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As you move through the corridor to the big open round space in the center of the station Datch suddenly stops and stumbles into Kat5e who's bringing up the rear.
Just as everyone turns around to see what's happening back there Omboth's foot touches down on a trigger for a trap Rex's danger sense didn't warn him about.
You hear a faint click and pressure plates trigger spiked panels built into the ceiling to drive downward and slam into all targets in the room.
Datch smirks as she comments
"Ouch, that looks like it hurt"
“Three down, one to go!” Fitch’s voice exclaims over the static. “That’s the third checkpoint. Keep up the good work!”
After picking himself up, Rex looks back at Datch. "I thinks you need to be closa to da front."
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A corridor behind the force field which you think leads to the exit is visible with 6 doors evenly spaced in it. At the other end of the corridor there is a large powerful forcefield keeping you from exiting.
And when someone quickly runs to the outer corridor you notice one door in the corridor at the top and 2 doors in the corridor at the bottom, all 3 of them point inwards towards the station.
Both corridors end in force fields preventing you from getting out that way.
Datch smirks at Kat5e as she tries to intimidate the Ysoki
öoohhhh, I'm quaking in my boots. Please don't hurt me..even though you party seems to be quite the expert on hurt, well getting hurt anyway"
"I'm ready ta get out a dis place, but I don't trust the most direct route," says Rex, adding a glare to Datch.
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Kat keeps an impassive yet stern look at the Ysoki. Being used to much worse slurs and smack talk from drunken rabble she would toss from seedy lower Absolom establishments, she shows no reaction at Datch's comments. Instead she quickly processes scenarios in which striking the Ysoki with the butt of her rifle would be acceptable, and grins.
"Move. Up close to the front. Let's go" is all she replies to the captive.
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As Omboth squeezes his large body into the small corridor the rest of you follow until you come across the first door and you promptly push it open.
This opulent chamber is a temple to honor Lao Shu Po, and its décor represents a drastic departure from the aesthetics of the surrounding complex. The transparent ceiling forty feet above exposes a spectacular view of space. A twenty-foot-tall statue of Grandmother Rat presides over the room atop a stone plinth. The steps, plinth, and statue are carved jade, and the statue’s eyes are flawless rubies. Velvet drapes of purple and green hang behind the shrine, and a patterned rug partially covers the ivory floor tiles. Candles are the only illumination in this room.
Rex looks back at Datch. "Another one a ya fancy statues. What dis one do?" Not expecting a useful response, he starts to approach it and look around.
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Momo again remembers something about the rat goddess (and I guess you could look it up in a data file/web search to get some more information so just giving you everything I could find online in a spoiler)
Lao Shu Po
Grandmother Rat
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 487
NE goddess of assassins, rats, spies, thieves
Centers of Worship Absalom Station, Akiton, the Diaspora
Symbol A curled and emaciated rat
Legend has it that long ago, Lao Shu Po was simply a rat, skulking in the shadows. After gnawing on the corpse of a dead god, however, she absorbed some of that deity’s divine power and became a goddess herself. Originally a goddess of night, Lao Shu Po has turned her focus more to those who prowl under cover of darkness. Hers is the poisoned cup, the dagger in the back, and the starship power core rigged to explode. She keeps her eyes and ears always open, for an incautious moment or a careless word might reveal a secret that she can later turn to her advantage.
Lao Shu Po remembers her humble beginnings, and she teaches that those who have nothing should do whatever they can get away with or whatever it takes to survive, be it murder, sabotage, or theft. The universe gives away nothing for free, and it’s up to the individual to take what she needs or wants and jealously hide it away. It may sometimes be advisable to band together with others for strength and protection, like a pack of rats, but in the end, you can rely on no one but yourself. There will always be betrayal and lies; the key is to lie and betray before someone else does it to you.
Assassins, smugglers, spies, thieves, and all who wish to hide their activities under cover of darkness and escape the notice of the authorities worship Lao Shu Po. She is widely regarded as a patron of the ysoki race, but most of the ratfolk pray to Grandmother Rat only to placate her and avoid her notice, rather than embracing her values. Nevertheless, a majority of her priests are ysoki, who use their ubiquity to foster underworld contacts for their congregations. Lao Shu Po’s temples and shrines are few, always small and unassuming, and often hidden in plain sight—a back alley apothecary where poisons are sold, a dark chamber in the rear of a drug den, a disused corner in a space station’s waste reclamation level, or a cramped warren of maintenance tunnels just beneath the streets of a bustling marketplace.
While many societies root out and destroy cults of Lao Shu Po, further strengthening the faith’s verminous association, there are always those in power who appreciate her followers’ ability to get things done. Completely trusting one of her followers—who refer to themselves as “grandchildren”—is foolish, but Grandmother Rat has no problem with her followers staying loyal to an employer or cause so long as it serves their ends. Some of the most upstanding governments quietly employ Po spies and assassins, while corporations pay them handsomely for industrial espionage. In some areas, they can even operate openly—it’s hard to decry one who sabotages enemy warships or retrieves hostages from a secure facility, regardless of their reasons.
Nobody spots anything that stands out in this room. Even Patterson's perspective from the other door doesn't shine a new light on things
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There's no hiding anymore for you now - you have to speak the quiet part loud!
This may be a long shot, Momo says, feeling the urgency of a station about to blow up, but I feel this is the right choice. Could you all give me some space?
She waits for her team members to back off a bit, then takes a deep breath and whispers some words to the statue.
My name is Momo Dalkki. As a small girl, I was one of two known survivors of an AbadarCorp shuttle flight from Akiton to a now-lost colony. The other one is my sister. On our journey, the flight was ambushed by a swarm vessel. My parents pushed my sister and myself in an escape pod. When they closed the doors, that was the last I saw of them. Abadarcorp escape pods have flashing lights, that blink for as long as the power supply lasts. In the escape pod we watched out of a sea of similar escape pods, under an unabating psychic cackle coming from the swarm vessel. One by one the lights went out. Kids, even two, use less air than an adult. Ours was the only pod still active when a Kasatha vessel drove off the swarm vessel and rescued us. There were no other survivors. All of the people on the flight were gone, but the voices in my head would not go away. I have kept this story a secret when I applied to the Starfinder Society, fearing they would reject me if I told them. I have kept it a secret ever since.
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The floor rumbles softly as a series of clicks resound throughout the complex—the doors to the exit unlock
This oblong lobby features twin stone fountains to the north. A double doors to the east leads to the main hallway, and doors to the north and south lead to narrow side corridors. The elevator that transported the you from yourr starship to this floor of the complex is clearly visible beyond the glass doors to the west.
A tall, androgynous elf with inky eyes and bluish-purple hair wearing a jet-black armored suit strolls into the area and takes up position between you and the elevator clearly intending to stop you from escaping.
Datch nods her head
"Iroiveth"
at which the elf replies with nod
"Datch"
before reading her its weapons
"Momo, Rex
Elf
Party
"You plannin' on staying here when dis ting blow up? Cause I don't want to." says Rex before attacking past everyone.
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Don't block us!
We. Must. GET.
Momo, worried that the group might not make it out on time, bursts in a cloak of yellowish flame, and runs past the elf, only to turn at the last moment and strike...
Whatever happened to the night?
Did it pass and
Fly right out of the door
I had a splendid time
Wish I had time for more
This is the last dance
lift your shoes up from the floor
The lights are bright
and so are your eyes
You passed by gently
with your constant rythmic step
To where you stand
before the clock
(gotta go! gotta go!)
strikes twelve
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As Rex catches the elf by surprise Momo moves forward to engage but even using the element of surprise her attack is deflected by the elf's armor.
A thin smile spreads on the elfs lips as they ready their carbon steel curved blade and start to rapidly slice at Momo
The elf's eye briefly glow as you see them focus their energy into speeding up their movements
Patterson, Kat, Vondal
Elf with 1 more action
Ombonth + Momo and Rex
Elf normal round
“Now that you’ve deactivated the fourth barrier your escape route is clear.” This time, Radaszam addresses the Starfinders. “Drinks are on me at the elevation ceremony—I expect to see you there.”