horror as his skin wilters before his eyes. The ghoran narrowly manages to avoid Z'tel's blade.
-
Kruvenosh
Luck
Dr. Everbrite
Z'tel
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Ghoran (4)
Ghoran
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Fed up with trying to get his could of nanites into a good position to be shooting from, Luck just steps around Z'Tel and gets a clear shot.
Luck takes out another ghoran, and the last one decides it has had enough, and runs away. The little squonx, which has trembled in fear, stuck down its hole with fighting overhead, is calmed after a while, and becomes a lot more trusting, even towards the strange manners of Dr. Everbrite.
Hammer of Hylax is elated, clicks her mandibles, and seems to salivate a bit. This one looks cuddly, and warm. What an excellent specimen.
----
Luck perks up behind the Squonx and grabs it in his arms, offering it up to the Hammer in time to someone else's plea to overlook their aggressive behavior.
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As the last Ghoran dashes away, Z'tel takes a moment to check their attackers to see whether any of them are still breathing before directing the Doctor to any that might need attention should they wish too.
"You are welcome to the creature Ambassador, apologies for the display - the people of the Station are not usually so quick to violence, these must have been hot-headed thugs."
Hammer of Hylax is very pleased, enough to overlook a little bit of violence. Cherishing the fluffy creature, she says Yes, let's have a taste of culture. My request is simple: can you arrange a performance for me? The squox looks very distressed.
After a brief moment of disambiguation, the group makes sure that - yes indeed - Hammer of Hylax wants to perform herself.
The owner of the Hamisfore theatorium, Jebodah Hamisfore, is a busy gnome. It may take some talking to convince him.
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Kruvenosh speaks to the gnome after Dr. Everbrite's introduction:
"We would appreciate if you could help us arrange such an event. I'm sure that Ambassador Hammer of Hylax will put up a very interesting performance."
Kruvenosh frowns and turns to the Trox. "If I may inquire, Ambassador, what kind of performance do you have in mind?"
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Entering the Theatre, Z'tel looks around - cursing the Venture Captain for not reading the assignment before choosing their team, a pacifist that enjoys talking to people was not who they thought they were going to protect today. Sighing they move to greet the enigmatic Gnome master of the Theatre and speak to them, their usual buzzing accompanying the telepathic speech.
"Yes hello, our Ambassador here has expressed her desire to perform upon the stage - is there a way this can be arranged? You would have the Starfinder Society and the Council's gratitude should you accept." they bow, their form shifting as they do so.
Hammer of Hylax makes it clear that she wants to give a performance of her native art forms - which involve song, dance and poetry. Jebodah, convinced by Z'tel, is excited and jumps at the opportunity.
“Welcome, right this way,” the spry gnome ushers the group through a set of doors and into a large round theatre with plush seats. On the stage, a troupe of masked actors look up in surprise as guests enter during their rehearsal. “Not now, you lot,” Jebodah cries to the actors, waving his hands dismissively. “Out! Out! I have something NEW here!”
As the actors file out the stage door, Jebodah moves to a large booth containing a series of levers and dials. He waves into the booth and begins to pull levers and flip switches. With a whir of machinery the entire room begins to reconfigure itself. The seats retract into slots in the floor, and the stage folds up and slides into the wall. A series of stadium-like bleachers extrudes from the corners, slowly building up seating for several hundred people. The floor seems to grow a carpet of thick padding as the room finishes its rearrangement into an arena-like space.
“Now,” he continues, addressing the dignitary. “Just what sort of art did you wish to demonstrate? I assure you, if you impress me, I can launch your career in show business!”
Hammer of Hylax moves to the stage as the starfinder are seated in the audience of 'test fans' that Jebodiah has assembled.
The mandibled emmissary starts off with a dancing performance, rythmically clicking her mandibles as she moves about with disturbing amounts of predatorial gracefulness, moving fast, then slow, then pouncing unnervingly fast.
The crowd looks... well, not quite unimpressed, but intimidated for sure. Too afraid to mutter, they remain stony silent.
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Kruvenosh, ordinarily stone cold in front of such performances, marvels at the Ambassador's steps.
"Impressive!" he bellows, perhaps a few decibels too loud for such a context. Lowering his voice, he leans to the person next to him and whispers: "See the way she uses her arms to carefully balance herself when she flips over like this? It closely resembles a vesk fighting style; I myself am not capable of coming slightly close to her gracefulness!"
Luck watches the performance as the Hammer moves through her complex dance. He notices there's a bit where she seems to need some sort of weapon or pole, and with a few moments of digging around the place, pulls out a suitable length of steel, or iron? or could it be adamantium? Meh doesn't matter.
He tosses it to the woman in her performance, trying to make it look like it was timed to happen at that moment.
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Breathing a sigh of relief as they are able to persuade the Gnmeto allow their Charge to perform - Z'tel follows the Hammer to their stage and watches for a time before realising that the automated lights system is out of sync with the Alien movements of the Hammer of Hylax's bizzare movements. Climbing the stage, they use manual adustments to keep the lights in sync for a better show.
Although some members of the crowd, like Tried, cringe when they hear of the possibility of torn muscles, the comments of the group have a positive effect on the audience's attitude. In particular, Z'tel's well-timed flashing effects really serve to amp up the drama.
The first act comes to a close, and Hammer of Hylax starts a poetry performance
Scrumptilicious floftly animeast
How I adire thee
Homping about on the grield
Again, the audience seems nonplussed.
Luck reaches into his pack and pulls out an electric Auto-tuner, thinking that the Ambassador's performance might be perfectly in tune.
Holding it up, he turns a shocked orange, when, she hits notes better than a tuned Stienwoe and Daughters paino. "She has perfect pitch. I mean look at these numbers!"
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As the performance changes into something less physical, Z'tel stops messing with the lights and listens for a time to the Ambassador's poetry - whilst not to their taste they can see other cultures enjoying it. As they look across from the backstage they spy two bored students looking like they are going to cause trouble and try to point them out to security before they cause a ruckus.
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Kruvenosh listens for a while, also not particularly touched by the performance. He closes his eyes and listens to the hum of her words and the clicks of the mandibles.
"This may not be standard poetry, but the sounds themselves are impressive. Notice how her mandibles clack rhythmically when she speaks? And listen: you can hear a constant vibration in tune with the performance! How hard must that be to keep up!"
Z'tel makes sure no stupid students disrupt the performance, and Tried points out the technical perfection that Hammer of Hylax displays.
For the final act of performance, Hammer of Hylax has a special treat: I will now perform a rendition of 'star sugar heart love' as a symbol for the connection between our cultures.
What follows is a rendition of the sugar-pop sensation's top hit that by all standards can be classified as quite special. Hammer of Hylax performs the dance moves to a T, though the intermittent clicking in the refrain, to mimic the bass background track, gives an odd vibe to the overall song...
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A nanite sheathe forms around Dr. Everbrite, enhancing his audio and visual acuity.
"Fascinating, I believe that Hammer of Hylax has single-handedly managed to simultaneously convey the sounds of both the haunting vocals of CAPTAIN*CARMINE as well as the deep bass rumbles of Bone." notes Dr. Everbrite.
Tried, tired by the variety of the performances spends a few moments outside with a package of smokes and a lighter... He grumbles some as the nanite in his body seem to start to deconstruct any smoke he gets in his mouth before he can light it. Mood soured, he storms back into the theater and stops for a moment.
"CAPTAIN*CERMINE an octave lower, set to a C minor key and the tempo set ever so slightly slower. This aha to be the best remix of the song I've heard since... Well the SSHL's made it. This is a true masterpiece. Wait a second... There, listen to the chorus chord. That is kot something someone can normally just 'sing' you'd need a 7000-x Bashwood or better quality mixer along with about three different bass layers to produce those sounds. "
The performance is over, and the crowd applauds. Although it's not clear whether that is an applause or appreciation or relief, the emissary appreciates the politeness.
Hammer of Hylax looks expectantly at the party, hoping for a suggestion of a suitable venue
A dingy staircase leads down to an open doorway. Beyond, the club is hardly illuminated at all, the other patrons appearing only as shadows. On the small stage in the corner, a kasatha melodeum player accompanies herself on a double-skinned drum, wailing a heartfelt lament for better days.
Hammer of Hylax seems to be enjoying herself, dancing and bobbing along, with her stereotypical sudden jerks and movements. Unfortunately, that also means spilling the occasional drink. At some point, she manages to completely soak a shiftly-looking humanoid, who takes offense who taught you to move like that? You look like you're on the bridge of a starship under fire, you mandibled freak!
Tried gives a shrug not knowing any good places around the station for a drink. "If we were back on Asteres Station,I'd know a good watering whole or three if you are okay with handling a few drunk dwarves, but on Absalom Station... I don't know. Is there a phone directory?"
Luck glows faintly in the dark room of the club, his coloration shifting slowly and then faster as he gets more alcohol in his system and into the sounds of the music. "... so I finally got the nanobots to not immediately recognize alcohol as a toxin! But they still think my smokes are deadly and won't let me get more than a puff or two..." He looks up as the humanoid starts to insult the Hammer of Hylax. He steps up and clears his voice, his normally animated face settling into some very deep set frown lines. "You do know who ou are talking to, RIGHT? This august person here is the Honored Ambassador the Hammer of Hylax from Settlement AO-668. She has more diplomatic power than I think you would like to tangle with..." He tries to set up the lead in for someone else who might be better able to deliver the diplomatic equivalent of a knockout punch.
It seems like the small man can't quite make himself heard over the crowds and music.
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Kruvenosh, not quite a regular customer of the station's nightlife, idly follows the group around until they find a suitable place. There, he politely declines any offer for any alcoholic drink. "I'll drink when I'm off the clock. For now, duty calls." He orders a plain glass of water and sets to watch the patrons around Hammer of Hylax to make sure no one tries something suspicious. When he sees the dancer insulting Hammer of Hylax, he clears his throat and speaks loug enough to be heard over the brouhaha.
"STAND DOWN IMMEDIATELY! As my friend pointed out, you are talking to Ambassador Hammer of Hylax, and such rudeness will not be tolerated! " The vesk leans forward ever so slightly and stares directly into the person's eyes. "Am I being clear?"
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"I'm not much for clubbing, however my old' squadmates used to talk of a place called 'The Nebula's Core' - worth trying it, should still be open at this hour." Z'tel informs as they quickly check the local infosphere for opening times. Shadowing the Ambassador into the Club, their Nanite infused body begins vibrated along with the heavy beats of the music. "Hmm, this must be the Abysshead I have heard of... Quaint, though the subject matter leaves much to be desired - you really should tell me how you managed to re-program them, I have not enjoyed a fine wine since the Incident."
Allowing the Ambassador to have some fun, they turn their head as the drunk insensitive clubber begins to berate their charge. With no voice, they move to be beside their hulking Vesk ally, their swarming Nanite sheath forming into a wicked blade to support their point.