[SFS/Shifty] Veskarium (B) (Inactive)

Game Master Nik B.

Murgatroyd pays the fee and enters, ready to take on all the evil-doers in the place.

Thidreks follows right behind Murgatroyd, paying the door fee as well.

Kultha flashes a grin toward Zoey;

"Ztay klose little Klubnika! Who knows vhat zhis "Show" iz."

The big Vesk-Tech pays the entry fee also, then enters..

"Looks and sounds about right," Benacu says, handing over a credstick. "Hope going in there doesn't make my bowl explode. That'd be traumatic for everyone involved."

Bluff: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Howdy!

Ysh' smiles at the bouncer and starts engaging conversation with him as if she was an old acquaintance, quickly explaining that 'Gorm' has a debt to her and that they had already paid the fee for entrance.

Sounds like fun! Zoey responds to the wary Vesk.

When Ysh'yaal steps up, Zoey is of course all to eager to join in the make-believe antics...

Aid, Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Yeah, and this show better be good, or we want our money back, mister bouncer!

The bouncer looks a bit confused but you manage to get past before he gets too curious. "If you don't like the show I wish you all the very best getting your money back" the bouncer adds as you enter.

Map up

The sounds of blaring music, throaty singing, cheering, and jeering erupt from inside the bar, and the odor of smoke and stale alcohol spills out into the street.

A large bar top divides the room into two sections, with private booths on one side and open tables on the other. The floors are sticky with spilled drinks, and the air is hot and stifling in the windowless building. Most of the patrons gather around a stage in the back watching a performance. A vesk dressed in a sparkling, skintight bodysuit with vibrantly painted scales belts out a popular song. He performs a dance routine as he sings, and his choreographed moves are reminiscent of combat. Occasionally a patron throws an empty can or bottle onto the stage that the dancer crushes with his tail, showing off bulging muscles in the process. A few scattered patrons hunch over the bar or relax in the booths.

The bartender, a scarred female hobgoblin, offers a gruff greeting: “Buy a drink if you wanna stick around. We don’t do charity here.”

Signs on the backstage door and the first three doors to the west read “personnel only.” The northwestern door bears the universal symbol designating it as a restroom. The patrons are an eclectic mix of about a dozen different species. Most glance at you all, obviously taking stock of how combat-ready you seem to be. Quickly identifying you are off worlders, the patrons keep a cautious eye on you.

Howdy! May Besmara bless you girl! Give me your stronger one babe. Says Ysh' to the bartender, pushing some credits on the table.

We are looking for a 'friend', our last intel was that he was here. Name's Firiz. she adds a description of the guy that the brotherhood gave them.

The muscular, intimidating-looking barkeep grunts "First rule is don't break anything, and second, pay your tab or else." she starts pouring out the first orders "Drinks range in price from 1 credit for barely drinkable swill to 20 credits for something decent, or up to 50 credits for a shot of something rare" she just looks at Ysh expectantly as she takes the ten credits for the drink "DO your friends want something too or do you think you are just in here to drink up the ambience and ask questions for free? No doubt this special friend you are looking for owes you money"

"Who do I know that doesn't owe me money?" Benacu says dramatically. Without waiting for a reaction, he orders. "If you have any Brethedan-distilled cider, I'd pay 'rare' prices for that. Otherwise, swill should do." The kalo waits until paying to return to the topic of Firiz.

"Surprisingly enough, we aren't after his money. I'm not, at least. Nothing illegal or unethical, even. Surprise surprise."

Exactly, it's not his money...

"I will buy your liquor, but I won't drink it." states the android, coughing up 1 credit for a cheap minor intoxicant.

That vesk image will haunt me for weeks

"DO your friends want something too or do you think you are just in here to drink up the ambience and ask questions for free? No doubt this special friend you are looking for owes you money"

I want a Crooked Doshko special with a little umbrella! Zoey says as she flops on a stool. Going doo-dang-doo.

Taking a sip from whatever she is served, she continues, sounding tipsier than she actually is Let me tell you about Firizz...

She takes a deep breath, then starts telling a long-winded story about how she was supposed to marry Firiz, but instead almost got killed by a band of his hirelings He left me for dead, he did, buried me. Four weeks I spent underground, feeding on nothing but the worms in the woodwork. But I got out, and I tracked them down, all of them. Crackle, the Ysoki wrestler, Mizz't, the drow swordmaster, POUNDBOT the brutish android. Did to them what they wanted to do to me. All of that team learned what it is to cross me. Firiz...

She lets a dramatic pause I'll chase him to the end of the drift if needs be. Firiz has to come home with me!

Bluff, expertise: 1d20 + 9 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + 9 + (3) = 19

Thidreks sidles up to the bar and finds something to order that he's never had before. "Yes that will work." He tastes it and starts taking notes on it.

When Zoey starts telling her story, he looks on in amazement.
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (19) + 6 + (4) = 29
"Ohh!" is all he says before quieting down and listening.

"Huh," is all Benacu can manage for a second at that. He tries cottoning on to the multiple stories. "You couldn't have mentioned those particular details earlier? All you were talking about on the flight was wedding arrangements. My estimation of the man's dropped a bit. But I suppose we all have our own motivations here."

Dynamic just changed pretty quick. So much easier to hedge or lie when your face is behind glass and your heart barely beats.

Bluff, Aid: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Benacu is charged 5 credits for something that doesn't taste like cleaning fluid, 20 credits got something passable for Thidreks, some locally crafted beverage that appears popular with the tough locals, Murg gets what is almost certainly industrial floor cleaner for his effort, but Zoey is taken for 30 credits as the drink is put down - "Couldn;'t sell you a cheap drink after that long-winded tale" the opportunistic bartender smiles as she overcharges the Starfinder.

"I've seen that Firiz guy, he spent some time in the bar recently and spoke with both Domakayo the vesk performer, and one of our regulars, Bolgin - probably the guy you need to talk to" she gestures to an unkempt hover-trucker wearing grubby overalls, a trucker cap, and a three-day growth at the edge of the stage who is pretty transfixed on the performance.

Thidreks can tell Zoey is lying, but the barkeep is telling the truth.

Thanks love! says Ysh' to the bartender.

She turns to her comrades and says Lets talk to Bolgin.

Sorry all - been battered with meetings all day, and troubleshooting offshore ops

Kultha takes in the ambience of the bar, pausing to focus on the Vesk performer...

"Po Shkalam Zavoyevatelya! I like vhat I see so far Komrades..."

Her scales flush and ripple with colour as she pulls herself from ogling the muscular entertainer.

She nods towards the bartender;

"Veskarium 7 Led Vodka for me. And vun on tab of zexy Domakayo there too..."

Murgatroyd tags along, waiting for an opportunity to exact justice.

Domakayo hears the vesk cry and flexes dramatically. Keeper slaps the drink on the bar with a nod of respect. Keeper raises an eye at being called 'love'.

Bolgin appears to be very much fixated on the show and his drink.

Kultha pays the tab with a returned nod;

"Spasibo."

She raises a toast to the gyrating performer, then gestures toward Bolgrin;

"Let's go speak to Spas Trucker..."

Neat! Zoey says as she sees the fancy drink placed in front of her. She downs it in one go, then gets up, giving a grin to Kultha and then walking up to Bolgin, a little less fleet-footed than normal. Liver of paper, this one.

She sits down next to the trucker and asks So... you like dancing?

Diplo: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Ysh' follows Zoey but stays a little behind as she's not the diplomat type.

The jittery trucker looks at Zoey and half smiles, "I got two left feet and a bad back toots, but if you need your cargo shifted I'm your guy" he hasn't yet connected Kultha and Ysh are with Zoey.

Thidreks doesn't want to crowd the guy, so he hangs back and watches the crowd.

Ooh, that's really helpful. We sometimes need a trucker to deliver stuff, you know, dangerous beasts, heavy explosives. Not this time, though. We're looking for a guy called Firiz. Do you know where he is, Mister Trucker?

"Everybody is looking for somebody lady, but look I got my own problems, I'm 140 credits in the hole on my bar tab, and if I pay that I can't fix this" he dumps his work datapad on the table, the home screen comes on and it is visibly rammed full of cruddy apps and other dubious-looking freeware games "Thing isn't working straight anymore"

Kultha listens to the conversation intently, whilst one eye swivels to track the gyrations of the entertainment.

At the appearance of the data pad she pipes in, with a nod toward Ysh'yaal;

"Glitzink Datapad. Not so good Komrade. I more fixer of spas-ship. but am sure betveen myzelf and my friend ve kud fix izzues... At least try, Da?"

She moves forward eying the pad with a toothy smile;

"Vhat you zink Ysh'yaar?"

Howdy! I can help you with that big boy! says Ysh'

"Just a few minutes of talking to that thing should see it running fine again," Benacu adds, abandoning any pretense of not being with the group. "And even if it takes a tad longer, sounds like a fair trade to me? No fees or crabby bosses on your end, just for what you know."

Just need a computer check

Computer: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Ysh' quickly works on the datapad and give it back to its owner.

There! I took the liberty to add some feature and upgrade your OS. I've recompiled the core and flash the disk, no biggie.

Computers, aid: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Zoey looks over the shoulders of Ysh'yaal, trying to help her in cleaning up , and making sure a properly SMC-themed wallpaper is installed.

Kultha hovers nearby also, offering her own expertise whilst engaging with the Trucker;

Computers (Aid): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

"Ho-ho. You very lucky Komrade. Ve are expertz in Komputers... Now little Klubnika mention zhis Firiz perzon. Do you know ov him?"

Murgatroyd smiles, satisfied with the teamwork.

The trucker raises his eye as the pair get to work on the datapad, and you find it a pretty easy task to clean up the datapad, removing the heaving mess of nasty freeware (malware!) from the device, deleting all the horoscope and dating apps, and updating the operating system to the current release.

Bolgin flicks through the datapad, able to access his previous tasks lists and other vital information. He then looks at the photo of Firiz. "I talked with that guy about my deliveries. After we discussed my delivery route, the guy left to meet with someone in the back rooms of the club" he gestures to the staff only areas "We then took a ride to a drop-off point in the middle of the desert in exchange for paying my bar tab"

"I don't know if it helps, but the bouncer runs gambling side gig out of the bar in his off-hours and he has keys to the back rooms"

With that, Bolgin gets to admiring his shiny restored datapad, "Hey this game lets you be a virtual farmer and invite your friends to come and water your crops! What a time to be alive!"

Can you give us the coordinates of the place you drop off Firiz?

Bolgin brings up a map and pinpoints a small light industrial complex about 30 mins drive through what looks like some pretty inhospitable desert terrain.

"Do you think we should investigate what he did in the back rooms before leaving?" Murgatroyd inquires from Bolgin.

"Getting a ride there probably won't be too hard. Pricey, maybe," Benacu says, vaguely gesturing for the group to leave Bolgin as he continues. "But unless we want to wait for Domakayo's shift to be done, I feel like it'd be best to leave sooner."

Kultha's scales ripple in colour as her eyes swivel to admire the dancer once more;

"Domakayo did zpeak vith Firiz. Ve zhould at least qvestion him... He might reveal... zomethink... useful..."

"I would feel better knowing more about what is going on," add Thidreks. "We can speak with the bouncing gambler while we wait for Domakayo to finish."

Seems the right choice to me too!

Says Ysh'

Mister truckeeeer, Zoey asks trying to hit the level of cuteness that causes instant tooth decay, any chance you are driving in that direction?

"Sure, I'm hitting the road after the show, I can drop you out there"

Shotgun!

Over to you to work out who you are hitting up

Kutha flashes a toothy smile again;

"Okay Ve haf ride. Now let uz gain more valuable intel..."

She waves at pediclaw toward the Vesk performer, beckoning him over...

Its pretty clear where Kultha's line of questioning will start.

Murgatroyd is just waiting for the punching to start.

Benacu startles slightly at Zoey's exclamation, considering where they are.

He then fishes a full credstick from one pocket. "Up for a break?" He calls to Domakayo. "You're still gracing the establishment with your presence. If they don't feel like paying you for that time, we will."