Each of your comm devices begins going off all throughout the day as First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo’s voice breaks the silence. “Starfinders, if you’re receiving this transmission, I’m requesting that you cease your current missions and return to Absalom Station at once. I have obtained urgent information regarding one of our foe’s activities. If she succeeds, she could tip the balance of corporate power within the Pact Worlds and possibly even destroy the Society. I’ll explain once we convene at the Lorespire Complex.”
The Lorespire Complex’s familiar grounds are in a boisterous state of flux. Hired workers set up pavilions and booths on the lawns, courier vehicles dart back and forth down the adjacent streets, and janitors hustle to prepare rooms for occupation throughout the compound’s buildings. Dozens of early guests loiter nearby chatting excitedly. The festive, yet chaotic, atmosphere persists in stark contrast to the First Seeker’s ominous announcement.
A lashunta man, Venture-Captain Arvin, strides forward to intercept the newest arrivals. “Welcome back, Starfinders. First Seeker Elsebo plans to meet with the agents involved in her operation shortly. She’ll announce when she’s ready—listen for the code phrase ‘pest control.’ It looks like Luwazi is finally going to have us strike back at Datch, the architect of our past year of credibility woes. Regardless of our foe’s machinations, we’re hosting several weeks of conferences and parties to honor Ehu Hadif, and there’s plenty to do while you wait.”
”Let’s get you checked in, shall we?”
Following the start of Year 4, players no longer slot boons. Instead, for this adventure, players gain specific benefits.
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Srurdez watches the commotion around the Lorespire Complex with a grin. The new First Seeker seemed to have his priorities in order, but Srurdez felt the bite of nostalgia for the outgoing as well.
Srurdez is a tall, handsome and powerfully built Vesk wearing armour of Formian make. There are various bones and other small trophies adorning the armour. He seems to have eschewed the traditional Vesk doshko in favour of an orcish battleaxe slung across his back. Srurdez's primary scale colouration is bluish-green and his eyes are golden. There's a lit cigarette between his teeth that he doesn't put out even indoors, smoking away at it happily. "It's a shame Cap," he replies to Arvin, "I was getting fond of the little rat. But she crossed the wrong group of folk."
Srurdez will hurry over to his faction leader, Radaszam, and see how he can help.
Srurdez will hurry over to his faction leader, Radaszam, and see how he can help.
Radaszam, leader of the Acquisitives, alerts you to a potential security breach on the Lorespire Complex's front lawn, where a group crowds the main walkway, hoisting signs with anti-Society slogans.
“Looks like these people bought in to Datch's propaganda,” Radaszam grumbles. “They've been here all day. We're not going to make them disperse—please talk with them and work out a peaceful resolution.”
———
Srurdez wanders out to talk with the protesters. He mentions that if all those things were true, how dangerous it would be to make a public incident here. As he is talking, he accidentally shreds one of the protest signs with his claws. Although he apologizes, the crowd seems nervous. Perhaps it is the way that Srurdez moves through the crowd without fear. Perhaps many of them really did need to get home in order to catch the latest vid-stream.
Whatever the reason, soon the protesters have peacefully dispersed.
In talking with the peaceful, albeit misguided, protesters you lean that despite the Society’s efforts to counteract Dutch’s smear campaign many individuals in the Pact Worlds still distrust the organization. It does give you valuable insight into the crowd’s behavior.
Conrad heads over to Arvin.
You find encounter Venture-Captain Arvin pacing in front of the building's entrance, clearly overwhelmed by a list of familiar names on his datapad. “Sparklemane and associated weapon permits unaccounted for. Zo!—shuttle delayed. Envar Tam—oh, this is ridiculous.”
Arvin relaxes when he notices your group. “As you know, we're expecting an influx of visitors over the next few weeks. Some decided to arrive fashionably early, and we seem to have misplaced a few guests of honor in the confusion. If you can help me locate and corral our more elusive guests, I'd be grateful.”
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A large in the gut, not so much in the shoulders Vesk comes waddling in looking a bit confused. "Whole lotta folk here... usually only see like..."
He pauses and slowly counts on his fingers. "fower ta fife other starfinders! Hey... are you in mah party?" A janitor flashes him an awkward look and the Vesk waddles onward.
"Hey um... ahm a lookin' for uh..."
He looks down at his datapad and back up at a food attendant. "Gunnz?
Ahm lookin fer Gunnz. Ya seen Gunnz around?"
After a wide eyed look, the Vesk slowly realizes what he just asked and slowly slips away.
Finally he just opts to look for a familiar face... or rather familiar music... as he goes in search of the sound of Star Sugar Heartlove. "Ziggy! Hows it goin? So uh... ahm a lookin for mah party an..."
Zigvigix, leader of the Exo-Guardians, chats animatedly with one of the hired event staff, a stocky, brown ysoki dressed in stained coveralls embroidered with the name “Tall Sam.”
The two avidly discuss a cluster of haphazardly parked land vehicles. “Hey, you!” The ysoki shouts at Gunnz, “Why are you just standing around, huh? We've got a pileup worse than A-Station rush hour over here. Get off your tails, and go park some vehicles!”
Zigvigix nods enthusiastically and replies to Gunnz “Always! Their music just makes me so happy!”
As he is saying this, Zargothrax catches up with Gunnz.
Zigvigix gestures towards the vehicles.“Relieving the valet queue might help our fellow Starfinders get to Luwazi's meeting. Please do whatever you can to help!” He then holds out a small bag and asks “Would you like a rice candy before you start?” The candies all have SMC stamped on the labels.
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"Ooh! Piece of candy!" He accepts the candy, unwraps it about halfway, then eats the candy and wrapper all together as he wanders off to play a nice game of 'Rush Hour' in the parking lot. On the way he asks Gunnz, "So uh, what's yer name? Ahm still lookin fer mah party lotsa starfinders 'ere taday ann I dun ever know where'ta start!"
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Thomagar stands and observe the frentic activity for some time, centering himself. Coming out from his year-long sabatical focusing on finetuning his craft, he has only faintly kept aware of the happenings of the Society, and the work of Datch. He yearns to return back to his studio and the work on his sculptures, but something drives him to step out, to reseek balance. And so he does.
Thomagar, or Thom for short, is a brawny lashunta, heavily armored with a shiny mote that orbits him, scintillating from color to color. Other than a starknife hanging from his belt, he carries few other weapons. He moves with calm and measured steps towards Captain Arvin, following behind Conrad, and hears what is needed.
"Certainly, I can assist in that." Thom nods as he replies to the point in his deep voice. He then turns back to the crowd, leveraging his status as a somewhat known artist when needed to pave the way.
Venture-Captain Naiaj leans despondently against the wall outside the cafeteria. Workers clad in white chef smocks hurry past carrying a covered tray, which Naiaj eyes longingly.
She turns to your group and snaps, “Have you ever been so hungry you got angry? I came here to get my snack on and found the caterers in a panic. They don't have enough food prepared to handle the guest list, and they're struggling to accommodate some attendees' unique dietary needs. I'd hate to see our new First Seeker's big day spoiled by an empty buffet line.”
“Get in there, and see what you can do to help. Look alive, Starfinders!”
Your group meets with Celita, leader of the Dataphiles, in the Archive's Cortex.
“Our esteemed colleague's elevation to First Seeker is a historic occasion. As such, we must all do our part to foster a celebratory atmosphere—not only to honor Ehu's nomination but to conceal Luwazi's activities. Your help with creating a positive buzz across the infosphere would be greatly appreciated.”
Inside the Hall of Discovery, ysoki scuttle about setting up audiovisual equipment while a kindly voice directs them. Fitch, leader of the Wayfinders, waves to the PCs from atop a towering scaffold.
“Good to see you! The kiddos and I are sprucing the place up for the big event.” She stops and beams proudly at a scrawny, gray ysoki fiddling with a circuit board. “They're doing great, but it's a big job.”
“Mind lending us a hand?”
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Gunnz heads down to the valet parking. "I hear you need some vehicle management assistance. And I'm the grrl for you!"
She looks around, spots a bright red sports model and slips behind the wheel.
"I think this baby is the one that is causing all the problems." She pops an SMC candy into her mouth as she disengages the auto-pilot.
"Lets see if we can't get things moving!"
The gears grind, the stereo magically puts on SMC and to the backing beep of the disengaged warning computer emitting frantic "red lined, red lined" beeps, Gunnz hauls the car into a perfect parallel park.
"Logjam fixed!"
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After he finishes rigging up the autopilots he looks up to see Gunnz walking out of the last vehicle. "Well ahll be durned. Wait a minnit... yer Gunnz? Hah! I was askin 'round fer Gunnz and people thought I was tryin ta buy some more dakka! Although someone did actually have some stuff fer sale... bought me a new pistol... so uh... who else we supposed to be meetin with? Mah little invitey thingy said that the guy who runs the bar is supposed ta be here. Why would a booze guy be comin on a mission? Anywho... probly should find out what ol angryface Naiaj wants before she gets even angrier...faced."
Venture-Captain Naiaj leans despondently against the wall outside the cafeteria. Workers clad in white chef smocks hurry past carrying a covered tray, which Naiaj eyes longingly.
She turns to your group and snaps, “Have you ever been so hungry you got angry? I came here to get my snack on and found the caterers in a panic. They don't have enough food prepared to handle the guest list, and they're struggling to accommodate some attendees' unique dietary needs. I'd hate to see our new First Seeker's big day spoiled by an empty buffet line.”
“Get in there, and see what you can do to help. Look alive, Starfinders!”
"Ah har har! Yah got the right vesk! Ya see mah grandpappy was in charge 'o food distreebution back in the ol' days. Funny thing... if ya scrape all 'o the pink slime offa the butchery floor ann pack it all up it makes a mighty fine patty! The troops we're so used ta eatin cardboard and roaches that one 'o them patties made their eyes light right up. Used ta call 'em happy meals! Betcher bottom dollar I can make fer somethin with whatever ye got left!"
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"Sorry.." shouts Gunnz, as she takes out her Abdar-corp-buds.
"Playing music a bit too loud.."
She hops out of the car. "Gota another job for me already?" she asks hopefully.
Listening carefully, she nods to the vesk, although maybe, just maybe, it is also to some hidden beat that only she can hear.
"To the queue Zarg-man. We have this!"
She joins the technomancer, dancing up and down the lines helping out.
"Then my good vesk, we should offer Celetia a hand. And I know just what would make a fantastic impresison. A dance off. Come on, vesk, human - it'll be a blast!"
She quickly lines up a vid crew and pulls the unsuspecting technomancer into a spotlight. "Shake that scaley behind! You know you want to ge-ge-ge-get down..."
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Meanwhile, a red-haired half-elf male wearing a suit of Castrovelian-forest-green lashunta mind mail armor over a white shirt takes in the scene.
"Wow, a lot going on here. Haven't seen this many Starfinders in one place since the Scoured Stars. Hopefully this time we don't need another new first seeker and a whole year to fix things, though."
After allowing himself a quick moment of reflection, Orrian moves quickly over to Ziggy.
"Hi again, Ziggy! No more bug problems this time, right? Let's see what I can do to help with this situation."
"You know, getting cars parked in the right place is strangely like watching a herd all try to get to the watering hole at the same time. Everybody has to take turns or else somebody ends up stuck in the mud."
Orri moves over to Venture-Captain Naiaj.
"Venture-Captain Naiaj, good to see you again! I'll try to corral these caterers and help make sure these dietary restrictions are followed."
Orrian then hustles over to Venture-Captain Arvin.
"VIPs missing? Just a minute."
Finally, Orrian runs over to help Celita.
"I don't know much about mass media, but I can help out a little."
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Conrad heads over to Arvin.You find encounter Venture-Captain Arvin pacing in front of the building's entrance, clearly overwhelmed by a list of familiar names on his datapad. “Sparklemane and associated weapon permits unaccounted for. Zo!—shuttle delayed. Envar Tam—oh, this is ridiculous.”
Arvin relaxes when he notices your group. “As you know, we're expecting an influx of visitors over the next few weeks. Some decided to arrive fashionably early, and we seem to have misplaced a few guests of honor in the confusion. If you can help me locate and corral our more elusive guests, I'd be grateful.”
"Yeah, don't you worry, I got this." Conrad starts walking around, gently prodding assistants to move a little quicker, and workers to check in a little faster. He tries his best to pull the whole thing together, also taking time to be deferential when appropriate.
The chef is on the comm calling for security when he overhears Zargothrax’s comments about use anything as food. By the time that anyone from security shows up, the vesk has worked his alchemical genius to put together several trays of very tasty snacks. Orrian sees what is needed and makes up a few trays of his own. Each tray is carefully labeled with allergy and bio-compatibility information.
While they are busy preparing the trays, Gunnz makes sure they get out of the kitchen and to the wait staff! She makes it look easy as she dodges the various sous-chefs and kitchen staff, never allowing a single piece of food to fall.
The head caterer is forced to admit that the two Starfinders knew what they were doing, regardless of how unconventional their training may have been. Thankful for the help, they gift the group with a vacuum-sealed, spoilage-resistant takeout container full of scrumptious food.
While Orrian starts brainstorming the perfect meta-tag, Gunnz just starts a dance off! Their moves are good enough that a couple of vloggers include it in their coverage. It hasn’t quite gone viral, but it is picking up some speed.
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Srurdez meets up with the leader of the Dataphiles. He quietly puts out the cigarette he's been smoking as he enters the Archives. You get the feeling that Celita would have very specific words for Srurdez if he kept smoking in here.
After listening to her explain the task, Srurdez nods along. "What I think you're really missing in all of this is style," he grins massively, "You really wanna win folk over, we gotta charm 'em. Facts don't mean s&+~ on the infosphere. Let me get changed and we can do just that."
Srurdez returns from getting changed and gone is the battle-hardened look of a vesk in heavy armour, instead replaced by an extremely well-groomed one dressed in an expensive-looking snazzy suit.
After a quick change of clothes, Srurdez starts guiding people at the entrance. They spot a couple of well known vloggers and suggest they go check out Gunnz’s dance performance.
With that little extra boost, the Society event quickly gains momentum throughout the local infosphere. Celitia in her own reserved way complements the team on their efforts.
The ysoki leader continues to direct her many kids in setting up the equipment. Unfortunately there is a lot of equipment to set up for an event of this size!
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Once Celita seems satisfied with the work done with the media, Srurdez will wander the grounds and find Arvin chatting with another Starfinder (Conrad). "Buncha VIPs lost huh? Seems pretty typical. Don't worry, we can handle 'em." Srurdez gives Conrad a grin and a light punch on the shoulder.
Once the VIPs are rounded, Srurdez will encounter Fitch and her kids, doing the usual: causing chaos while actually getting stuff done. It was impressive to watch. But Srurdez only knew the bare minimum about this stuff, so will tag along and consult when needed, but mostly is there for the heavy lifting.
He really is there just for the heavy lifting.
While Zargothrax is busy trying to troubleshoot a problem with a vehicle they have never seen before, Gunnz quickly gets several of the other vehicles moved. Evidently it is possible to slide a car into a parking space. Orrian does a spectacular job of directing traffic for the new arrivals so that none of them adds to the queue.
Solving the problem gives Tall Sam free reign of the Society's parking garage and starship hangars. With Zigvigix's permission, Tall Sam modifies several of the parked vehicles.
Conrad, Thom, Orrian and Srurdez work together to locate the various VIPs. After a hectic search of the grounds, they locate each of the missing guests of honor. The three VIPs are grateful for the escort and give each person in the group a small gift for the help — a mk 1 serum of healing.
After they manage to find all the parts of his skeleton camera crew, the magnanimous Zo! thanks the group by gifting them a voucher for a one-time 10% discount on gear or equipment purchased on Absalom Station! Unfortunately the coupon does have an expiration date on it.
All of the VIPs pool their resources to offer the group some special swag.
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Inside the Hall of Discovery, ysoki scuttle about setting up audiovisual equipment while a kindly voice directs them. Fitch, leader of the Wayfinders, waves to the PCs from atop a towering scaffold.
“Good to see you! The kiddos and I are sprucing the place up for the big event.” She stops and beams proudly at a scrawny, gray ysoki fiddling with a circuit board. “They're doing great, but it's a big job.”
“Mind lending us a hand?”
"Heya fitch! Heya kids! Need the ol mixin panel up an runnin? Here... lemme take a look-see."
He grabs the mic and belches into it before giggling.
Zargothrax does a rather unconventional test of the sound system. As Fitch’s kids are giggling, Gunnz works her magic on the sound equipment to cancel out some of the background noise. Thom helps with this, checking that all the connections are working correctly.
After the giggles die down, everyone starts working together to fix any issues with the equipment. While helping Fitch and her brood, the prodigious young ysoki offer a few helpful tips about fixing equipment on the fly.
The youngsters do try and encourage Zargothrax to do the final sound check.
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"Thanks fer the hand Thom-ay-gar... so yer in the party too. Nice ta meet'cha."
Zargothrax gives Srurdez the ol' Veskarium High Five (a strong punch to the bicep). "So yer the Srurdez guy from the mishun ross-tur. Ann a elf..." He gives a firm handshake to Orrian. "ah met an elf a few mishuns ago. Kinda dull mopey guy... always 'somethin somethin ahm old seen it all' all 'o the time."
Finally he looks Conrad up and down. "Ah dinnit know you did the adventurin too... I thought ye just ran the bar. Ah got mah first mishion in yer bar ya know. Met lotsa cool people, none of em got blow'd up... was a good day! Anywho... ah guess I should intro-duce mahself too. The name's Zargothrax McDonald... mah friends call me Zarg... and my foes know me only as..."
With a "dramatic" flair he pulls a bath towel out of his pack adorned with a crescent moon and stars, and attaches it to his shoulders with a pair of binder clips. He next pulls out a paper party hat, similarly decorated, and tosses it into the air. He waggles his fingers causing it to gently descent onto his head where he straps it under his chin with a piece of twine that has replaced the long degraded elastic strip. He adopts a dramatic (read idiotic) pose.
A chime sounds throughout the Lorespire Complex and its surrounding grounds, followed by a broadcast of First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo’s resonant voice: “Pest-control workers, your presence is kindly requested in the Hall of Discovery.” Spurred by the announcement, junior and experience Starfinders file into the Forum’s meeting space.
As the last of the summoned Starfinders enter the meeting space, Luwazi stands atop a stage at the centre of the hall. Radaszam and Zigvigix position themselves behind the First Seeker, warily surveying the crowd. When the doors shut behind the final Starfinder team, Radaszam steps forward and whispers in Luwazi’s ear. She nods as he offers her a microphone.
“Thanks to your courage and resilience, Starfinders, we have overcome adversity time and again. Two years ago, we embarked on a mission to rescue our lost agents from the Scoured Stars. Last year, we returned to battle the jinsuls and won. Today, I stand before you for the last time as your First Seeker and invite you to accept a very different challenge.
“I trust you are all familiar with the individual called Datch. For the past year, Datch orchestrated a slanderous media war against the Society for reasons incomprehensible to us. We’ve recently learned more about our enemy and realized that the Society is not her only target. As a member of AbadarCorp’s security department, Datch used her connections to manufacture a media smear campaign against us. She did so to gain power within the corporation, and her next target is Executive Archdirector and CEO Iseki-Okaibo. Yesterday, Datch instigated a vote of no-confidence against him. If the motion passes, Datch stands to take advantage of that power vacuum.”
Luwazi frowns at the assembled Starfinders. “We cannot let that happen. We can’t directly challenge Datch—not yet. If we’re going to stop her, we must beat her at her own game. While Datch positions herself to seize power, I plan to use Ehu Hadif’s elevation and the presence of our most veteran agents at the elevation event as a cover to send you on covert missions throughout the Pact Worlds. The missions vary, but your primary goals are to disrupt Datch’s ongoing activities and convince AbadarCorp executives not to support the vote of no-confidence. I’m counting on you, Starfinders.”
Encouraged by the First Seeker’s words, the chosen Starfinder teams prepare to depart the Lorespire Complex for various destinations across the Pact Worlds. Society leaders direct smaller groups of agents into specialized briefings, where they present information about each covert operation. After a year of enduring Datch’s merciless attacks against their organization, the Starfinders finally have the chance to retaliate.
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"Nice to meet you, Zarg!" Orrian says, stifling a laugh (partially out of politeness, maybe a little bit out of fear) as he shakes hands with the "lizard wizard". "I'm sure our time together will be... eventful."
"You're right, Zarg, Castrovel is nice this time of year. Nice that First Seeker Elsebo is sending us somewhere with nice weather and fresh air for a change. Usually it's weeks on a sterile spaceship followed by a bunch of Swarm or demons or ghosts trying to kill us."
Orrian smiles.
"Something will probably still be trying to kill us, but at least we'll get face it outside."
Zigvigix enthusiastically briefs their team at a table in the corner of the hall.
“There's a lot of moving parts involved in this operation, and I'm thrilled to assign you to this particular mission!” Zigvigix beams at the assembled agents before continuing.
“Cloudview Resort's famous corporate retreat is taking place right now on Castrovel. Corporations from all over the Pact Worlds send executives there for networking and”— Zigvigix sighs reverently—“team building. Several AbadarCorp board members are attending the retreat. If you join them, I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to make friends with the executives. Hopefully, you can persuade them to support Iseki-Okaibo and not Datch.”
Zigvigix pauses for a moment before adding happily, “The team-building exercises may be useful for us, too, so enjoy yourselves and learn all you can!”
Zigvigix then sends electronic tickets for the Cloudview retreat to your comm units. The vouchers include access to the workshop, complimentary meals at the resort's famous restaurant, and rooms for two nights.