|
After returning from a successful mission for the Starfinder Society, or arriving as new recruits, you are on your way, via train, from the spaceport to the Lorespire Complex.
The deep rumble of the train as it skims along its metal track creates a pleasant bass line for the sounds of the cityscape. The car’s glass and metal walls shield the interior from the roar of traffic outside, but the faint howl of sirens and cab horns occasionally pierces this sanctum. Cradled safely inside the car, passengers murmur in private conversation or play muted vidfeeds on their comm units and datapads. The familiar click and whir of assistant machines fills the aisles.
|
Looming far larger than the others, the next arrival has to duck and squeeze to get through the doors from one car to this one. His long, sinuous neck dips down to slide his head in first, eyes scanning the space for a moment before he pulls his bulk through, his wings expanding slightly once there is space for them.
His golden scales have a notable red tinge to them and his head is fringed by a frill of horns.
Though he is rarely mistaken for a Vesk, Dragonkin are common enough in the Pact Worlds that most will recognize Sturmvanger for what he is.
He seems deep in silent communication with the slender woman who follows him.
|
The slender woman following Sturmvanger is dressed in a pristine white lab coat over laying a pant suit of some shimmering red fabric. Her red snake eyes and wickedly pointed ears mark her as having some definitely infernal influences. She practically slithers her way into the train car, curving movements and flowing steps. Under her coat at her hip a squirming mass of something living. She gives a long look at Sturm, seemingly stuck in responding to him.
She gives a shake of her head, her slicked back black hair not moving in the motion and takes a seat on one of the open spots in the train. She perks up for a second as she swears she heard a voice that brings up some memories. Taking a moment to better taste the air, she lets her flat forked tongue flicker out and take in more scent particles before relaxing some, clearly telling herself it was her imagination.
|
Sitting on a seat looking around as if riding in the train was a treat is a large moth-like being.
Despite being in a high-tech space station, the moth appears to have little or no recognizable tech on their person. Though the crystals and leaves they adorning their body is positioned as if it were the standard equipment of an adventurer.
Despite having boarded the train with everyone else, no one has heard this creature say anything aloud.
|
Near the front of the car is a plain looking human with their face pressed to the window, taking in everything. On the seat next to them is a large pack of gear. Every so often, they spy something which causes them to look around excitedly, as if to share their discovery, but the other passengers seem to have moved away.
|
|
A kasatha wearing what can only we described as armored chef whites sits leaned back against one of the windows. One pair of arms is cross across his abdomen. The other fiddles with a some kind of sealed case.
He opened the lid and takes out a small rectangle of something partly wrapped in parchment. He sniffs it then thoughtfully takes a bit.
"Hey Doc, I'm working on a candy bar we can use as field rations R2Es can leave a bit to be desired if you know what I mean. You should give 'em a try."
He then holds the case out in front of him in both hands, offering up the contents.
|
|
Sturmvanger watches the other people in the car, making little effort to disguise the fact that he is sizing them up and assessing them for dangerousness.
<Oh look, it's El'zar. At least he actually is familiar.>
When El'zar arrives he gets a nod of recognition from the Dragonkin which also serves to direct Seggas' attention to his presence.
|
|
Seggas pauses for a moment and looks over at Sturm again.
Giving a smile at El'zar, Seggas picks up the bar and gives it a sniff. "Chocolate and... two kinds of protein powder? But there's a hint of dried vegetables as well..."
After smelling the bar she takes an experimental bite and chews.
She gives a thumbs up, "Not bad, I wouldn't add it to my diet if I had access to a supermarket, but I could see myself eating it for a few weeks if need be. A definite improvement over most R2E meals. If you could hide those bitter notes of the bitter melon extract, it'd probably taste even better."
|
|
The train abruptly jolts to a halt with a jarring screech. All electronic feeds and holoscreens flicker and shut off at once, as if controlled by a master switch. For a moment, a roaring silence replaces the city’s constant symphony. An insistent beeping pierces the air and the train stutters, rolls a few feet, then jerks into stillness once again. A palpable hum fills the train car as dozens of crimson lights blink in frantic, random patterns. The helpful machines patrolling the aisle or hovering near the ceiling twitch and spark erratically as the train suddenly lurches forward again, now accelerating at a frightening speed.
Any android or anacite PCs, please make a Will Save.
As computers, constructs, and machines stutter and malfunction around you the train itself accelerates dangerously out of control, threatening to detach from its track entirely.
The control panel for the autopilot is located 120ft away. Please act as if you were in combat rounds. What would you like to do?
|
|
"Well that is...unsettling," Sturmvanger says as technology around him abruptly sputters to a halt. Living in a modern world, he doesn't even think about things not working, certainly not so many things not working all at once. He checks his own gear to see its status.
He lurches to his feet and starts hustling toward the front of the train where he assumes the controls are.
|
|
Seggas gives a small jolt as she looks to the other side of the car and recognizes a familiar face. She freezes just in time for the train to screech to a halt.
As it starts to accelerate again, she raises her left hand as a mechanical whirring issues out of the base of her neck. A moment later and a small syringe needle extends out of her middle left ring finger. She reaches over to administer the booster to Sturmvanger but finds that the dragonkin has left her. She instead injects her thigh as she starts jittering. She zips 4 fifths of the way to the dragonkin as she starts thinking at him and speaking aloud at the same time, all in the same sort of rush.
"Icancertainlytrytofixthetrain! Ihavesomeexperiencewithcomputersandengineering! Ohshootthisdosagewasnotmadewithmybodymassinmind. Itmighthavebeentoomuch. Whydoeseveryoneseemsoslow? Andaretherereallypeopleinpurplebunnysuitsoristhatjustme?"
|
|
Vibrating slightly as her body seems to be in a caffiene or caffiene-like overload, Seggas jitters slightly as she rushes down the rest of the length of the train to the control panel. She spouts of a variety of words and thoughts as they rush through her brain while she works on jiggering the control panel off the device.
|
|
Sturmvanger catched up to his partner about the time she has started her hacking.
"Don't worry everyone! Everything will be fine. She's a doctor." he calls out to calm the passengers.
|
|
Seggas looks back at everyone talking to her at once, noticing the Joro again. She gives him a bug eyed look for a moment before she turns back to the panel. "Wow! therereallywasaJoroonthetrain! IwashopingIwasseeingthings. SowhatJoroareyou? Pleasesayanythingotherthan'BadPunJoro.' HeavensaboveandhellsbelowbothknowI'vehadenoughofthose! Andyesbunnies! IthinktheywereLoparians. Ifyousquinthardenoughtheylookjustlikepurplehumanbunies! Alsono,notonSpeed. MadeupadoseofcaffienetotrygivingBodyMassMcHigginsDragonkinSturmvangeroverth ereagoodrushandspeedboostbutheymovedtoofarandIuseditonmyself. Twicethereccomendeddoseformybodymass. SeeSturmTHISiswhyIhaveasecondcupofcoffeeeverymorning,somyimplantscanisolate thecaffieneandstoreitforlateruse!"
She rips into the panel's contents with the savagery of a lion with prey.
As she strips wires and jabs them into sockets, she stops one hand and reaches into her pack and pulls out a small blue cube, holds it aloft and then drops it to the floor. "Here'smybloodybox!No,itdoesn'ttimetravel,norisitaspaceshiporevenbiggeronth einside. Alsoshe'sTHEDoctor,notAdoctor! Getyourgrammarright! Andwhotheflipismakingpopculturejokeswhiletheyareonatrainhurtlingtothemiddle offlippingwhoknowswhereorwhat? Geez,findsomethingmoreproductivetodo!"
|
|
"Okay okay everything is going just fine. Now everyone let the pilot through, pilot... I mean come on of course one of us is a pilot. Where Starfinders, it's like a special case of that birthday problem you always hear about in info sphere vids on math. Here try this one it's got crasins."
Continuing to try to keep the crowd calmish as he moves towards the controls.
|
|
"You see. Everything is under control. Dr. Seggan Yakas, DVM, DMD will have this train stopped in no time. Just as I knew she would," Sturmvanger calls out to the crowd.
<Also, why would a doctor need a blue box? And how could it be bigger on the inside than the outside? Oooh...an extradimensional space, right? A box of holding.>
|
|
Jersey catches up with Seggas, takes one look at the control system and steps back. "Whoa! That thing can control the train? We didn't have any vehicles in the vault, so I never learned to drive..." they begin. Catching some of Seggas' questions "Oh, sorry, I'm Jersey 12 Joro! Late of the Thumbs-Up whizdisk team. I don't know a Bad Pun Joro, but I bet they're a riot!"
|
|
Seggas gives a small evil cackle as she intergrates a biological brain to the trains controls. "THISTRAINWILLBEMINETOCONTROL!" She pauses for a brief milisecond and then looks back at Sturm. "Omg! I'msorrySturm. Ilostcontrolthereforasecond. Iwon'tdoanythingbadtothetrain, Ipromise. Don'tmakemeputanother100creditsinthe'madscientist'jar,please!"
As she prattles on, she tries to fiddle with the bio-brain intergrating itself into the train, but seems to be losing some of her frantic steam as she fudges a little with flipping the flanges.
|
|
Her fingers finally stop twitching uncontrollably as Seggas fiddles around, tickles and coaxes the mass of grey matter and neurons she attached to the computer controls of the train.
She gives a smile and then finally, finally takes a deep breath. "Ithinkthe caffiene is starting... to... wear... off." She slumps down some and gives a small yawn as she thinks of a name for her new train controlling organism.
|
|
Seggas slowly starts to slow down as she gets off the caffeine high, surprisingly mirroring the train as she brings it to a stop and then stopping moving herself. She slumps up against Sturm and gives a sleepy, "I'm NOT dropping the second cup... Need it to..." She falls asleep for a moment as her body tries to recuperate from the rush she'd been running through for a while.
She dozes for a few moments as El'zar and Von try to pin-point where they are. After the answer is found, it takes a little bit of shaking and Seggas opens her eyes again. "I'm so dang sleepy... anyone have some coffee?"
Presumably denied MORE caffeine by Sturm, Seggas angrily stalks to the edge of the station and takes a look around, especially curious as to what might have caused a train to go berserk like that.
|
|
Seggas had actually discovered what was going on but it was taking a little while for her caffeine soaked brain to process that information and pass it on.
Basically the train's autopilot system was infected by a virus, and it wasn't the only thing. Every computer controlled item including datapads and personal comms are also infected.
And that's not all ......
The iconic landscape of Absalom Station’s byways, which range from the cramped metal corridors below to wide alleys and streets here at the surface level, has drastically shifted. Plumes of smoke curl into the manufactured air, billowing up from vehicular wrecks and the smashed remains of glitching machines. Residents gather in uneasy crowds, barely speaking to one another, all frantically checking their comm units to no avail. Lone figures shuffle down the streets in a state of panic or shock.
A deserted train station provides a haven from the surrounding chaos, sprawling beside the winding metal tracks. Abandoned benches and flickering vending machines are the area’s sole occupants. Here, a gentle breeze ruffles the leaves of the trees shading the square. This hidden place offers a brief glimpse of normalcy.
The sloping Eye of the Station rises in the distance. A metal blast shield stutters as it struggles to close over the glass dome, its erratic movements an obvious sign that it, too, is malfunctioning.
You can hear sirens wailing in all directions as overwhelmed emergency services are trying to respond to the station wide chaos.
Make another Survival or Profession(Absalom Tour Guide) to get your bearings and figure out the best way to the Lorespire Complex. Those of you who have already played a mission on the station gain a +1 bonus. Those that list the station as their home world gain an additional +2.
Or you can use Computers or Engineering to perform field repairs on a nearby information kiosk to access a map of the area. The projection flickers constantly but has enough information to give you a good idea of your current location.
|
|
Seggas glances up, down, around and even behind as she takes in the disaster that has struck her home 'world.' There hadn't been anything this destructive to hit the station since the Elebrians trying to take the station in the years before the Pact Worlds were formed, or at least from what she had read and learned in school.
She points in the general direction of the Lorespire. "It should be over there. Now let me see if I can't hack this dang kiosk for a usable map."
She starts to apply her special form of biological 'hacking' to the kiosk as she thinks at Sturm.
|
|
Seggas gets the terminal working and manages to access the Absalom Station overview map (see slides).
There are two options - continue hubwards towards the Eye which would take you through the FreeMarket or use one of the nearby service vehicles and use the Ring Road that would take you all the way to Drifter's End - assuming there are no obstacles in the way. To access a vehicle you'll need a Computers or Engineering check to get it into manual mode then piloting to drive.
Which option do you decide on?
But before you have a chance to act, three observer class security robots come by and they appear to be hostile.
Initiatives:
Order: Red; Blue; Green; Misty; Von Junzt; Sturmvanger; Seggas; Jersey; El'zar
The three robots fly thirty feet towards the group and fire their inbuilt pulsecasters. Blue and Green fire at Sturmvanger, while Red aims at Seggas.
B
G
R
|
|
As it becomes evident that something is very wrong and that it is affecting electronics, Sturmvanger pulls his doshko off his back, slapping the haft against his palm a few times. There are advantages to analog.
When the security drones approach, two of them score hits on him and, unlike Seggas, he does not have the ability to shake off damage...at least not electrical damage, so the jolts are quite painful.
Nonetheless, he moves up to intercept them, blocking them from approaching his fellow Starfinders while getting close enough to one to swing at it.