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Stam 44/64
Now really aggravated about the whole interruption to his day, Blinky goes after the one that just shot him, acknowledging Shari's assessment of the damage, then beginning to maul the enemy agent... "Time for some involuntary yoga, champ!"
Trick - Survival = CR or lower tricked
Unarmed strike vs FF KAC
Damage
+Disarming trick - DC17 Ref save or drop your weapon.
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J'Shun draws his sword, Tears of the Sun from its sheath. The ancient devastation blade is still razor sharp and the pommel shaped into a sigil of the sun.
Ever the one to state the obvious J'Shun yells, "Starfinders attack!" Bursting forward he vaults straight at the mercenary in front of him with his blade held high. A wave of entropic energy forms around Tears of the Sun and time seems to stand still as J'Shun lashes out with it.
"I am Space Admiral J'Shun Kay, first son of Clan Summersword, House Davion, line of Atsu, born in fire! face me in ritual combat!"
Shari helps out the vicious koala, while Eselar moves up close.
The aggravated koalas is not amused by being shot in the back, and takes his anger out, trying to disarm the gunner in the process. The enemy's grip is steady, but so is his bloodflow. Amy adds to the steady loss of blood by bruisnig the gunner with a series of force missiles.
J'Shun gives the go ahead to attack, and fires a warning shot.
Surrounded and nearly defeated, the assassins switch to their retractable spikes, and try to fend off the attackers. Blinky takes another jab to the cheek.
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Shari
Jshun
Amy
Chorizal
Eselar
Blinky
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Enemy - Red (DOWN)
Enemy - Orange
Enemy - Purple (42)
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Blinky drops down on the purple assasin, turning him into a bloody pulpy assassin.
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Shari
Jshun
Amy
Chorizal
Eselar
Blinky
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Enemy - Red (DOWN)
Enemy - Orange
Enemy - Purple (DOWN)
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Chrorizal and J'Shun tear into the last mercenary, while Amy does her best Loch Ness Monster impression, but misses her shot.
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Shari
Jshun
Amy
Chorizal
Eselar
Blinky
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Enemy - Red (DOWN)
Enemy - Orange (33)
Enemy - Purple (DOWN)
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Eselar spares the assassin from the wrath of blinky by taking the man out himself.
A quick search of the assassins yields no manufacturer logos or serial
numbers of any kind on their equipment. They do all carry encrypted cred-sticks.
One of the assassins has a business card for Rad Riff Acoustics, a music shop on Shortfield Court, with an address listed in Dumeray.
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Blinky has a look at the credstick too
Computers
He then strips the bodies and dumps them away from the archaeological site - something about 'contamination', and their suits not being 'biodegradable'.
He then brews up another round of tea for 10 minutes before finishing a slow and methodical search of the site.
"I don't think they were angry archaeologists, pretty clear we're on the right track"
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You are right. I regret to not have been able to yet buy a Merciful fusion to get one alive to question. says Eselar.
Anybody hurt? seeing that's only superficial wounds, he checks the bodies and help Blinky removes them from the scene.
He does a quick prayer for them. Everybody is worthy of Iomedae's blessing.
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When the combat is over, Chorizal also checks out the credsticks, not because he thinks he has any chance of figuring out anything the others haven't but just because he wants to see if he can get any creds off them.
When that doesn't prove possible, he hands them back to one of the thinkers.
When J'shun gives him orders, he salutes and wanders off to patrol around the edge of their archeological site but not before chatting with Blinky for a moment.
"You know, back on Vesk Prime, there's these cryptids that people talk about. Small, furry creatures that live up in trees. They move slow when you're watching, but they're bloodthirsty little things and, when you're not paying attention, they drop down on your head and latch on. Then, they crack open your skull with their teeth and eat your brains. We call them drop bears. I'm beginning to think you look like a giant one of those after seeing what you can do."
Neither Amy nor Blinky get that far with the cred stick, and are unable to crack the encryption. Eselar manages to find some footsteps that are fresh enough to belong to the assassin, which lead back to a set of motorbikes hidden in the bushes. . One of the motorcycles has a parking ticket sticking out of a side compartment, which was written yesterday on Blanchet Street in
Dumeray.
Eselar looks at the business card. It says 'Rad Riff Acoustics, for all your music gear. Visit our location on Shortfield Court' There's also a less friendly note written on the back: “When you’re done with the Starfinders, silence the shirren. I’m sick of their whining.”
All of the locations (Big Bites in Carvanne street, Blanchet Street and Shortfield Court) are within a block of one another in Dumeray
The assassins were carrying pusher decouplers and tatical retractable spikes.
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Blinky looks back to Chorizal and nods sagely "A related species, they just stopped growing early on, whereas our branch continued to evolve along growing bigger and smarter - we do love the same leaves though" Blinky adds as he suddenly remembers to add a few more dried leaves to his tea "Vesk Prime huh? Interesting place, I got a taste for this lesser known product over there - 'Veskemite', goes great on toast"
"I'll be honest, cracking open those assassin's skulls and eating their brains doesn't sound all that bad, but I find that the other humans standing there seeing it happen tend to get a bit ill, and a bit worried that they could be next or something. It's all fun and cuddly-bears until the apex predator lunges"
As Shari shares her information Blinky considers it for a moment "Reckon we need to go shopping eh? We have a few decouplers to sell, only dropped once"
When Shari notes that all locations are within a small distance of one another in Dumeray's Market District, Blinky suggests to go for a shopping spree.
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"Oh yeah, lots of Veskemite sandwiches when I was a kid," Chorizal says with a knowing nod. "I had to force feed one to a verthani kid back on Verces once when he kept saying it smelled funny. I don't know if he liked it but he seemed to get used to the smell. When he could smell again," Chorizal, who never visited the Veskarium until he was a Starfinder says.
"So...we're done here?" he asks, looking around at the archeological dig that just looks like a muddy field to him.
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It's a drow weapon! I'll take it as a trophy and a reminder to the others that it's not worth pointing drow weapons at the drow themselves or their allies... By the way, Blinky, I'm not at all against opening skulls and eating brains, as long as these are our enemies. Don't deny yourself anything. Be yourself, reveal your individuality! Moreover, we could make a good 18+ show. I told you I was a producer, right?
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Veskemite ... yum Amy comments. I got a few jars in my apartment. Goes well with cheese. My tiefling friend must be allergic to it thoug, cause every time she sees the stuff, she hisses and makes some sort of warding gesture at it
Is it possible they have a drow sponsor? Wasn't one of the organiser founders a drow?
One of the rather strange things about Dumeray is it's rather high fraction of the population that are undead. The Beat of the Midnight Drum is a nightclub that capitalizes on this in flyers and advertisements 'The children of the night' it advertises 'Dance with the dead'. Clearly, it aims to attracts thrill-seekers who are excited about having a brush with the unlife. Coming to think of it, wasn't this featured on Envar's Expeditions recently?
The bartender, a relaxed-looking corpsefolk, is cleaning glasses with a bony hand tucked inside a washrag. Heya, I haven't seen you guys around here. Welcome to the Beat of the Midnight. I hope you're not cold. He laughs with a broad set of very bad teeth at his attempt at a joke What can I poison you with?
When asked about the assassins, he doesn't seem to readily recognise any bytheir description, but he seems the talkative kind.
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Since the start of his Tempuring Eselar is able to talk to anybody with ease.
Be the light of Iomedae upon you my friend. I'm sure that inside you're a good person and working here is not of your liking but because you need to survive in this difficult world.
These men tried to kill us. I'm sure that you don't want to have other death on your heart if those responsible for sending them agains us are not quickly stopped.
What can you tell us about them?
That sounds like a lot of stress the bartender says with a raspy voice that's why I'm in this job. If I see some people come in... There's this group of ghouls, you know, they have some high-strung bosses to them. Lashuntas too, so instead of shouting at them they go full telepathy. They ghouls needs some better work-life balance if you ask me. I mean, who cares if they get drunk? It's not like their liver if getting any better, is it? They can't even get hungover. One of the perks of being undead.
? I mean, who wants to live forever and get bossed around like that? Not me, that’s for sure. But what can you do? They’re super loyal and always hop up right away and run right out of here. Onshore looks like a pretty rundown place, so I guess it pays well or they get good benefits or something.
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Chorizal isn't much of a talker, but he is a drinker. He eyes the corpsefolk as he cleans the glass and hopes that the man's cohesion is high before ordering something with a high enough alcohol content that contamination won't matter.
He listens in as the more chatty members of the team gather some intel.
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Amy looks oddly at Shari. Producer? Producer of what m'lady?
The House Misraria specializes in very specific entertainment content... Mainly in the field of eroticism and violence. Once upon a time I thought that Starfinder Society is a great place where I can look for incredibly bright and original characters, real artists of aesthetic murder. And you know what? I was not mistaken. They... I mean, we are just a storehouse of talents! Not a single mission without a massacre (she nods towards the dead assassins) and there is always someone very spectacular in the team, with such an unusual type! House Misraria has a popular platform in the Darkstarnet where we post streams and broadcasts. Sometimes paid, sometimes shareware, but with a donation system... And then she starts explaining how exactly a small camera on your equipment can make you very rich if you sign a contract with Shari.
Is it possible they have a drow sponsor? Wasn't one of the organiser founders a drow?
Yes. Kebzeс. Although... everything could be simpler. We produce good weapons, and the reason may be solely in this.
Shari starts telling the bartender about Zo! and her personal acquaintance with this guy, her participation in several of his shows where she adopted the experience of organizing deadly shows and the like. In general, she finds nothing better than chatting with the undead about the most famous undead in the galaxy.
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"Make it a double, he's had a hard day," Chorizal says to the bartender after J'Shun orders.
He orders two shots of the cheap stuff and slides one to Blinky before toasting him and J'Shun and knocking the drink back.
"Wait, we're on duty, aren't we? Better act like professionals. Make the next one a martini," he says.
"And don't worry, Admiral Kay, I'll be careful."
J'Shun stands next to Chorizal and looks the bartender in the eye before saying, "I'd like a glass of ice water."
Crystal on the waves the bartender copies the order offering the first sign that 'ice on the rocks' doesn't mean the same thing around here. He proceeds to mix the admiral a rather ping pong tiddly, pours it into a tumbler and adds a few blue crystals that set off the built-in geiger counter in J'Shun's uniform. With a flourish, he finishes it off with a little paper umbrella.
The coaster underneath the drink re-affirms: undead don't have hangovers.
Blinky, in turns, get a shot of eucalyptus liquor that somehow has a lingering smell of garlic Keeps the vampires away the bartender says helpfully, then turns to Chorizal Hard day, got it. Got another blue one coming up. As the bartender mixes another drink (doubling the radiation count), he turns to Amy and asks Zo!? Big fan, he's a great role-model for the community. Coming to think of it, haven't I seen you in that show? What was that song again... Hakuna Azata?
Yeah, go team Knock out! the bartender reacts to Amy's song, then says to J'Shun Don't want it? Your loss. In the blink of an eye, he quaffs the drink, giving his undead esophagus a healthy fluorescent glow.
A few doors down, Big Bites is a greasy fast food joint that is hopelessly understaffed. In fact, there only a single human tending to the tables who greets the group with a be right with ya! before incoherently tending to the occupied tables using a strategy called 'applied chaos theory'.
The food in the diner is guaranteed to be devoid of any form of health benefit. The typical dish comes served with bread, the meat is red and that limp green stuff... if it's lettuce it might as well be undead.
Whether you're here to eat or to talk to the staff, you need to get his attention first...