With hits from Rex and Gideon, and an extra powerful hit from Tiny, the final gang member falls.
A crowd draws in due to the noise, and the lashunta refugees sing your praises. "The Starfinders saved us!"
They seem very unsettled from the incident and ask for a few minutes to calm down before proceeding to Starbridge.
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Tiny stretches and yawns. "Hmph. It's too early for all this." He puts his hands in the "small" of his massive back and pushes forward, eliciting a series of loud pops. "I gotta wake up a bit before we do that again." He pulls out a large can of neon red energy drink, pokes a hole in the bottom with one massive claw, then opens the pop tab and drains the drink through the jagged hole. He stretches again and pulls out another can, popping the top normally this time and taking a sip as he leans against the wall.
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A crowd draws in due to the noise, and the lashunta refugees sing your praises. "The Starfinders saved us!"
"I did, I did. No need to thank me. Working wonders is simply what I do. " The doctor responds, readily accepting the accolades. "Take whatever time you need. And, should you want an autograph, I hope you have your own pen."
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Gideon talks with the refugees while he recovers from the minor minor shock he took in the firefight. He mingles and asks their names, listens to their stories of how they got to this point.
To amuse any children in the area, he says, "I know it looks like I'm a big spender rich guy type, but remember this: things are not always what they appear." He rubs his palms together and makes a sweeping gesture reaching down near the ground and passing the palms of his hands up from the floor to over his head. As his hands move pass his clothing changes from those of a well-to-do merchant or businessman to tattered, dirty, and apparently cheaply made togs like the refugees are wearing.
He figures it best to look more like the local refugees than a mark for thugs looking for some top of the line gear.
He also replaces the four small arms rounds he fired with rounds removed from the gang. If no one else wants it, Gideon will tuck the semi-auto in his belt as a back-up firearm or to use if he needs more stopping power in the next fight.
After some rrecovery time, you start moving again. You take a short trek past a bulkhead and then through several access corridors, guided by the lashuntas and the rhythmic hum of machinery. After 20 minutes of travel, you emerge into a massive open space.
The ground is coated in dark green insulated rubber with numerous cutaways to the steel bulkheads underneath, which contain silver inlays arranged in obscure, elongated patterns. The area is populated with numerous towering metal cylinders arranged in orderly rows. Together, this chamber resembles a giant circuit board.
In the center of this space stands a massive tower made of insulated electrical wire coils, rivaling a racetrack in size, each winding wire as thick around as a vesk’s torso. At ground level, there are four breaks in these coils, big enough for a large creature to comfortably walk through. Bolts of lightning zap across two of the four openings at any given time.
Signs are posted warning new arrivals how to safely enter by discharging static electricity on a metal rod a few feet away from the entrances then walking briskly through the opening between 3 and 10 seconds after a spark finishes. The cut-off words “full bridge rec–” are scrawled in silver marker next to the opening to enter the area.
Gideon identifies these as spark gaps that help regulate the flow of energy across electrodes and confirms that these instructions are correct to safely guide people in and out of the area.
You follow the instructions and arrive in a well-organized town.
The town center’s appearance belies how recently it was built. A water pipe set into the ground leads to a fountain wrought of hand-made glass. Though not currently flowing, it is in the shape of an ijtikri with its numerous arms and tentacles spread out in such a way to provide water that can be collected for use in the community. Glass and metal cabochons have been implanted into the ground surrounding this central fixture to give it the appearance and feel of cobblestones.
Someone in a big suit of powered armor with multiple backup generator upgrades is currently circling the fountain, clearly feigning distress while being chased by half a dozen children.
Rounding the circle and seeing new arrivals, the powered armor occupant opens the faceplate, revealing a bronze dragonkin with a kindly demeanor. “You don’t look like our typical new residents. Playtime’s over for now, kids. I’ll see you later!” The children protest as the dragonkin shoos them away and emerges from her armored shell.
"I'm Lourvictrix. What brings you to Fullbridge?"
She immediately warms up to you. "Oh, well that's great. We can always use more help. Call me Vic! Yeah, that water's okay. It comes from a main line that heads to another part of the station. Do you have any questions for me?"
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"Quite the...makeshift... settlement you have here." Rex has difficulty selecting his words and even more in hiding his distaste of the conditions.
"We are here to help," he concedes, then mutters, "And it looks like you could certainly use it."
Speaking up again, he declares, "However, we are also here to explore, so if you are satisfied with your current status, we could be quickly on our way." The doctor flashes a rehearsed smile, hoping to be given a reason to be somewhere else.
"Well thank you! We can certainly use these supplies. And I'll even return the null-space chamber once we've distributed everything. I can't say I've seen any ghosts, but I have seen gang members. My partner and I are retired Knights of Golarion, so we can do a lot, but we can't be everywhere at once. There are definitely a lot of ways that you could help us out."
• Electrician: Computers, Engineering, Perception, Physical Science
• Guard: Acrobatics, Intimidate, Perception, Stealth
• Logistics: Athletics, Physical Science, Piloting, Survival
• Medic: Bluff, Life Science, Medicine, Mysticism
• Teacher: Culture, Diplomacy, any Profession, Sense Motive
• Welders/Fabricators: Acrobatics, Bluff, Intimidate, Sleight of Hand
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Vic is aware of dangerous groups such as the Strong Absalom movement and the Bulkhead Bruisers gang, and hopes to teach able-bodied community members how to protect their own. She welcomes the assistance from Tiny and Calisst. Tiny tries to lead combat drills but gets distracted when a pack of children tackle him as they do Vic. Calisst has more luck leading observation exercises.
Rex goes to find the medical facilities, such as they are. Nizrixy Vaylamra has bright blue hair with jagged yellow streaks. She was waiting at Absalom Station’s spaceport for her flight home to Verces when the Drift Crash occurred, following a failed job interview. Nizrixy has spent time working as a hairdresser, a tattoo artist, and an assistant at a specialist eye-augmentation parlor. Shockingly, she’s the closest thing Fullbridge has to a medic, and against her initial judgement, has found enjoyment in helping others. Rex is able to take on quite a few of the waiting patients, and Nizrixy is quite grateful.
Mehzidig worked remotely as tech-support for a holographic interface company in the Marixah Republic before the Drift Crash severed communication with their home. Unable to afford rent near Bluerise Tower, they moved here and are the only thing Fullbridge has resembling a trained electrician. Gideon tries to help, but as soon as he touches one wrong wire, Mehdizig grabs the tools from his hands, with a grim warning about what happened to their predecessor.
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After failing to help with the technical side of things, Gideon sheepishly moves on and mingles with the locals to learn what else he might help them with. When he learns about them being harassed by gangs, he takes it upon himself to teach them how to spot attempts to trick them into falling for scams to get resources out of them without providing real benefits. He role plays with them as he pretends to be someone with some miracle device that will make food out of nothing or multiply electrical energy. Then he points out how they can tell this is a con.
Gideon gives the residents valuable information about identifying scams, though some of the teenagers seem like they might be taking the wrong lesson as they ask very detailed questions about pulling off such a scheme.
You are soon interrupted by a worried Vic.
"My partner, Elymilra: she's missing. She's a human and another retired Knight of Golarion. And a hydraulics engineer. She’s most recently been working to tap into an unused water reclamation system to provide Fullbridge with enough fresh water and also connect it to the Spike districts to improve the water quality for thousands of others. She is now hours late, and something in the nearby bulkheads prevents comm units from transmitting at distances greater than line-of-sight. I wish I could go myself, but I need the powered armor at my age, and it make s me too large to maneuver in the cramped passages she works in. Please, can you go find her?"
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Gideon finishes up his instructions with words of advice. "If you are thinking of using these scams for your own benefit, remember to never apply them to any less fortunate than yourselves. If you scam those who are struggling to survive, you are scum and no better than those goons who have been giving you trouble."
Gideon checks his supplies and waits for everyone else to do the same and get started on the search for the missing.
"I can't thank you enough. I've got a few things that might help you here, as well as your null space chamber back. Plus a couple of serums that are tokens of appreciation from the community for your help today."
Vic hands you a serum of earthen stature and a serum of fiery vengeance, as well as 100 feet of titanium alloy cable line, a grappler, a serum of infinite air , and her backup rifle: a tactical arc emitter. She also returns a now-empty mk 1 null-space chamber to you.
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Gideon thanks Vic and then says to his comrades, "How shall we divide these? I'd say Tiny gets the serums of earthen stature and fiery vengeance, since he's likely to be up close and personal with anything we fight. I'd say the Doc gets the infinite air, since if there's any poison, we'll need him healthy to help the rest of us. I see Calisst has two small arms, to my one. Plus one of them is a pulsecaster. So how about I take this arc emitter? Or maybe Rex, you want the arc emitter? It can be set to stun."
Vic shows you where the paths that lead deeper into the Ghost Levels are. There are quite a few passages, but luckily, Elymilra used a reflective pink permanent marker to indicate the paths shetraveled
You follow the pink marker for some time. The thrum of machinery suddenly ceases after traveling around a sharp corner. Gone are the bulkheads and ubiquitous wires, now replaced by iridescent and interlocking hexagonal panels making up the ceilings, walls, and floors of the tunnels ahead. The panels shimmer even where there is no light shining upon them, and they contract and expand in ripples that run the length of each hall in a pattern that could be described as... breathing.
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Gideon sets the camera to remain fixed to his chest and sets it for low resolution. He lets it act as a body cam to make a record of their path. When the hexagonal panels show up, she switches to normal resolution for a close-up of the panels and then sets it back to body cam mode.
"I ain't 'fraid o' no ghosts," he sings softly to reassure himself.
As you continue along, the walls flicker in and out of visibility. You catch glimpses of space outside, along with the armada orbiting Absalom Station.
Based on the size of the armada, this appears to be in real-time, but with one major discrepancy: a barren planet at the edge of your vision shares Absalom Station’s orbit—this planet shouldn’t exist.
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Gideon is reluctant to touch the walls, but he does take a moment and casts detect magic.
If the walls are not magically created, he attempts to analyze them for what kind of technology they employ.
If this does not bear results, he considers any ways in which magic might be blended with technology.
Rex and Gideon agree that the walls aren't actually alive, just pulsing strangely. There does seem to be some magic present.
Calisst uses mage hand to touch the wall. The wall pulls away from the hand with a small shudder.
You continue along your path and soon come to a creature who is seemingly feeding from an exposed power cable.
Rex immediately recognizes the creature as a hexolin, and notes that she is pregnant. She is not acting at all hostile to you.
You know that hexoglins consume high-voltage electricity, dissipating it into lower-voltage energy that surrounds their tails and a magnetic field they can use to protect themselves.
Say! A hexoglin could serve as another method to step down the dangerous high-voltage power surrounding Fullbridge, simultaneously providing the hexoglin a healthy diet and providing safe energy transmission for the residents.
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"A pregnant hexolin," remarks Rex.
"Not to be confused with hexilon," notes the doctor as the creature appears to feed on a power cable. "One treats one form of shock and apparently the other eats a form of shock."
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Referring to the strange tunnels, he observes, "It is strange that such a thing could exist without someone knowing about it. Either this was part of the station's original design and has been forgotten or whatever was created down here has evolved into something new."
He documents the pregnant creature.