The insectile ghibranis of Elytrio live divided, with husk ghibranis living in the harsh desert wastelands and membrane ghibranis living a pampered life in automated cities. Inspired by positive relations with the Starfinder Society, two ghibranis are spearheading a social movement aimed at bridging this cultural divide—with limited success. Undeterred, the ghibranis Dystane and Klarima are planning a joint cultural event, intended to mend bridges, forge friendships, and foster understanding between their people. Who better to help them than the Starfinder Society? Travel to Elytrio to put on the grandest celebration Elytrio’s seen since the Gap!
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No holiday is possible without careful preparation. Preparation is a discipline. Discipline is submission. No one knows how to subdue like the Hellknights. Hell is coming. Hell is getting closer. The heavy footsteps of a mollusc encased in the dark heavy armor are heard on the bridge of the ship... *an anxious and solemn tune is playing*
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Hell may be coming but the Abyss isn't far behind. A grumpy looking tiefling is the next to arrive muttering something about 'never again playing rock-paper-scissors with a mystic' and 'getting my own back when I get home'.
She wears dark coloured form fitting armour (a Ysoki refractive suit) stands just over 5ft 6" with dark coloured skin, dark blue/green hair and two stubby horns on her head. A swagger hand cannon sits on one hip and a tricorne hat is balanced on her head. She also wears a symbol of Besmara.
The only greeting the Hellknight gets is a glare.
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The Hellknight remains unperturbed both in the presence of the tiefling and in the presence of Ch'amon, with whom it has already traveled. He greets both of them calmly and without emotion, and his voice sounds hollow, whistling and unnaturally (for humanoid). It seems that the organ with which it produces sound works completely differently.
When the whole team gathers, it will announce:
My name is K'ssatak-Sul. I am Hellknight of the Order of the Eclipse and I act according to the precepts of Measure and Chain. I am a melee warrior, diplomat, inquisitor and detective. I specialize on eliminating the propaganda of chaos, uprisings and dangerous sectarian teachings. I am here on a partnership restoration program between Starfinder Society and Hellknights.
It doesn't look like it's expecting any kind of reaction. A murky dot of absolute darkness, like a small black hole, rotates near its left shoulder, endlessly absorbing light. Its mask is hiding the whole face and covered with infernal runes, and there is something frightening and inept in its very manner of movement.
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Howdy! I'm Ysh'yaal! Servant of Besmara. You can call me Ysh' if you want!
Ysh'yaal is a smiling and muscular Tiefling, clad in a black heavy armor, bearing the holy symbol of Besmara.
At her side a simple, almost new, laser pistol and no other weapons. But you see that she has a toolbag with different used bits and part of computers and other electronic devices.
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It depends on what you mean by fun Chryssi scowls in a tone that sounds like she'd rather be anywhere else but here. Mind you .... walking the plank .... Hmmmm. Gives me an idea. She ponders as she touches the Red Star Plasma lash on her other hip.
Chrysalis - EX-Pirate she says. After I got caught by a bunch of Starfinders on the Amber Reconnoiter I figure if you can't beat 'em, frelling join 'em
She turns to K'ssatek and snorts. A Hellknight diplomat? - This I gotta pronking see.
She does grin when seeing the other tiefling though and looks Ysh up and down as if evaluating her. So what do you bring to this party Ysh? I'm a computer hacker technomancer pilot. Looks like you got interesting bits and pieces in there.. Somehow a sultry purr has crept into her voice.
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A battle-hardened female android arrives wearing very functional-looking body armour and webbing whilst carting too many weapons - including a squad machine gun with a sticker that reads 'Happiness is belt-fed'. She also wears a '72 hour' backpack with neatly arrayed pouches clearly containing various tools, extra link ammunition, grenades, and a clearly labeled medical pouch.
She checks the safety on her weapon and just regards the room with her artificial eyes. "Shelldrake", she smiles as she introduces herself though not entirely convincingly - robotic and hollow. You can see that she was built largely as a combat android and the manufacturers cheaped out on non-necessities like 'making her seem friendly'. She only had to appear passably human, not act it.
As Cha'mon Cha'mon makes his exit Obozoya makes her entrance.
"It is me Obozoya. We have mission, no?"
Obozaya responds in vesk, "Obozaya likes busting heads."
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A fist-sized chunk of vaguely spherical technology, floating at the center of a glowing humanoid outline, the 'skin' of which has letters and floating across the surface, raises a hand in greeting.
"Well met, fellow sentients. This unit's designation is α-CloudChatI.Q.Prime, but you may shorten that to Alpha in combat situations. We will be providing tech-support and paramedical-assistance for this mission."
There is a soft 'click', and then a pair of glittering crystalline wings, shining with pale blue holographic light, spring from Alpha's back.
"This unit was recently upgraded with flight capabilities, which should be useful on Elytrio."
It's the Society's private docking bays on Absalom Station where we meet our group, ready for an audience with Venture-Captain Arvin.
Venture-Captain Arvin ducks out of the way of a team of porters who load crate after crate of food into the cargo bay of the Loreseeker, a sleek Pegasus-class starship without any stress fractures.
“Thanks for meeting me here, Starfinders,” Arvin says as he fondly pats the side of the ship. “The Loreseeker is one of our finest and most reliable starships. It’s been in operation for well over a decade, kept hundreds of Starfinders safe, and brought back countless discoveries. One of those discoveries was the location of a planet in the Vast called Elytrio, which was devastated by thermonuclear war several hundred years ago. Today, the local ghibrani people are divided into two different groups called the husks and the membranes. They have distinct cultural traditions, societal structure, and physical characteristics, and have remained isolated from one another for a few centuries.”
“When you arrive on Elytrio, you’ll be met by Dystane and Klarima, old friends of the Starfinder Society. They’re planning a social event intended to bring the husks and membranes together to bond as a community, and they want the Starfinder Society to participate. They’ve asked us to help ensure the smooth operation of the event and then enjoy the celebration as honored guests. In short, your job is to support them in any way you can.”
Venture-Captain Arvin gestures to the porters still loading crates into the cargo hold. “As special guests, it’s important that we don’t arrive empty handed. As you can see, I’ve ordered these crates of food from different planets of the Pact Worlds that you can bring to share. I’ll let you decide how and where you want to use them.”
Arvin then uploads a small dossier on Elytrio to each of your datapads ().
You'll also need this Arvin says as he hands the group a a Tetrad certified translator It'll help you communicate with the Ghibrani. I admit the device is a bit cumbersome, but it's better than using hand gestures
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Shelldrake silently replies with hand gestures.
Ghibrani - "Fluent in the language"
She also pulls out her own Tetrad Certified Translator, "More than one couldn't hurt"
"How are the Husks and Membranes going with their relationship building?"
"We expecting anyone to want to crash the party?"
"Do we need to pack nice clothes, or can we wear our battle kit?"
Shelldrake finishes reading the dossier "Clearance not granted? Funny, I was there"
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I'm mainly a hacker, but I like to go on the front line when needed. says Ysh' with a smile as she cracks her knuckles.
As for joining the Starfinder, I met Neroo, from Absalom Idol, while trying to get into the Society's servers and she convinced me to join! So I left the diaspora and came here.
After Arvin's briefing she says
I'm no pilot! I can help with the computer or to make sure the ship is flying but I'm not very good at anything else!
Always happy to help these little guys.
Shelldrake silently replies with hand gestures.
Ghibrani - "Fluent in the language"
She also pulls out her own Tetrad Certified Translator, "More than one couldn't hurt""How are the Husks and Membranes going with their relationship building?"
Relationship building is pretty much the point of this event, it’s meant to bring together the husks and membranes in a friendly environment, foster positive interactions, and create bonds of community. Other than that, we don't know much. I’m sure our allies will provide more details when you arrive.”
"We expecting anyone to want to crash the party?"
"Do we need to pack nice clothes, or can we wear our battle kit?"
Why do you always expect the worst, Shelldrake? We're there to help out, which is why we're bringing food. Elytrio isn’t the most forgiving of environments. While the membranes never lack for food, many husk communities endure regular bouts of hunger and famine. Recent innovations in water redemption and drought-resistant crops have helped, but I want all the citizens of Elytrio to enjoy some well-deserved abundance.
This is a Starfinder mission, though, so nobody will be surprised if you bring your adventuring gear.
The Loreseeker is no Spitfire, but it is almost as old. The Pegasus vessel is sleek and well-maintained, and what it lacks in stress fractures, it makes up with a well-stocked library of both informational and educational titles. There's also plenty of opportunity to swab the decks. There's also some maintenance tasks that need to be performed, though the capacitor array seems to be just fine..
The journey to Elytrio takes days of travel through the Drift. As the Loreseeker exits the Drift, a cheery voice hails it from a planetary comm unit on the surface, speaking in fluent Common. “Welcome, Starfinders. This is Klarima. Let me provide you with landing coordinates!”
After landing, as the doors open from the Loreseeker, a pair of ghibranis are waiting for the Starfinders
“Starfinders! Welcome!” a delicate insectile woman with fluttering wings flies forward, arms extended in a welcoming gesture. “We’re so pleased you could make the trip, and that you will be helping us with our upcoming festival. I’m Klarima, and this is my good friend, Dystane.”
Klarima points to her stocky colleague, a somewhat taciturn and sturdy insectile woman dressed in practical leathers, who raises one arm in greeting. “Welcome to the Elytrio Fairgrounds!”
Behind Klarima is a park with sprawling paths, plazas, trees, and many temporary buildings. “Much like the Starfinder Society, AbadarCorp has proven to be an excellent ally to my people. Their surveyors found underground water in an aquifer, and even grew trees from preserved Elytrio seedstock that we found. It’s amazing, isn’t it? Most of us have never seen so much green in one place.”
“Might want to tell them what they’re going to be doing,” Dystane prods in a low and amused voice. “Perhaps about the special guest?”
“Oh, of course! Sorry!” Klarima flutters around. “We ask that you help us with four tasks so that we can start the festival on time. Many visitors have arrived early, but most will be arriving tomorrow. We also ask you to escort another of our special guests around during your stay, to make sure that they have a good time and leave with a good impression of us!”
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She turns to K'ssatek and snorts. A Hellknight diplomat? - This I gotta pronking see.
The diplomacy of the Nine Circles is the most sophisticated, didn't you know that? K'ssatak-Sul's voice sounds indifferent, although well-hidden slight notes of arrogance can probably be discerned if desired.
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We welcome you too. You can rely on us. We bring order and justice. Which task is the most important among those you have named? It's not entirely clear who these "we" that K'ssatak-Sul is talking about are Starfinders or Hellknights, but it sounds pretty confident.
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α-CloudChatI.Q.Prime briefly interfaces with the computer on descent.
"Most of Elytrio is irradiated desert wastelands, though isolated green areas of vegetation exist in remote canyons, within the protected dome of the one surviving city, Arkeost, and in the scrubby little gardens near Shelter, the home of the husk ghibranis.
However, near the landing area coordinates, there are areas of cultivated green space forming a sprawling set of fairgrounds. This large rectangular and artificial park stands out starkly from the surrounding rust-colored sands of Elytrio!"
Upon arrival, α-CloudChatI.Q.Prime bows politely.
"Greetings, fellow sentients! I calculate that it is a pleasure to meet with you on this auspicious occasion!"
Listening to the others' questions, α-CloudChatI.Q.Prime adds their voice to the chorus.
"If you let us know the nature of the tasks, and whom the guest is, we will do our utmost to be of assistance."
"What are the four tasks? What special guest?"
“Oh, she is a very important official from AbadarCorp!” Klarima notes. “She’s the Archdirector of Accounting, and she helped us get our funding for the Elytrio Fairgrounds. Suzi is considering us for other special projects to help rebuild Elytrio.”
“As for the tasks, I’m so glad you asked!” Klarima enthuses. “Here is a list!”
The ghibrani hosts allow the group to socialize with Suzi, and get a feeling of what this even is about. It turns out, the Elytrio inhabitants are organising the first all-Elytrio sports championship, with teams from Arkeost (membrane ghibranis), Shelter (husk ghibranis), and the Starfinder Society. The event emphasizes good sportsmanship and cooperation, but nevertheless it is good to be on the lookout for any tensions within this competition...
I wonder what disciplines they have here Suzi says I'm good at shot put. Let me go and have a look around..
With the group now alone, there's only a very limited amount of time to expore the festival grounds before Klarima chimes in over the comm unit.
“Starfinders, we need your help immediately! Some equipment is malfunctioning, and has imperiled not only some of the festival volunteers and patrons, but also our special guest! They’re trapped! We need you to get them free and calm everyone else down before this sets a bad tone for our festival!”
The malfunctioning equipment is located in a gym unit, where the group finds Suzy growling at an out-of-control piece of gym equipment that is sparring, pounding and otherwise flaying out of control, pummeling everyone in the area, including some very panicky-looking guests.
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Yshyaal
Alpha
Shelldrake
Chryssi
Obo
KSS
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Crowd: Panicked
Suzi: Trapped
Machine: Malfunctioning
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During the 21 days of transit Obozoya spends most of her time lifting weights and socializing with the rest of the team.
"Everyone quiet down. There is no need to panic. I SAID STOP PANICKING." Obozoya yells at the crowd.
Alpha manages to predict some of the whirring and whomping of the machine, and get Suzi all the way from that thigh-crunching device to the one where you lift the weight with the muscles most people don't have.
Ysh'yaal and Obozaya work on calming the crowd with... different tactics, and quite a good portion either believes the pirate or is too scared by the vesk to worry about anything else.
Shelldrake is trying to kick out the plug, but it just isn't that easy.
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Yshyaal
Alpha
Shelldrake
Chryssi
Obo
KSS
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Crowd: A bit Panicked
Suzi: Quite Trapped
Machine: Completely Malfunctioning
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K'ssatak-sul actually quite effectively manages to to calm the crowd. There' s something about an embri hellknight that inherently commands respect.
Chryssi gets around to fixing the rampaging machine and makes the whomps a bit more intermittent. It's a start, but more work is needed.
--(round 2)--
Yshyaal
Alpha
Shelldrake
Chryssi
Obo
KSS
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Crowd: Calm
Suzi: Quite Trapped
Machine: Malfunctioning most of the time
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