Antares sends a massive burst of electricity through the tentacle wrapped around her, and with a flash and the scent of singed hair, the creature releases her and drops to the ground.
Skip hits the other cat as it passes by, while Bonkers pulls out a needle and stabs it. It seems sluggish, but is still looking hungry.
Round 2 - bolded may go
Red (-15 HP, -1 attack for 6 rounds, -2 AC for 7 rounds)
Antares-1 (-9 SP, grappled)
Bonkers
Blue
Donovan (-8 SP)
Morbo
Norbert
Skip
Norbert disorients the remaining zrulicat, and Skip, Donovan and Morbo combine to take it down.
Antares-1 (-9 SP)
Donovan (-8 SP)
Now that combat is over, the party can examine the cats. They look gaunt and underfed, but bits of flesh in their teeth and claws indicate that they have been hunting recently.
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Eventually, the tracks you followed merge to join with multiple sets of hooved footprints, all leading to a single location.
The forest gives way to a patchwork of tree-dotted fields, some fallow and some lush with dark-green grass. The fields encircle a cluster of mobile prefabricated modules that form a small settlement. A river runs through the ring of buildings, and a rope and plank bridge provides a path across the swift waters below. Dozens of hooved footprints flatten the grass throughout the meadow, but at first glance, the village appears deserted.
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Antares-1 can't help but glance around at Norbert's warning. She hadn't seen anything save for a deserted village. "Perhaps they are of the Startreader Herd? Should we hail them?" The android is still glancing around curiously, and nods at Bonkers' suggestion. "Yes. Though that presumes them to be peaceful as well."
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Skip smiles, and his smile seems to beam a little brighter. He moves to a few members of his crew and places a hand on their shoulders as he passes by. "Well friends, we've followed the hoofed prints this far. With a little it of luck this will be the herd, defending themselves for whatever attacker they've been threatened by out here. Come, let's try to speak with them. I'll step out first. Anyone coming with me? Anyone hanging back, keep your eyes peeled and your safeties off"
You're not sure if it's his confidence or something else, but it seems to be contagious.
"Wish me luck" he said at last, and steps from the forest and into the grassy feilds. He keeps his pistol in its holster, and keeps his hands open and at his sides. he raises his right hand and activates his Starfinder Subdermal graft, signalling that he is with the society. He calls out across the feilds to the buildings. "Hello there! We recieved a distress call and we are here to lend our aid!"
A familiar voice answers them from a central building, shouting, “That’s close enough! Who are you and why are you here?”
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"Of course, where are my manners" Skip calls out to the voice. "I am Skip Intro, agent of the Starfinder Society. I and my team were aboard the ship Kagzala's Jewel when we received a broken distress transmission from Colrid of the Star Treader herd. First Seeker Ehu Hadif tasked us to investigate."
Colrid pokes his head out the door and invites you inside the prefab building, which resembles a cinder block on wheels. "Thanks for coming. Our herd normally roams the meadow freely, but the recent string of unusual zrulicat attacks disrupted our routines. To make matters worse, some of our herd have gone missing without a trace over the past weeks. I was captured by poachers several years ago, and I'm worried that the missing herd members have suffered a similar fate. I long to fight back against the danger menacing my people, but fear and uncertainty temper my desire."
“The wildlife attacks started a few months ago, and it’s only getting worse. Animals claw or peck at us wherever we go—it’s as if the entire planet is on edge. The zrulicats are the worst. They rarely troubled us before and were easy to avoid, but now they hunt us. Stranger still, when the zrulicats attack their prey, they no longer eat their kills. They just leave the corpses laying there to rot. I don’t understand it.”
“At first we thought Tansid got lost—he’s young and hasn’t mastered the art of navigation yet. Then, a few days later another was taken. Five members of our herd have disappeared over the past two weeks. The witnesses refuse to speak of what they saw, and my attempts to track the missing have failed.”
“Soorid, Trisu, and Mulrid all say they saw something strange. You should talk to them about what they witnessed, but you’ll need to earn their trust first.”
"Let us rest until morning. It is late enough that none are likely to be receptive. I will point them out when they emerge for the day."
Colrid allows you to spend the rest of the night at their camp. In the morning, he indicates the three dromada he wishes you to speak to.
Mulrid kneels in one of the fallow fields sowing seeds. They kneel in one of the fallow fields sowing seeds, fretting aloud about completing their planting before dusk.
Soorid is relaxing near the river. She’s an elderly dromada with gray fur who acts unafraid of you. Soorid is one of the waterers responsible for maintaining irrigation of the meadows. She loves magic tricks.
Colrid does not see Trisu, but says that he may be lingering in the sleeping module. This is an open-air pavillion, and as you approach, you notice a shock of red fur move to behind a crate and emit a deep moaning sound.
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[are we doing this one at a time or all three at once for time sake? Posting them in order so.. either way. Take from the top or all at once. :) [/ooc]
Bonkers slowly approaches Mulrid, "I'm happy to help you with that."
"Ah, not quite the soil i'm used to. Perhaps one of my compatriots can do better."
As they approach Sorid, Bonkers lets someone else try it first...
If pretty much everyone fails he will shrug and try a simple trick.
When the group tries to find the last one and an odd sounds is heard...
"There, behind that crate. Don't worry, we're here to help. We are friends of Colrid and are happy to help his other friends..."
"Oh no! How long ago and which way? We will try to find your friend!"
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Skip looks on over the fields that Mulrid is tending. He decides that his knowledge of gardening and farming is limited. Furthermore, it may get his loafers dirty.
He makes his way to Soorid and sits beside her at the waters edge. He begins chatting in his usual way, trying to gain her trust. When the topic of magic comes up, Skip talks about his views as a Witchwarper. As he talks he plays with a small grey stone he finds at the water's edge. "Well, magic, like life and reality itself, is a subjective thing. It's all in the eye of the beholder. What might seem like a simple trick may be something much deeper. Take this small stone for example. It's been here for countess years, forged by pressure and time." He closes his hand around it as he speaks. "It has remained unchanged all this time. A constant. Or has it? Perhaps the simple act of observing it has shaped our perspective on it. What if we chose to perceive it differently. If we chose to believe a thing was so, could we manifest it?" He thinks for a moment, open his palm and extends a red rock to Soorid. "Or maybe it was red all along, and I'm just a rambling old man. How do you perceive it?" he asks with a laugh.
Now that you have all the information from the herd, Colrid begs you to investigate the disappearances, starting with the cave Mulrid mentioned.
Mulrid’s directions lead you along a series of game trails that begin at the edge of the meadow and meander deep into the forest. Massive tree trunks the size of small starships rise above the trail, blocking your view of the sky above. A rainstorm passes over the forest, filling the air with mist as stray droplets trickle through gaps in the leaves. After the storm, faint shafts of sunlight refract into beautiful rainbows in the misty air.
At the edge of a small clearing, a 30-foot-high granite ridge rises above a collection of boulders, forming a series of caverns at its base. A reinforced steel door bars the way to the compound’s inner chambers.
With some timely advice from Morbo and Bonkers, Antares is able to bypass the security on the console and open the door.
A granite cliff rises above a small clearing, surrounded by large boulders and scree that form a cave opening. Heavy blast doors within the cave mouth open to reveal a long hallway flanked by holding cells. Within these cells, emaciated zrulicats alternately pace within the enclosures and throw themselves against the transparent cell doors.
Morbo locates a pressure plate just past where the group is standing attached to a turret in the ceiling.
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It's a good thing that Antares-1 feels no sense of performance anxiety as she gets to work on the turret, trying to disable it - along with the help of Bonkers as well as Morbo's tech assistant.
Compared to the lock, this one is child's play, and she glances over at Skip. "We should leave them be for now, I think. It appears that whoever is in charge here are purposefully starving the animals and then setting them free in the wilds where their malnourished state would certainly make them aggressive and unpredictable. It is no surprise that attacks have been on the rise. Perhaps we can find a source of food for them and undo the damage that has been done to them through this maltreatment."