You have all received a message to meet at the Exo-Guardian's HQ on absalom station.
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“Hello, everyone! I’m doctor DuQuesne and it’s a great pleasure to be working with you all. I joined the society only a little while ago, so, after a lifetime of working in a corporation in Akiton, this is all quite fresh and exciting!”. DuQuesne is an older halfling, with a gentle smile and calm demeanor, wearing casual clothing. He goes around the room shaking hands or equivalent appendages.
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A large female Vesk walks in. Her scales are a deep green except for a row traveling from the top of her head to (you assume) the tip of her tail. Those spread through the color spectrum ending up in a bright purple. She wears heavy armor carries a wicked looking Doshko in one hand and has an almost evil looking large firearm over her back. There are the usual smaller weapons and packs here and there as well. A good sized symbol of Desna hangs around her neck.
She smiles at the assembled group, "Greetings! My name is Yith, a humble servant and priest of Desna. I hope we will have good luck and prosper on this mission."
A heavily augmented host shirren gazes out on as crews put the finishing touches on a fully restored warehouse. Their antennae quiver with pride as Starfinders of all walks of life use the extensive training gym, workshop, and recreational facilities. The shirren, Zigvigix, turns away and telepathically greets their guests. “Welcome! Sorry, I was distracted. These renovations were worth the effort!” The shirren leads the way to a conference room and brings up a holographic star chart. “Check this out! This shows the location of—you guessed it—Sangoro’s Bulwark!
“The Bulwark was our headquarters until we lost contact with it shortly after the Scoured Stars incident. First Seeker Luwazi restricted us from investigating, since we had suffered extensive losses. But now we know the Bulwark’s location. Some Starfinder agents recovered data from a ship, the Struggle’s Scholar, that fled the fortress. It’s taken a long time, and extensive help from the Dataphiles, but we’ve finally unscrambled the data!”
“With this new data, we can go back to the Bulwark! Well, not exactly. The main fortress is shrouded in darkness by some unknown force. It sounds neat, but right now it’s annoying! However, the Dataphiles found something fun. Before we lost contact, the Exo-Guardians at the Bulwark moved their most sensitive equipment to the vaults of a nearby satellite facility called the Arsenal. It’s outside the shroud of darkness, so it’s open for business! We can’t mount a massive assault on the Bulwark—the Society can’t afford the negative press, what with the smear campaign going on—but a small mission to take back the Arsenal’s weapons seems wise. We wouldn’t want them falling into the wrong hands.”
Zigvigix points to a dim red star on the chart. “There’s a planet, Mazdrun, orbiting this star. That’s our destination. I’ll accompany you to Mazdrun. You’ll explore the Arsenal, learn what information you can, and recover the caches from the lower levels. Got it?”
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To the room enters slim android. He looks like he've been through a lot in his life. He wears old and patched clothing, and for the most part holds an unlit cigarette in his mouth. He is wearing a defrex hyde armor and on his back he carries a highly modified rifle that looks of high quality and contrasts with other things that the android has.
His left arm is an augmentation and looks like a one belonging to a Vesk than a humanoid. A massive arm with a hand of four fingers. His other hand is of regular size and matching type to his humanoid stature. His blue eyes are shining as he looks through the room.
"I am glad that we are heading to the arsenal, it was sometime when we got the codes of Sangoro's Bulwark"
"I am Hellih and I am a gunsmith, my shop is in Downlow if you ever need to find it."
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A ysoki with a staff walks in.
Greetings. I am Nimh. I am one of the Datafiles members who has been working on collecting and decoding the data about the Bulwark's location. While I spend much of my time as an attendant in a zoological park, the Society asks me to lend my experiences with combining technology and magic on occasion.
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A small gray furred ysoki keeps largely still as she slowly nods along with Zigvigix's briefing. Introducing herself as Teka, she has a few visible augmentations and bracings long her body and joints, but largely hidden away by stitched together bits of colorful cloth.
Pondering the mission she slowly follows along before asking, "what sort of equipment did those dears send to the Arsenal? Is there any sign of what horrible force has taken over the Bastion?"
Zigvigix lights up when he realizes who is on the assignment today. "Hellih! Nimh! You were some of the agents that secured the location of the Struggle's Scholar! And Nimh also helped secure the assistance of Cel- erm... the Dataphiles! Thanks to you this mission is possible, and with your help I'm sure it'll go smoothly!"
As it turns out, between your experiences, DuQuesne's contacts, and Nimh's research, you've got quite a bit of intel on your destination.
Sangoro was a vesk Starfinder who discovered the Bulwark and gave it to the Society. Many Starfinders distrusted him, as the Pact Worlds were still in conflict with the Veskarium, but he wound up founding the Exo-Guardians faction and became a distinguished Starfinder.
Sangoro’s Bulwark is a massive fortress left behind by a forgotten alien race and the only structure on Mazdrun. The Exo-Guardians kept the planet’s location secret due to the weapon stockpiles in the extensive passages and vaults beneath the fortress.
After Sangoro’s Bulwark fell, no one knew its location— except possibly Guidance, the Society’s amalgam digital consciousness. Guidance ignored all requests to provide the fortress’s location. It has taken the Exo-Guardians and Dataphiles working together for several months to unscramble the data from Struggle’s Scholar and locate the base.
Rumors tell of interplanar anomalies surrounding Mazdrun, and the planet itself is inhospitable. The crater containing Sangoro’s Bulwark somehow maintains a normal atmosphere and is miraculously protected from the planet’s frozen dust storms and radioactive volcanic fallout.
Rumors tell of a battalion of angels stationed at the facility to protect it—or possibly to keep it in check.
“Great question! It was all classified. We know the facility was used for research as well as storage. Whatever is there, it will be interesting! Not sure what took over Bastion. If you can find out let us know!”
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"I'll be sure to bring more than a few treats. This seems like it could very well be a more than a little effort dealing with the unknown. I'm certain they will be a pleasure after whatever this entails, and if not it will still be a lovely meal."
Teka slowly gathers her bag and prepares to head off to properly equip herself with foodstuffs and equipment.
Zigvigix invites the PCs aboard the Thunderous Transgressor. This rusty starship bristles with scanners and laser weapons. "Trip to Mazdrun will be a couple weeks, so make yourselves comfy!"
Once the starship is on it's way, Ziggy pulls up the vidgame Congruenz on his display by the sensor suite, and acts fairly withdrawn. He spends most of his time playing the game and obsessively checking scanner logs between levels, only occasionally turning to show off a new high score.
Towards the latter end of your 15 day journey, Zigvigix finally pulls themself out of their vidgame induced stupor. "So... what all do you know about Aballon's Ice wells? I got a message from Venture-Captain Naiaj inquiring about sending agents on an exploratory mission into the frozen jungles. Seems a bit beneath Starfinders of your ability... but I'm happy that Naiaj finally managed to convince the resident Xenowardends to allow the Society access to the site!" After that little comment, they go back to being reserved for the last stretch of the journey.
A few hours after exiting the Drift, the Transgressor approaches Mazdrun. The planet is visible only because of the glowing ash clouds at its poles; the distant red sun is too dim to provide illumination. Zigvigix finally comes out of their funk and excitedly points out the planet's features. "Who has the helm? Slow us down for a better look! Oooooohhhhh...."
"Anyhow... landing site coordinates are all set in, and I've sent you directions to the Arsenal. Less than a mile from where we're gonna park! Don't linger on the surface though... whatever overtook Sangoro's Bulwark could still be out there. I've got an all-terrain speeder fueled up and ready... I call her "Bumpy!"
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Hellih when on board of the ship work on his gun. He cleans the individual parts, run the diagnostics of elements responsible for focusing the laser beam, transforming the battery energy into laser etc. When he got himself tired with the gun, he works on the ship, mostly doing small repairs to the engine or ship internals.
"Aballon? Nothing really. I was once there but stayed in the mega-city"
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"Bumpy? Sound promising. " if no one else would be eager Hellih could pilot the thing.
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"I've never traveled to Aballon. My trips always seem to take me farther from our sun. Maybe I should change that, but I rather spend more time with the little ones and I'm sure I would want to take them there. Deary me no."
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"Oh not at all. I wasn't expecting the smoothest of trips from the outset of our little venture. I'm far more worried to whatever might be lingering here. It was powerful enough to cut off a number of trained Exo-Guardians and I dare say that I don't think myself better than any of them. We should be cautious and quick."
The occasional flash of distant lightning throws the shadowy aura surrounding Sangoro’s Bulwark into stark contrast against the planet’s pale surface. Looming towers of stone and metal are barely visible behind the shroud. Following Ziggy's directions you all load up into Bumpy and make the trip to the entrance of the arsenal where you reach a 10-foot-wide ramped tunnel leading beneath the surface. Bumpy is too big to fit any further. The tunnel levels out after a hundred yards, then continues another half mile to an airlock door.
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"I will say that any time a flight or drive isn't interrupted by brigands or sand serpents then it is a good day. Not the most exciting though, very few tales to tell the children."
She gives a nod to the others as she looks about the hall to her allies matching their investigation. "Although it wouldn't be the worst if I had to add a little flair to the story if this mission turned out to be too peaceful."
After a cursory look Teka runs a scan with her radiation sweeper, checking the display for signs of radiation and she keeps it active as she waits for the door to be opened.
The door does not appear to be trapped, nor is it locked. While the entrance is only dimly lit by what appears to be emergency lighting, the access panel still functions. Touching the panel causes the door to slide up into the ceiling, however once the door is opened it appears as though Nimh's cause for concern is quite justified...
This lobby has a wide reception desk embedded with cracked, dusty vidscreens. Several maggot husks, each over a foot long, cover the scratched floor. Hovering just outside of the door are a trio of flying insects which immediately begin to converge on the opening door. Behind the console at the far side of the room is a giant beetle-like vermin.
Round 1:
Twitch
Yith
Hellih
Big Bug
Nimh
Little Bugs
Teka
DuQuesne
Nimh recognizes these as Apari Constituents... vermin which given their hive-like nature would indicate that the massive creature behind the cosole is the Apari they spawned from.
In Hellih's attempt to avoid shooting his compatriots and the wall, he has a difficult time seeing more than a passing glimpse of his target. He crosses his fingers, fires off a shot, and nails the far wal instead. Yith has a clearer shot but in her haste forgets that the procedure is 'ready, aim, fire' rather than 'ready, fire, aim.' Twitch settles for the tried and true method of vermin removal, and severely batters the nearest one.
The Apari at the rear fires a spike over the console at DuQuesne, apparently made of tissue and bone from the creature itself. With a shudder and a sickening tearing sound, a large chuck of the Apari splits off and sprouts wings, becoming another of the smaller constituents which flies forward to attack Yith.
Round 1:
Twitch
Yith
Hellih
Apari (-20, -1 RP)
Purple Apari Constituent
Nimh
Yellow Apari Constituent (-11)
Blue Apari Constituent
Green Apari Constituent
Teka
DuQuesne (-15)
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Be careful, the smaller ones can fly and change the damage they do with their claws. I don't think it will help us, but they can't get more than a couple of hundred feet from the big one without getting sick. No real resistances or weaknesses and they are mindless, but if they get close to the big one, they can meld with it and it regains health. Kind of the reverse of what it just did.
Nimh pulls his Thunderstrike Sonic pistol as he moves to get a clearer shot at Pink.
And I think I can see the Big Bug now
Nimh doesn't know much about the big bug other than what is already apparent. The creature is an Apari, which is a large beetle-like vermin capable of separating pieces of itself to form additional drones.
Two of the Apari drones fly over the frontliners heads . One of them swipes at Nimh, and the other at Twitch. The last buzzes a little forward to fill in the doorway and swipes at Yith.
Round 1/2:
Teka
DuQuesne (-15)
Twitch (-8)
Yith
Hellih
Apari (-20, -1 RP)
Pink Apari Constituent (-8)
Nimh (-7)
Yellow Apari Constituent (-11)
Blue Apari Constituent
Green Apari Constituent
Hellih sears the drone in front of him as DuQuesne dispatches 2 in rapid succession as they lash out at his outstretched arm.
Round 1/2:
Teka
DuQuesne (-15)
Twitch (-8)
Yith
Hellih
Apari (-20, -1 RP)
Nimh (-7)
Yellow Apari Constituent (-11)
Blue Apari Constituent (-15)
Teka finishes off the contituent as Yith blasts a pair of rounds into the corner. One strikes the creature's reinforced shell to no effect, and the other toasts a corner of the console, and gets swiped at by the remaining constituent for his trouble.
Round 1/2:
Teka
DuQuesne (-15)
Twitch (-8)
Yith
Hellih
Apari (-20, -1 RP)
Nimh (-7)
Yellow Apari Constituent (-11)
Twitch blasts the last Constituent out of the air, but no sooner does it fall than another splits off of the Apari... followed by another boney spear, this time at the attempted assailant.
The newly spawned constituent flies forward and attempts to pierce the other frontliner.
Round 2/3:
Nimh (-7)
Teka
DuQuesne (-24)
Twitch (-8)
Yith
Hellih
Apari (-40, -2 RP)
Green Apari Constituent