Staar may not, but as Amariel keep a very keen eye on Denanne he notices something...odd. When it comes time for each player to set out their cards, the elf takes a sip from her wineglass before sliding out her set of three. But when Denanne retracts her hand Amareils sees that the other elf's drink is every so slightly lower in the glass than it was just a moment ago, without Denanne having put her mouth anywhere near it. As your target reclines back in her chair with a finger absentmindedly playing with the wine charm on the glass' stem, Amariel realizes why: Denanne is cheating, temporally. She is somehow (that part is somewhat unclear, perhaps some experimental or secret tech or magic?) bouncing back in time in short bursts if she encounters a revealed hand unfavorable to her, allowing her to adjust her own card selection with perfect knowledge.
Or course even if gives her a major advantage, it can only sharpen the odds with what she has to work with. And with Donovan stacking the deck against her both metaphorically and literally, when the cards are flipped the crowd gasps in surprise as the lashunta stands the victor!
A looks of genuine surprise breaks out across Denanne's face before she quickly regains her confident composure. "Well well well. Looks like you can read the cards after all. Certainly didn't expect that, but I'm impressed. Or...was it just beginner's luck, hmm? Chance can be a bit fickle of a force. Another round?"
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Amariel takes a sip from his cocktail that just arrived. He leans in and in a low voice, he asks Deanne, "So, at least in Osoro, you're not allowed to mess with the time stream when playing Baksu. I, uhhh, don't want to embarass you and call you out in front of this, uuuuh, casino, but maybe we should talk, privately."
Denanne does not respond to Amariel's whispered comments. You note however that in the following round while her smile and boasting continues, her posture is a bit stiff. And with Donovan having no such hesitation towards cheating again, he is able to win the second hand as well quite dramatically.
"It appears fate's whim has turned." Denanne says with a sigh as rises from her seat. "I suppose that's the problem with luck. I'll let you ride your streak as long as you can, but I can see the conditions will make doubling down a bad investment. I am always curious to see who Desna and the like is deciding the newly champion however. When you're do riding fortune's waves, come an have a drink with me at my table over there."
The archdirector nods towards a private table away from the casino floor's busier sections and heads over there herslef, getting her drink topped off along the way.
When you four do eventually arrive, the elf looks you all over carefully. Her extravagant demeanor is not longer present as she speaks to you in 'serious businesswoman' mode. "So, I have no idea who you are but you certainly can't say the same about me. You traveled all this way to splashily get this conversation. What do you want?"
The elf arches an eyebrow as Staar explains your position. ”One of your enemies, hmm? That wouldn’t happen to be a white-furred ysoki, would it Starfinders?”
She takes a deep sip from her glass ”I certainly don’t know why your group and hers have seemed to be at each other’s throat this past year. Nor do I especially care. That is your business between he two of you. But I can assure you I have no intention of voting against Iseki-Okaibo. The Executive Archdirector may have his flaws here and there, but Datch’s ambition is disquieting. Even if a CEO shake-up would improve the corporation’s efficiencies, I do not trust Datch’s motives for calling to do so now.”
With that, Denanne stands up and begins wandering away. The elf stops for a moment to give a brief look back after several steps, regarding each of you closely one last time, before moving similing and cheerfully into a mass of VIP politicians.
You make your way back to Absalom Station and deliver the good news about Denanne’s vote to Arvin. With the lashunta looking reliever and leaving to update the Society’s tracked vote count, he mentions that there is a potential disturbance in the Diaspora that needs investigation and directs you to meet with an allied scientist on the station for further details.
Waiting for you in a nearby lab is a verhtani scientist inspecting a pocket-sized cylindrical device equipped with retractable microscopes, syringes, and probes. She peers into one of the microscopes as she speaks, her attention clearly divided. “Dr. Monsylkis. A pleasure. Now, ever since some of our society’s agents exposed AbadarCorp’s unethical price-gouging of medicinal products, their pharmaceutical department went into overdrive. They began mass-producing affordable vaccines and serums, providing healthcare access to more Pact Worlds citizens. I consider that a resounding victory.”[/b] Dr. Monsylkis straightens and smiles, snapping the lens cap back into place.
“Thus, I found it strange that AbadarCorp hasn’t responded to a recent localized epidemic so close by in the Diaspora. Several days ago, Laelund Station quarantined itself to prevent the spread of an unknown virus. Despite many requests for help, AbadarCorp hasn’t even issued a statement acknowledging the situation. I fear that Datch, or the upheaval she’s causing in the company, is to blame.”
The doctor begins methodically disassembling the device. “We can’t let anyone undermine the Pact Worlds’ public health. Take this instrument to Laelund Station, and gather as much data as you can about the virus. If possible, find out where it came from. My lab can hopefully manufacture a vaccine using the samples and data you obtain.”
Dr. Monsylkis demonstrates to all of you how her device functions. First, it can collect and store living tissue samples for up to 4 weeks. Second, it contains probes that gather data on body temperature, heartbeat, and other vital signs, with programming for multiple species. Third, the device contains a database of all known bacterial and viral pathogens in the Pact Worlds.
Staar looks befuddled at the device, having no medicine or engineering skills. "We'll try our best. Do you have any contacts there that might help us?
"Not directly that I'm aware of." Dr. Monsylkis says. "Though it is possible that someone currently within the quarantine has heard of me and my work. In either case, I would imagine the station should be quite eager for assistance and aid to finally come whether its from AbadarCorp or at this stage any beneficent party."
Armed with an outline of the situation and the doctor's diagnostic tool, you re-board a shuttle and journey the days from Absalom Station out into the field of asteroids composing the Diaspora. Laelund Station comes into view: a tubular sealed set of sealed-off structures and space drifting amongst the countless rocks. Several expansions of new bays and habitats branch off of the station's midsection, but all appear to be currently unfinished.
As the your shuttle approaches, its comms beep with a hailing signal being broadcast at you. Answering it, a kasathan wearing a security uniform appears on the vidscreen before you. "Apologies, but Laelund Station is currently closed to visitors due to an ongoing medical situation. If you'd like to speak to the cooperative about contract labor or material orders you can contact our representatives through the normal channels. However, no unauthorized personnel are allowed on the Station at this time."
the kasatha's eyes widen and you see her leaning over out of frame and whispering to a nearby colleague. When she comes back into view her demeanor seems much more pleasant. "All right, if you're here to help, come into Docking Bay 9. That's the sector the infections seem to be centered in. We can send a map to your system as you arrive. You're still going to need to follow all health protocols: masks and gloves go on everyone leaving your ship and stay on."
With approval to land you're able to come into the low-gravity station. A few narrow corridors later 'Sector 9' opens up in front of you. A holographic terminal near the entrance displays an interactive map of the sector including a directory and the nearby cafeteria’s daily menu. Cheerful posters and potted plants decorate the space, but there is little movement about as most people seem to be confining themselves to their spaces for the most part. Two nearby exceptions you can hear voices in are the cafeteria and the medical bay.
The station sector's medical clinic is an oblong chamber contains a dismal tableau. A half-dozen feverish patients recline in cots drifting in and out of consciousness. All of them are being tended to by a solitary single medical bot that can’t quite keep up with its workload.
<Vesk temperature must be kept stable at 31.Dwarf's glucose levels dropping precipitously.Suuply of amino boosters approaching red-level rationg.> you hear the droid muttering as it moves about nonstop. Seeing you it halts for a moment and a red light shoots out from it to pass over you four. There's a beep and the droid turns back to its tasks. <No contagion symptoms detected.Clinic aid limited to critical cases at this time.>
Raia stoically and silently applies the sample-gathering device to the patients.
"We are Starfinders. We are here to collect samples and information about the disease, so we can procure a cure." Staar informs the drone.
<Starfinders, there are no stars to find here.Only sick patients.Treatment supplies running low however.Samples obtained without causing damage to the patients for purposes of diagnosing permanent cure an acceptable action>
Amariel and Donovon take a few minutes to download the cooperating droid's stored databanks. It seems that the first case of the infections began appearing a few weeks ago, though their spread and intensity has steadily increased. All of the early cases were diagnosed in residents living in this sector - Sector 9 - though in recent days suspected cases of the mysterious contagion have been reported spreading in other areas of Laelund Station.
Raia meanwhile is able to take careful tissue and blood samples from the ill patients in the clinic. The techmage runs some intial analysis that confirms that all six afflcited are infected with the same strange pathogen. Running the disease's properties through Monsylkis' pathogen database, Raia is able to find a matching affliction: a rare extraplanar virus called 'murkblight'.
The drone responds to Staar at least <Current treatment involves maintaining infected bodies temperatures to high enough values.Keeping fluid levels up to combat pallor.This unit does not have the datasets and programming regarding pathogen cause.>
With Raia's prior check, she doesn't know of any specific cure for the disease - it can be treated and fought off like any physical disease but murkblight is pernicious and takes a long time to fully be purge. . As for causes, most known cases of murkblight have been found to result due to the interaction of exposure with something from the Plane of Shadow.
If you head towards the residences/dormitories of the miners and workers, you can enter a small foyer to the area off of which several hallways stretch and wind. A directory on the wall notes dozens of names and whihc room is their's; some are set up as modest-sized single-occupant square while others are multi-room suites. Potted plants decorate the space to try and give the room a bit of cheer, but the tone is offset a bit by the multiple posters plastered on the walls urging caution and social distancing while outlining health protocols to be taken.
With Donovan laying on the polite charm, you begins knocking on and trying to check in with the sector's residents. A few will cautiously open their doors for you, while others refuse to do so but chat from behind their sealed entrances.
You learn that there is no official 'manager', at least not currently here. Laelund Station is an independent miner's cooperative: workers live here and go out to extract materials from the Diaspora, process them, or provide contract labor for some of the bigger corps around the Pact Worlds. Speaking with the residents, its revealed that the first sick person was Korai, a female vesk that hwas one of Laelunds Station's siccatite processing specialists. At first they thought it was just a stray bug or food poisoning, but when she didn't recover (and ultimately died) and more of the station began to show similar symptoms the miners here started to panic and grow wary. Now most of them stick nervously to their rooms when they don't need to leave for food or a check-up, though a few of the braver/more skeptical members of the station hang out in the cafeteria - one of the only places generally still open with all mining work halted due to the quarantine.
If you knock, a voice calls out through hacking coughs: "It's un- *Cough*-locked. Enter if you want, but *hrrm* may be safer to keep your distance."
"Strange *phleghm* creature?" the voice rasps as Staar swings the door open. The space is one of the larger residences: a suite containing two beds, a lavatory, and a rectangular glass terrarium and incubator on a table to the side. The overheard lights are dimmed to a point of near darkness, and the odor is even stronger in here. Inside the terrarium, Staar spies broken black eggshells and shed black scales inside the enclosure.
The source of the voice is lying in the southwestern alcove of the room. A dwarf sweating heavily and coughing into his hand responds to you even as he motions for you to keep safely back. "You asking about Fluffers? Haven't seen *cough* her for a few days. Got too sick to feed 'er so she got out somehow. She *hack* isn't causing trouble is she? 'Er eggs were good to help spice up that gruel they call food here: think we could forgive a little *archggdkfhr* mischief in exchange for that."
The dwarf, Ragi, if pressed would explain 'Fluffers' was a spheroid, feathered creature he was keeping in the terrarium, and tells you she was very docile and calm.
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Using the aid token to get a successful Mysticism check to recall knowledge about 'Fluffers'.
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"Do you still have some of the eggs available? We would like to take a sample of them." Staar asks. "Can you tell us more about it? What does it eat and how do you usually call it back to its terrarium?"
First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo continues to stay in contact as she gives updates on the situation. ”Our agents have brokered an alliance with an influential member of the AbadarCorp Board of Archdirectors. We believe this new contact will do everything within her power to positively influence her colleagues in their upcoming vote.”
Using the aid token to get a successful Mysticism check to recall knowledge about 'Fluffers'.
----
"Do you still have some of the eggs available? We would like to take a sample of them." Staar asks. "Can you tell us more about it? What does it eat and how do you usually call it back to its terrarium?"
"*coughcoughcough* None anymore. Sold 'em to the kitchen as they were laid. "Er eggs were *ack* delicious. Been laid up, down with that *cough* space flu goin' around. 'Aven't been able to feed 'er. She's nay a *hack* picky eater. Hope'n 'er nose's just been *COUGH* able to sniff out some food."
Ragi freely allows you to collect the shell fragments and scales in the terrarium if you think the samples would help. He will also point out to you where the station keeps its spare food storage .
You can head to the food storage, only to find the pantry ransacked. Torn ration packages litter the floor, and even Donovan's untrained survival skills notice a gaping hole in the southern wall reveals part of the adjacent room. A cluster of cylindrical, inky black casings hangs from the ceiling overhead. The silicone-like structures appear to have burst open from within.
Another sign this is the right place: the fact that four black-scaled creatures cvered in quills are snarling at you and moving to strike!
With a snarl, one of the zuvaks bounds through the hole in the wall into the larger chamber. It flicks a limb towards you in the doorway and a black quill launches out to strike Staar. The quill feels chilly and somewhat insubstantial as it pierces the solarian, and leaves her with a queasy feeling...
for
Initiative
Donovan
Donovan reacts quickly, frightening the nearest shadow beast before striking it with his laser. The fire seem to be mildly ineffective, but most of the burn hits the zuvak as is seems quite disoriented.
As the blast rings out, one of the zuvaks runs right up to Staar and bites down on her hard.
for
Initiative
Raia
With the doorway narrowly held by Staar, Raia focuses on the injured beast and conjures a trio of translucent medical syringes to strike it.
Raia's target howls in pain and seems very badly injured.
It moves up next to the zuvak at the door and tries to get its own bite off at Staar.
for
Even with the doorway blocking the angle (granting cover), it still takes another bite out of the fighter.
The final of the four beasts appears to gaze for a moment at the cramped entryway. It then breaks quickly out of sight through the hole in the pantry. You soon after hear a large *THUNK* from the left and see a nearby door start to buckle from the a blunt force.
Initiative
Amariel 6/32 SP, need up to three Fort saves
Staar
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Staar attunes photon and forms her solar weapon - it envelopes her right arm from hand to elbow and looks like a gauntlet of erratic plasma (the electric & fire type), with “droplets” of energy falling from it but disappearing before hitting the ground.
She punches the blue zuvak in front of her:
Then takes a guarded step to the side.
With Staar landing a solid blow against the zuvak and then side-stepping to open up a furious bullseye blast from Amariel, the zuvak in the doorway EXPLODES in black ichor.
With a bay, one of the remaining zuvaks runs in an arc around its injured colleague and through the remains of the other through the doorway. Seeing Amariel directly in front of it, it tries to chomp down on the elf but fails to get through his armor.
for
Initiative
Donovan
Raia moves to provoke a bit from the scared zuvak, then unleashes a cone of Overheated flame into it and the room beyond, also scorching the badly injured one.
for
The zuvak in the doorway's opportunistic bit fails to hit, but he and his partner dodge the worst of the flame. That's still enough to put down the beast further in the room though, damaged as it already was from the missile and laser hits!
From the left another loud *THUMP* hits. This time the sound is accompanied by a CRACK as the doorframe splinters and a snarling zuvak steps through the broken doorway to the other pantry room and into the hall
Initiative
Amariel
Staar 9/32 SP