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Question marks form in Navia's eyes as she examines the equipment. "Huh, it's like someone was a big enough fan of the Veskarium to buy their guns but not enough to not have these fake outfits?"
The lashunta shrugs before recalling her drone to her side. "I'd say it was an attempt to pin the blame on our reptilian neighbors if the craftsmanship weren't so shoddy."
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Nothing more is found and you continue travelling until you find a settelemnt. The setting sun casts long shadows over the volcano and plateaus at its base. The sounds of heavy machinery ring through the nearby canyons, and spotlights illuminate mining cranes and pumps at the volcano’s base. Stacked residences and businesses climb the sides of the plateaus, lights coming on inside while colorful advertisements broadcast the locations of entertainment dens, diners, and a medical center. A small fortress overlooks the settlement from the west face of the volcano. A crooked, beaten metal sign along the road reads in Common, “Buyer’s Remorse”, the population number below it perforated many times to the point of illegibility.
Vesk soldiers wearing out-of-place, teal long-sleeved shirts with armored plating guard a barrier warding the western entrance, and a pahtra sniper observes from a perch on the north plateau. The soldiers’ equipment is patched and battle-scarred, and some still have minor injuries. If you want to enter the town, they will likely ask for official permit to do so.
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Naiva ponders the situation for a moment, looking off to the side with her pixelated irises as she runs some numbers. She murmurs as silent prayer to her dear grandmother before looking back to the group.
"Hey, everyone. Let me know if you need identification. I used to walk though places like this all the time before the Society picked me up."
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At the entrance, a confidant lashunta walks her way towards the town. "Greetings!" she says with a confidant wave. "I'm Gloria Starsight. I've got an order to come perform some...." she rubs the back of her head and chuckle. "long overdue maintenance and inspections on equipment. Also to take requests for resupply and requisitions. I also brought assistants. Can I speak to your commander?"
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"Welcome to Vesk-XX, Gloria Starsight! Yes, our commander will grant you audience. Please note that curfew is in 2 hours and loitering is prohibited. Now move along please." they provide general directions around town
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Navia offers a friendly smile and cocks her head to the side as she makes her way towards the commander. As she does, she speaks towards her allies via telepathy.
"Hahaha. These guys are literal clowns! Look"
Her digital eyes flutter cutely as she sends private messages to the personal comm units of her allies. Ideally, she sends a short clip of the featured media of (DC 24 Spoiler) but will otherwise briefly explain with words if she doesn't have any clips on hand.
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Based on directions from guards, you have seven places of interest in Buyer’s Remorse. These locations are Ysoki Encampment, Yon’s Diner, The Clinic, Shrines, Mining Facility, Shobhad Barracks and Veskarium Garrison. You have four phases (one phase is roughly one hour) to visit locations you choose, alternatively you can spend a phase gathering information with Computers or Diplomacy check.
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Navia cracks her knuckles and gives the party a casual wave. "I should have bought us some time. Feel free to look into whats going on here. I'm going to go make their systems talk to me."
The lashunta grins and her eyes flicker with the pixelated image of two spiders. "No, I'll make them sing to me."
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Khubelu and Navia learn following:
10+: The Veskarium took over Akiton around 30 years ago, and speakers continuously broadcast the numerous rules and regulations for the town in Common and Vesk, including curfew shortly after sunset, no loitering, no travel without permit, and right-of-way for vesk at all times, amongst numerous others. The people in town believe the year is 352 ag.
15+: All advanced Pact World technology stopped working 32 years ago, when the “Data Plague” struck. Starships malfunctioned and communications broke down. The Plague corrupted planetary infospheres, and computers became unreliable.
20+: The Data Plague exclusively struck the Pact Worlds, hitting every world simultaneously. Veskarium starships in the Pact Worlds system were unaffected, and they left and returned in a month with an invasion fleet. The Pact Worlds officially surrendered after the Stewards organized the handful of working starships in Absalom Station’s Armada into a last defense; the Veskarium annihilated them.
25+: The Idari lost orbital control when the Data Plague struck. The ship crashed into Fullbright on Verces a few weeks later, with nearly the entire complement lost and presumed dead. Kasathas have been rare within the Veskarium ever since.
30+: The Data Plague seemed to originate from within the Pact Worlds, beginning on Absalom Station and quickly spreading to the surrounding worlds. The effects never reached the Veskarium. The initial Veskarium invasion was tentative probing to see if the reports were false and eventually evolved into a complete annexation of the defenseless Pact Worlds.
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The Shobhad barracks is located atop the south mesa . The compound is a permanent structure, but the mercenaries rotate through every season. Male shobhad Vartojan is sparring and checking equipment in preparation for battle with his warriors.
DC 31 Diplomacy check, talk shop with a successful DC 20 Profession (mercenary) check, or offer a gift of a tier 8 or better weapon to get his attention.
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Navia takes a brief scan of the area, looking around for a vulnerable system to hack or a solid mark to try and trick into giving her info. From the looks of things... no vulnerabilities, and she doesn't want to brute force anything quite yet.
The lashunta makes her way back to the party and shrugs. Her digital pupils turn into X shapes. "Sorry, no dice. They're a little too on-the-level for me to try something. Anyone here have experience as a merc, or has a tongue coated in that grade-A silver, you may have a shot."
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Yon, a hylki human, is a welcoming, older man who manages a tiny diner at the base of the central mesa, with the rapid precision of an excellent short order cook. Miners filter through, quickly placing and receiving their orders while exchanging friendly banter with Yon. When Khubelu arrives, a Veskarium news broadcast plays on the holodisplay, talking about the conquest of Absalom Station and showing documentary video of the destruction of the Armada.
As you watch, the Veskarium invasion fleet quickly destroys the handful of functioning Pact World starships, including the Starfinder Society’s flagship, the Master of Stars, colored a strange pink instead of its traditional green and yellow. The broadcast then switches to a celebratory live feed of the Veskarium fleet dismantling a now-evacuated Absalom Station as they extract the Starstone for transport to Vesk-Prime.
Two vesk soldiers guard the bridge to gymnasium. When Chrys approaches, the guards inquire what business she has inside.
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"Sorry, but the gym is reserved to Veskarium troops. However if you are looking for mercenary work, we will arrange you appointment with governor of the town." vesks answer to Chrys
Miners present at the diner feel disappointed with fall of Absalom Station, but change topic after initial shock. They just want something else to think about.
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Chrys brightens at the idea of work. "Yes, I would be most grateful for that. Thank you." She turns to go, then pauses for a moment. "No chance for a poor, out of shape quorlu to get a bit of time?"
Ysoki Encampment
Yon’s Diner - Khubelu
The Clinic
Shrines
Mining Facility
Shobhad Barracks - Navia, DC 31 Diplomacy check, DC 20 Profession (mercenary), or offer a gift of a tier 8 or better weapon
Veskarium Garrison - Chrys, vesk only
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Navia considers her options on where to go next. She briefly eyeballs the clinic, but then shivers nervously. "Probably better for everyone that I stay out of there. I've got a bit of a... curse isn't the right word. Chaos factor? Biological glitch. Either way, bleeding around me isn't a good idea."
She decides to try her luck with the Ysoki encampment. At the very least, she won't have any smug Vesk bossing her around there.
Hopefully.
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"The governor will meet you soon. Come back here after about hour."
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Diniel, a female elf mystic, runs a small medical center on the central mesa.
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Ysoki encampment is a cluster of structures containing a repair shop, a hydroponics facility, a small cantina, and VR parlor, along with several cramped residences. Its founder is Neknok manages a brood of 50 children, grandchildren, cousins, and other relations in a sprawling compound built in, around, and under the derelict hovertanker. Her son, Kib, is a fasttalking salesperson who manages the VR parlor and gambling den. Her granddaughter, Quina, operates the hydroponics facility that provides most of the town’s fresh produce, and Neknok’s adopted android daughter, Triss-5, runs the cantina.
A few hylki miners gather in the cantina at any given time. All the functioning equipment in the cantina is Veskarium design. Triss-5 points out a broken-down Pact-made holodevice that used to play music programs, but now plays only four separate clips from four songs saying “This. Is. The. End.” though the last word changes to “Beginning” every four verses through the eerie tune.
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Chrys wanders around the mine entrance for a bit.
Ysoki Encampment - Navia
Yon’s Diner - Khubelu
The Clinic - Khubelu
Shrines
Mining Facility - Chrys
Shobhad Barracks - Navia, DC 31 Diplomacy check, DC 20 Profession (mercenary), or offer a gift of a tier 8 or better weapon
Veskarium Garrison - Chrys, vesk only (back in an hour)
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The small mining facility extracts thasteron, a form of pre-Drift fuel, from the excavation below the volcano. Pumping stations, lifts, and cranes dot the top of the ravine, while scaffolding and drilling equipment line the cliff walls. A few dozen hylki and ikeshti miners shout requests and status updates over comm units. The facility manager, Drak Garls oversees operations from a small command building on the cliff top just north of the bridge. Drak doesn’t have patience for interruptions.
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"This. Is. The. End." Navia repeats along with the song, focusing on the tone. "This.... Is.... The... End..." She trails off, her eyes daring back and forth for a moment. "The... end? No.... it... shouldn't be... am I...?"
Hands dart towards her rifle. Her eyes scan the room for hostiles. She remains tense, waiting for.... the end.
The hacker takes a moment to gather herself. She's fine. It's fine. She preoccupies herself with the area's computers. Simple data is always more useful than creepy omens anyway.
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A gnome woman spots Chrys having difficulty speaking with mine manager Drak and introduces herself to Chrys as a Starfinder agent. "Success of my mission depends on gaining access to ancient ruins in the ravine before the miners destroy them. Unfortunately Drak doesn't let me near. I could provide a distraction so you can access the ravine and retrieve a Contemplative meditation tablet at the ruin for me"
Khubelu chats with Diniel for a while, but without learning anything relevant. You feel spending too much time with her could arouse suspicions of the Vesks.
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Navia makes sure to keep in constant contact with her allies. Militant Vesk and creepy radio transmissions are more than enough to give her the gut feeling that something terrible could happen at any moment.
Doing her best to keep cool, Navia considers what to do next. She opens a direct channel to the team. "Hey, not getting a lot of progress on my end. Anyone need something sweet talked, snuck past, hacked into, or stolen? Something tells me these guys are sitting on all sorts of prime snags."
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Chrys points out the scar on Diniel’s neck to Keskodai who asks about it. The conversation then leads to the Data plague and she repeats information you learned earlier about Veskarium invasion and loss of Idari.
She was an agent of Stewards between assignments at Bastion on Absalom Station when the Data Plague struck. She provides a first-hand account of computers failing across the Pact Worlds shortly after Absalom Station fell to chaos, and the Stewards’ desperate efforts to maintain cohesion as communications broke down. When the Veskarium broke the remaining Pact Worlds fleet and defeat was inevitable, her superiors assigned her and others with maintaining true records and history of what occurred and keeping the memory of the Absalom Pact alive. She provides you with copies of her records, and you earn 1 Data Point toward the mission objectives.
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"Yes please, I'd be so grateful if you could enter the ruin and find tablet for me. Society membership has been on the decline after all our starships were lost." she texts back to Navia
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Navia's eyes flicker with surprise as she confirms the Starfinder's identity with her records. She was just about getting ready to use their comlink to send the gnome a virus to get root access to her equipment, but such a bridge-burner wasn't necessary if there was reason to simply bring her with on the return trip.
She's quick to respond."I'll gear up and head there right away. Ping me when I'm clear to dive. And since we're on the same side? Just between you and me, I'm a Starfinder too." Her transmission ends with the emblem of the Dataphiles.
Navia will do her best to navigate the caves. She wears her drone Xallis like a jetpack, all the better for an easy descent and an easy exit if things go bad.
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Nelli agrees to join you announcing she will meet you near the governor's office.
Keskodai studies the tunnels through the central mesa, which hold small shrines to Abadar, Eloritu, Iomedae, Pharasma, and Talavet, each of these surrounding a much larger chapel to Damoritosh. A few Vesk soldiers are offering prayers to Damoritosh in preparation for the upcoming battle. He identifies hybrid devices built into the shrines that diminish and misdirect divination magic and amplify memory-altering enchantments.
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Gigi contacts your comm units that the governor is ready to see you.
Conscripted soldiers fortify the walls, check redundancies on vital systems, and perform weapons checks. Three soldiers wait outside the governor’s office, where you meet Gigigentenk in person. The red-furred skittermander wears a pith helmet and cheerfully greets you and shows off his beetle terrarium for a few moments before the governor signals for them to enter.
The display of Swarm corrovox heads and a set of immense pincers behind the desk sets a grim tone. The vesk behind the desk has a pair of pistols and a handful of grenades in easy reach and looks through the holodisplay on her desk showing the town’s defenses. The images highlight the vesk’s orange and white scale patterns. “Here’s our new mystery out of the desert. You don’t look local.” She throws a charred piece of armor on the table with an unfamiliar, seven-toothed cog on it. “You don’t wear this mark. Are you agents of the Vault Lord? If so, speak up quickly so I can shoot you and get back to work. Just don’t waste my time or I’ll be upset.”