"I think we just need this ship operational enough to get us to one of our other ships so that we can Reisora it back. After that, we can sell this rust bucket for parts..."
Guess? will look around and have a think about what else needs to be done to get this ship space-worthy.
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Guess? is confident that the process of repairing the Rust Bug’s electrical systems and getting the ship in nominal working order will take just a few days of work by anyone trained in Computers and Engineering. At the same time, a second expert could apply any starship upgrades, such as the additional computer you were given at the Click Clack Club. While that technical work occurs, the remainder of your crew can clean up the cobwebs and goo to make the place livable. By the time you finish, you’ll have a (very) humble but spaceworthy vessel on your hands.
The group gathers in the Mess Hall, as you have in several other starships. You clean off the grime, take a seat, and discuss the path forward. You now have a starship (or you will in a few days) and can escape the station. However, you are Burned in both the standard world and the underworld. Without lifting that Burn in one or both of those spaces you are doomed to live in exile outside the Pact Worlds, never to see your families or communities again.
"Alright, a few days work and at least this ship will fly. In the meantime, I'm gonna crash and get some rest. Maybe we talk about raiding Eline's office tomorrow? We'll need to scout it out and put a plan together."
Guess? heads back to the goblin neighborhoods and sleep for a day.
"As far as places to rest, this seems as safe as any other. Unless you don't like the idea of the electrovores coming by to snuggle with you during the night." Akh nods "In any case you looking less green will probably be a good idea Guess. We can plan our trip to Eline's office tomorrow, but that should definitely be next."
That sounds like the right order. That way if something should go wrong, we can go do the job on Triaxus while things cool down here. While you rest some of the rest of us will case her office in disguise.
He returns shortly in the familiar lashunta disguise.
Who's in?
"The job on Triaxus, assuming we can get this Rustbug up and flying properly, and get it out of the Station." Akh offers morosely.
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As Jaraduk leaves the Rustbug to swap his holo-disguise, he hears a muttered "Finally" shortly followed by two shots!
A bullet pings off Jaraduk's armor and a second one ricochets off the ship. The two snipers are back, about thirty feet away with large pistols aimed right at the starship door. Their leather suits would look equally at home in a business sector or as the bodyguards for a politician.
Jaraduk ducks back through the port airlock into the relative safety of the port cargo hold and calls to the rest of the group over the comms. His back is to the wall by the airlock, but the wide airlock doors are open! He looks over at the door controls, then remembers that the door mechanism was malfunctioning and lodged open when you arrived.
Ooooooooooh. Time for a new disguise.
He gets on the coms with the others.
I *scritch/radio static* don't think we're going anywhere for now.
Jaraduk kicks himself mentally and draws his grenade launcher, which is loaded with more variety than before.
The first time he leans over the covering crate he sends a web grenade at one of them.
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Just as Guess?'s eyes begins to close, Jaraduk raises the alarm over comms. With a sigh, Guess? mumbles to himself, 'A poisoned goblin's work is never done...'
Round 1: Guess? moves while drawing his rifle.
Round 2: Guess? moves some more to the rail overlooking the cargo hold, using the support column for cover.
"We have you outnumbered, we're in a fortified position, and you have to board this ship through an airlock bottleneck. You idiots were supposed to wait until we ALL stepped off the ship before ambushing us. Now given that I've explained our tactical position AND evaluated your tactical error, don't ya think this is gunna be a lost battle that will end badly for you?
"Fortunately for you, I'm in a charitable mood today. Clear outta here and you'll live to die trying to assassinate us another day. That way, you'll have a few more nights of partying and drinking. Y'know, give that decadent chocolate cake with waaaay too many calories a try. Puff that luxurious cigar that costs three month's pay. Live a little with the bit of time you have left!
Or don't clear out now and you lose out on those extra days of living. Your choice!"
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"Yeah.. we ain't following you across the whole darn station anymore. Thanks for the ship!" Of course... their words are a bit hampered by the fact that each assassin is struggling out of the mess from Jaraduk's grenades. Both struggle for a few seconds then pop into action when they see Melissa! Their bullets pass past her electric ray, all three beings taking hits.
Melissa SP 0/55 HP 21/57 RP 9/10
Akh x3 SP 99/99 HP 63/67 RP 8/8
Guess? SP 54/54 HP 39/47 RP 10/10 ; Fortitude Debilitated (-4 penalty to Fortitude saves, Constitution checks, and Constitution-based DCs. If he takes a standard action, he immediately loses 1 Hit Point.)
Del x3 SP: 45/45, HP: 49/49, RP: 5/5
Jaraduk SP 72/72, HP 65/69, RP 10/10
Pink Assassin 27 Damage
Blue Assassin 27 Damage
It takes Akh some time to wind his way out of the mess and down to the cargo hold, but once he catches direct view of the dastardly snipers (and Melissa already on the ground) he springs into a speedy flying dash. He activates his thruster heels and rapidly closes the distance with the blue assassin before trying to slash the fellow with his claw.
The next time Jaraduk leans over the crate he sends his last frag grenade ii at one of the assassins.
"Alright, let's get it on! While you two are in the process of 'killing' us, I don't suppose you'd care to confirm who sent you, do you?"
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Melissa hits 'the ugly one' then runs for cover. Right as the assassin looks to his partner and says, "Droon, am I the ugly one?" Akh answers the question with a reality rending whip - that... Mr. Ugly has just enough time to dodge.
Jaraduk's grenade blasts into the other assassin, who was too busy holding in a chuckle to avoid the explosion. Guess?'s shot hits the station wall next to the attacker, who calls back. "Who sent us? Our paychecks come through the employee portal just the way yours used too! Before you went AWOL!" Both assassins' hands twitch and they spring forward at the same time - reacting to some hidden message. They spring past Akh, both turning midway to fire a pistol round into his back. Akh's fast reactions and heavy armor deflect both bullets.
Melissa SP 12/55 HP 57/57 RP 9/10
Akh SP 99/99 HP 63/67 RP 8/8
Guess? SP 54/54 HP 38/47 RP 10/10 ; Fortitude Debilitated (-4 penalty to Fortitude saves, Constitution checks, and Constitution-based DCs. If he takes a standard action, he immediately loses 1 Hit Point.)
Del x4 SP: 45/45, HP: 49/49, RP: 5/5
Jaraduk SP 72/72, HP 65/69, RP 10/10
Red "Droon" Assassin 44 Damage
Blue "Mr. Ugly" Assassin 47 Damage
"Oh right. Long day. Forgot you're from The Company. Alrighty then, just FYI - you're not getting paid enough. I know cuz none of us were!"
Guess? fires at Droon!
Jaraduk sets his grenade to go off and then starts a dangerous game. The "wait on the fuse" game. The kind you play as a kid with fireworks (until a finger is lost).
He begins to grin, about to throw it when one of the assassins rounds the corner and encroaches on him. His grin turns to a start in surprise. He looks down at the grenade to make sure he's still holding it securely.
tick, tick, tick...
Back up at the assassin. Then he lobs it over the crate at the other assassin.
"...don't get them THAT hard....
Guess?, who was looking pretty happy with himself with the last shot shrugs in response.
"I'm starting to think you'd be happier if I left my weapon on non-lethal mode all the time. But that's crazy talk, amirite?!?"
Akh whirls about, letting bullets just barely miss him or glance off his armor. When the assassins start trying to skirt past him, he charges at the one that's closest and tries to make him regret it. "Definitely crazy talk Guess. We actually need an extra-lethal mode on most people's weapons."
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Melissa's electricity snaps between the two assassins, then Guess? knocks Droon over onto his back. Though whether that's because of the precise placement of Guess?'s shot or because the bullet pierced an artery, knocking the assassin unconscious... we'll never know.
The second assassin, who will forever be known as "The Ugly One" takes a whip to the back as he repositions himself. He dives through a freezing explosion. Del, catching up to the rest of the group, warps the air around the assassin into an acidic response to an overly spicy burrito. With a second lash of Akh's whip, the assassin goes down.
COMBAT OVER!
Melissa SP 12/55 HP 57/57 RP 9/10
Akh SP 99/99 HP 63/67 RP 8/8
Guess? SP 54/54 HP 37/47 RP 10/10 ; Fortitude Debilitated (-4 penalty to Fortitude saves, Constitution checks, and Constitution-based DCs. If he takes a standard action, he immediately loses 1 Hit Point.)
Del x4 SP: 45/45, HP: 49/49, RP: 5/5
Jaraduk SP 72/72, HP 65/69, RP 10/10
Red "Droon" Assassin 142 Damage, Unconscious & Dying
Blue "Mr. Ugly" Assassin 139 Damage, Unconscious & Dying
Great, two more bodies to dispose of. Do they have comms we can use to send back threatening messages to the company? Or maybe just prank call them.
He begins the customary looking over their persons for usable goods.
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"You say two more bodies to dispose of, I say two more hands on the mops cleaning electrovore "presents" out of the air vents. Honestly it's almost as bad as the exploding defrex in there. Or maybe Guesse can impersonate them and we can collect the bounty on ourselves. Probably easier if we know who to email for that. "
As a quasi trained medic, Melissa knows to remove the threats to the patients life in order of immediacy. In this case, it's the party...
Run up and stabalize both. As an apology she'll get the ugly one first. (can't miss the roll)
Once they're tied up and looted try to get them conscious
"Why AREN"T you doing THAT! I'm STILL picking bits of Vesk Eye Six out of my fur. "
"Because it's a well-known fact that weapons set to kill are more accurate." says Guess? sincerely as he heads back to bed.
Before laying down, he remarks on comms, "Maybe we can use their gear to report the mission in as a success and make everyone think we're dead? That'll drop The Company's guard down when we break into Eline's office, amirite?
"And by the way, if you bring those two assassins back to life, wake me up. Always happy to help with torturing information out of captives!"
Having forgotten to turn off the transmit on his comms, the party is immediately treated to an earful of goblin snoring.
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You search the would-be assassins and find equal sets of weapon loadouts that look suspiciously like the EJ top of the line good, without the logos. Each has a gold AbadarCorp travel suit, elite semi-auto pistol with 36 rounds, phantom assassin rifle with 20 rounds,
ultrathin switchblade, holoskin, laser microphone scanner, and credstick (1000 credits). But these two are more professional than most of the warriors who have come after you over the last few months, neither has any form of identification or communication device. It seems these two had truly gone dark.
Melissa is able to get the pair conscious again. Once ungagged, the two humans begin speaking in... elven? They appear to be having a hurried conversation with each other in the airy tongue.
Guess? mumbles in between snores.
***SNORE***
"they're probably talkin bout turnin the tables on us or suicide pills in their teeth..."
***SNORE***
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"Come on guys if they handed you our real file you know you're fine. We'll drop you off somewhere you'll be out of our fur for a bit. But speak human before you get someone in the party paranoid to eat or grenade you? The file DOESN"T contain any info on the people i couldn't convince our party about. "
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"They REALLY don't look like the sort of people who like mopping up after electrovores, though, to be fair, I haven't met anyone who does. We shouldn't bother-" Akh stops talking when he sees Melissa has already stabilized the pair and started treating them. He grumbles "Nothing good's going to come from this."
He floats over to the duo after they wake up and hovers ominously above them. Even though they've been stripped of their equipment, he doesn't like the idea of them scrambling to safety and coming back to harass and/or assassinate the party once more. He looks over at Melissa, then at the pair "You're DEFINITELY not fine if you keep that up. You should talk to her."
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The pair of failed hitmen look up in shock at Akh. The Elven quickly changes to Common. "Uh... they did mention something about your proclivity for leaving dangerous enemies alive..." They share a look and continue. "All we do is log into the employee portal each morning and get our update on where you've been sighted recently. This tailing thing really isn't that hard when there's an official cross-corporation warrant out for you." Their chuckling awkwardly putters off at a look from Akh.
Akh looks over to Guess?, asking (and potentially waking him up) "So are you going to pose as them and report in? If so, do you need more info about them to do it? Otherwise, we can just keep them boxed up until we're ready to leave. That way they don't go changing their minds and informing their bosses early."
Guess? stomps up to the two captives with an air of fury and annoyance.
"Normally, I have the patience for sweet talk and / or long, drawn out physical torture. But I'm not feeling great and you two numbskulls are interrupting my beauty sleep. My priority is to get back to bed, NOT extract info out of you two."
Guess? pulls out an ultrathin switchblade.
"So tell us everything, including how to report in your mission as successful and that we're dead. Do that now and I'll let you live. Or don't and I'll slit your throats right now.
"I don't care which one you pick but I'll give you ten seconds to decide because I intend to be back in bed in 15 seconds. Y'hear?"
Guess? stares at the two of them with fire and fury in his eyes, then starts counting down, "Ten. Nine. Eight..."
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The assassins are... somehow more afraid of Guess?'s tired, sick but excellent placement of his boxcutter than Akh's well muscled but poorly placed flexed muscles. They provide you with their log-in instructions for the EJ company server. "Ms. Reisora really impressed on us that it was important to log in each day... Not sure why."
Akh nods "Log in every day? It's probably like something of a dead man's switch in case you get killed on the job. Oooh, or she had you both swallow bombs and if you don't log in their timers don't get extended and you explode. That sounds like something EJ would do."
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"Ms. Reisora really impressed on us that it was important to log in each day... Not sure why."
"Because she's expecting us to kill you and feed you to something with big sharp pointy teeth. Speaking of which, you can either stay here and be held captive to the goblins or get on the ship to..wherever we're going and help swab the decks and repair the place. It's a flying tetnus shot but if you're staying with the goblins you'll get a free half bucket of hand sanitizer...(i am definitely keeping the other half)"
"Guess, wouldn't your own teachings say to sell these two to the highest bidder who might be someone we don't like? "
"Guess, wouldn't your own teachings say to sell these two to the highest bidder who might be someone we don't like? "
"Yep, it's possible. But if they can maximize the return of what little resources they have, then I say more power to 'em! Despite our current circumstances, we're still far better off than ninety nine percent of the goblin population. Giving these assassins over would be noble charity work!"
"And if EJ buys them back?"
"Unless we execute them, it's bound to happen.
We can keep up the we're dead ruse by logging into the server as them until we depart Absalom. After that, we don't have a way to impersonate the assassins. And once we report we're dead, they'll get new assignments that we're not gunna fulfill. So EJ will figure out pretty quick we're still alive. So playing dead will last us only until we're space bound but we'll be harder to track by then.
If we keep them on the ship, they'll look for ways to murder us, sabotage us, or escape. Given enough time, they'll eventually succeed at one of them. The outcome of any of these is EJ wins or gains intel on us.
If we leave them with the goblins, our cover is maintained while we're still on station and even if the gobs sell em back to EJ, at least the gobs have made some money. We'll be in no worse position except these same two assassins may be reassigned to come after us again.
The only real alternative I see is to execute these two ourselves, which I'm pretty sure you don't want to do?"
"Now with all this being said, I'm not absolutely opposed to forcing them into indentured servitude on this rust bucket. There are sure to be toxic or radioactive or otherwise hazardous repairs required somewhere along the way that we can throw them at, rather than risk ourselves..."
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The team, a bit regrettably, decides not to kill the two assassins. You spend the night recuperating; this was especially necessary for Guess?. Del offers to take the night watch, seeing as she didn't take any damage in the fights to take the ship.
You wake in the morning to quite the surprise... Del and both EJ goons are gone! Did she leave to turn them into the authorities? Did she expect a change of heart for the darker, and allow the pair to escape to save their lives? Perhaps... something darker? You wait a few hours, but your favorite sarcesian does not return.
"I mean, why would EJ want to spend money on them now?" Akh swirls about "They're clearly worthless at assassining. If anything, EJ will probably want to clean them up as a loose end." He nods along with Guess?'s conclusions and theories.
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Later the next morning, Akh glumly theorizes "Del's decided to betray us. She was always talking about how her extremely vindictive sister wasn't all that bad. It must be that she's finally switched sides. I suppose that's fair."
Guess? will try to contact Del via comms and if unsuccessful, leave her a message. Guess? will also contact Tarika to let her know and put her feelers out to see if she can find any information about Del's whereabouts.
Guess? will also reach out to the people he knows and utilize whatever goodwill he's earned through his charity work as well.
"I'm sure Del didn't abandon or betray us. That's not her nature. It's possible she decided she needs time to herself and that she needs to strike a new path which I think we all agree is fine.
"But I'm more worried that somehow those assassins got the better of her and took her against her will. If she's safe, then no worries. But if she's in any danger, then we've gotta do everything we can to rescue her! She'd do the same for us."
The important question is: what will the goblins give us for them? Jaraduk wonders, given that they seem set on not doing the dirtiest of work with these assassins.
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The next morning...
Jaraduk frowns at the suggestion of Del's betrayal.
It could be her sister wants us to believe that and she got to her somehow. Perhaps some bit of leverage that she was waiting for a special occasion to use. I... hope she's okay.
He doesn't have as many connections as Guess?, but he doesn't let go easy.
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When Guess? contacts Tarika, the Brenneri picks up right away with tear stains on her fur. "Guys, guys... she's gone. She's gone." Tarika wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. "Sent me a note, she did. Said she had to get out, get out of the game. Get out while she still can, you know?" A brief sob, then she continues. "She always was too good for us. This life is hard, too hard for some people. Didn't say where she went. Maybe back to her asteroid bakery, who knows..." When you ask about the assassins, Tarika just shrugs. "Two lines of uncoded text, that's all I got. I'd hoped y'all knew more."
With at least some semblance of hope for Del's situation, and little else to go on, you decide to follow the only lead you have left: Del's sister. Eline's private office is in the Ring district. You head to the address, Dizzy's drone Digit beeping within your bag of holding. Melissa translates; he says something along the lines of "Let's go deposit that code and save a man's life! Onward, minions!" You walk by the address that Dizzy gave you and do a bit of surveillance. The office is marked only with an unassuming sign declaring E.R. Industries. The door is glas-steel, and within is a small reception room featuring a man behind a desk. Both the room and the man are comfortably and expensively decorated in white with gold accents.