Your lasers continue to prove a bit ineffective against the van, but Twila's driving is thwarting them at every turn.
Unable to gain ground on you to swerve around and escape, you see behind you the coated driver attempt a reckless maneuver as he swerves dangerously off the flats and onto a steeply downsloped dune. Twila can turn your van to pursue, but as you move to intercept you see the shobad's truck begin to lose control on the steep sand. It veers out of control and into a block of low-level and decrepit looking buildings, before crashing into one of them!!
By the time your van approaches the crash you see that the other vehcile is on its side, wrecked. The back doors are open, crates spilling out of the rear. The shobad that had been manning the turret gun is woozily looking around - still scorched from laser fire against it - while the lab coated shobad seems to be trying to stuff various vials and papers into his pockets.
Seeing you approach, that one yells
She throws her coat back and begins reaching for her gun!
...and draws it and fires a dart out at Nalotrunos. It manages to pierce the vesk's skin, and the warrior feels a strange sensation. The scales around the dart seems to be getting slightly softer, easier to penetrate...
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Initiative
Twila-5
George-023
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Drawing her static arc pistol (and remembering that it only has two shots left in it), Twila-5 darts over to a small building, ducks behind it for a moment to hide, then pops back out to shoot at the greedy mad-scientist-wannabe. "You are such a dull trope!"
*Of course* I missed. Should've kept my mouth shut.
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the doctor shobad yells back as she takes a barrage of missiles from George. Even holding onto her gun, having two extra arms really lets her put her all into her sarcastic finger quotes while talking back.
She looks over to the wounded shobad , who roars and rushes forward around the crate to swing his massive hammer at the android mage.
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Initiative
Felix
Chip 0/7 SP, 7/8 HP, Checker 6 damage
Nalotrunos 4/8 SP, -2 AC
Vomatian
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It suddenly hits Chip that the this busting up the lab weren't intruders at all. They were destroying evidence.
"Running away from results you don't like is the exact opposite of science!" says Chip indignantly, giving Checker a gentle nudge toward the nearest Shobhad, "And were mostly trying to stop you because you keep attacking us."
Maybe because you're hoped up on poorly-formulated, rushed, designer did that failed their testing phase or something. Who can say?
Of course, along her was increasingly sounding like a good idea.
As Checker charges the soldier, Chip takes a shot at the scientist.
Chip's pistol has Burn 1d4 as a critical effect.
Nalotrunos steps towards the nearby shobad. Glowing with photons, he stabs out at it.
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@GM Zoomba - Actually George suffered 5 points of electrical damage before this combat so his SP should currently be 5/19.
As Nalotrunos and Checkers send the shobad fighter reeling, bleeding from multiple open wounds, Chip's shot sets the scientist on fire!
she yells, frantically trying to fight the flames even as she pulls and lobs a greande right by Chip.
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Initiative
Twila-5
George-023 5/19 SP, need Reflex
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George 09-23 attempts to dodge out of the way of the explosion.
With Aeon stone added in it is now 13.
The android's Aeon stone activates just in the nick of time and provides him with just enough of a boost to avoid the worst of the blast.
George 09-23 steps carefully backwards as he concentrates on the beast of the shobbad (green) right in front of him. A wave of spiral energy attacks his mind.
The hammering shobad clutches his head, and with a roar, crumples right at Nalotrunos and s Checker's feet.
Initiative
Twila-5
Felix, need Reflex
Chip 0/7 SP, 5/8 HP, Checker 7 damage
Nalotrunos 4/8 SP, -2 AC, need Reflex
Vomatian 13/14 SP
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Nalo looks at the downed shobhad, then puts his hand to his new wound. He bares his teeth and hisses, then dashes on a circuitous winding route toward the last enemy standing. He lunges behind some kind of storage tank for cover and puts his back to it. He stares at the tip of his glowing blue spear, then closes his eyes and waits for the opportune moment.
The scientist roars and fixates on Nalotrunos as he approaches with this spear. But this distraction lets Twila fire a shot that sends her reeling, and a quick second beam from Felix drops her for good!
With both shobad's dropped, you have a moment to take a look at their van to see what exactly they were in such a hurry to flee with. The vehicle's rear is packed full of laboratory equipment and crates. Many of the crates both unrefined shimmerstone and ampoules of the kinwood sap. Others hold enough finished shimmersheen to enhance and power a small army!
While examining the items you also come across a macabre sight. Stuffed halfway into a partially-broken crate is the lifeless body of a human male. His face is brusied and bloody, but you can still recognize that this is the missing Firiz.
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George 09-23 has a good look to see if he can learn more but perhaps his injuries are getting in the way of his investigation as he can learn no more.
"Well, I am going to take a rest first but it looks like we have completed our mission. Unfortunately we have found our man."
@GM Zoomba - I am planning on taking a short rest to recover my character's stamina. :)
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"Yes, take a breather. I'll examine him." Thank goodness he didn't die. That was too close for comfort. The macabre irony of George-09-23 witnessing her predecessor's death, only for her to witness his, is too eerie; she banishes the thought from her mind.
"They broke his neck, more than a day ago. He must have been kept in cold storage, but is beginning to thaw now. ... I wonder why they killed him. There are many possible theories." I hope it means he was trying to stop them. ...and that he was doing it for good reasons, not just trying to eliminate competition or something. "We need to get his body back into cold storage before he deteriorates enough to be unpleasant. I'll start loading this stuff up in the functional vehicle so we can head back to town once we've caught our breath. Can someone help me move Firiz first?"
George can easily take a breather after the adrenaline-fueled chase and fight. This area seems to have been mostly abandoned, and there's no clear danger - or even non-dangerous creatures - about.
Luckily the shobad's van wasn't quite filled to the brim - likely because you interrupted them while they were clearing out their main facility. Over the course of a quarter-hour you can carefully transfer the crates of gear, ingredients, and Firiz's remains over from the crashed van into your own vehicle.
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After giving the area a final once-over to make sure there's nothing else hidden about here, Twila's able to drive back to the spaceport without incident. When you eventually reach out to Makao the Xystrian answers you call with a voice filled with badly-concealed anticipation. Greetings again my friends. How are each of you? Have you been able to find any news about our missing brother?
Through the video you see Makao's face fall for a moment. He closes his eyes and looks down for several silent moments before he looks back up at you with a grimly neutral expression.
I see. I am sorry to hear that, as increasingly likely it may have been. Were you able to recover his remains? If you did, if you could return his body with you when you return to Xys it would be appreciated. As promised, we will initiate a credit transfer to your Society, as well as send notes of our appreciation and our Brotherhood's acknowledgement of aligned ideals to your Forum.
I see Makao says. Good. We look forward to seeing you shortly. And[/b] he gives a solemn nod towards you all. Thank you.
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You can get back to the borrowed Xystrian shuttle easily, even with the body, gear, and crates of material in tow. When you arrive at Xys hours later Makao and other Xystrians collect Firiz's body with reverance, and offer each of you a personal thanks for your efforts in returning the fallen brother. You notice that they do not press you for that many details about what you found, seeming primarily concerned with Firiz being interred properly. They offer you a few more days to relax on their planetoid if you would like before returning back home.
When you eventually make the tranquil trip back to the Pact Worlds, you find First Seeker Ehu Hadif himself awaiting to debrief you after giving you a few days to settle back in. "Ah, hello. I'm glad to see you're all here. First off, I want to let you know your work was a resounding success. We've already received further invitations to share information with the Xystrian Bortherhood - and even a donation of money that I wasn't expecting. Thanks to your inroads, the Society now has the chance to learn much more about the nature of Preluria."
He crosses both sets of arms and begins pacing, turning to looks out a window as he continues. "Of course your excursion to the Vault of Vorlath has turned out to be possibly more intriguing. I've had scientists and Society leaders looking into what you discovered. They have confirmed that the raw materials recovered from the laboratory and shipment are shimmerstone and kinwood sap, but upon analysis the sap seems strange. There are variations in appearance and molecular structure different from any other sap samples our technicians have encountered before."
Ehu spins back to looks at you. "That shipment you stopped, of this 'shimmersheen', seems too similar to an experimental serum other agents recently recovered on another Near Space world to be a coincidence. We've kept some samples for future study, sent several to the Stewards, and destroyed the rest. But there is something afoot here: someone is fashioning a new weaponized drug, and whoever is behind this has a startling level of resources given its spread. I plan to have us investigate further, and thanks to you our clearest lead is a trip to the only known source of kinwood sap: Ghorus Prime."
He nods to you. "It may take some time for leadership to prepare for a mission there, so I ask that you all be patient. But we will keep in touch. Until then, rest well Starfinders. You've earned it!"
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I'll need a lot more target practice before I'm ready to go toe to toe with a bunch of mooks hopped up on shimmersheen. Twila-5 muses grimly. She sincerely hopes she can be ready in time--or at least be busy with another assignment instead.
Before she leaves, she extends her hand to George-09-23. "Good luck in everything. Twila-4 thought highly of you. I agree with her assessment, and look forward to working with you again sometime." She turns to the others. "In fact, I would be honored to work with each of you in the future."