“Strength exercises? I’ll play.”
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"You want to... do exercise? Something could be happening to Hurondo right now, you know right?" Mercy eyes the ysoki incredulously "Well, if you insist, let's do it quickly." She seizes the handles on the weight machine.
...
"This won't take long at all, and Huronodo's been gone for days.
Exercise clears the mind and sharpens the wits. You'll be better prepared for your mission. "Jiwalla frowns at Reyn's try, but nods approvingly after Moira and Kyzin lift. When she steps up and tries herself, you can see the shape of corded muscles straining through her fur. Her left foot slips and she sprawls on the floor, the weights never quite clearing the stack.
"Congratulations, you all bested me in this contest. And you are the day's champion." The last addressed to Mercy. She's clearly a little miffed, although whether at you or at herself or at her traitor foot is unclear.
She leads the way aross the room. "We'll grind out a 5 minute sprint on these rowing machines. Sounds short, but if you're giving it your all it will take a toll. " She cranks up the resistance and selects an activity profile on all the machines before seating herself. "Let's go."
She doesn't wait but starts rowing right away. Its clear she's done this before, and done it well.
"Rowing? Not my kind of exercise, but I'll give it a try." Mercy rolls her shoulders before stepping into a machine herself.
Reynar follows Jiwalla across the roon, rubbing at a bicep. "Brute strength is not my forte," he acknowledges.
"I should hold my own a bit better in this challenge," he says with some confidence upon seeing the rowing machines.
“We mostly walk on my homeworld, but rowing wasn’t uncommon. And rowing fast was more survival than sport."
He grins.
"Give me a moment to reset the machine…”
“Yes, I enjoy the rhythm of this, but your machine is missing the other two oar levers.”
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Jiwalla quickly falls into a well-practiced rythym and crushes the rowing. Kyzin comes closest by he's a full 15% below her output. Mercy makes a respectable showing, but Reynar can't find a rythmm. The pahtra scores barley a third of the ysoki's output. Jiwalla seems pretty pleased with herself.
"Get some water and a few minutes rest. I don't want to take advantage of you while you're all winded."
After the short rest Jiwalla claps her hands together. "Okay. Last challenge. It's just a sprint down the corridor. Ready, set, NO false starts, GO!"
"Let's do it." Mercy rushes forth, wanting very much to take advantage of some of her tech's tricks to get some extra speed, but holding back.
Even after the short breather and refreshment, Reynar is looking more than a little dishevelled.
The pahtra looks worried as they prepare to hear the next challenge announced.
Jiwalla leaves little time for thought as she announces the start if the race and Reynar finds himself sprinting down the corridor.
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Despite Jiwalla's attempt to draw a false start, and the inherent advantage in announcing 'GO" herself. Reynar's fluid stride and nimble avoidance of hallway obstacles enables the pahtra to just edge out the ysoki at the corridor's end. Mercy follows at a distance.
Jiwalla leans against the corridor wall breathing deeply. After a few seconds she recovers her breath. "Well, you're not the best conditioned recruits, I've ever seen, but I guess you'll do. If you ever want a rematch, come on back."
She pushes off the wall and straightens up. "Hurondo's office is right here. Feel free to look around. I'll be in my office, here. Check in with me before you leave. " She taps the door to her right for Hurondo, and steps into the door to her left.
Shortly before the end of the corridor, you passed an opening in the wall leading to a large room; it contains multiple types of vidgames, old fashioned card and board games, and several extremely comfortable pieces of furniture. A coffee machine and a platter containing various finger foods commonly enjoyed by several Pact Worlds species sit atop a table near the door. A female korasha lashunta rests in one of the chairs with her eyes closed.
As Jiwalla steps into her office, another door behind you up the corridor opens and several humanoid creatures come out looking relieved and with a spring in their step. They call out good-byes and thanks to someone who is obviously still in the room. Then they head for the exit.
"Hey hey hey Jiwalla! You're just going to leave us with that? You're not going to tell us which members Hurondo was going to visit? Or if Hurondo had enemies that you know of? Or if there was anything suspicious around here that might've explained why he suddenly disappeared?" Mercy shakes her head, baffled that Hurondo's close coworker seems to have so little interest in him.
She hopes to bring Jiwalla with the group to continue answering questions as the team inspects Hurondo's office for clues. She looks around the room as she steps in, looking for anything out of place.
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Jiwalla spins on her heel. "I assure you, agent, that I have no information of value to you at this time. Hurondo was concerned that some members have stopped coming to the Respite, but I recall no specifics. I would suggest that you be sure to check his calendar when you search his office. He might have documented when and where he planned to meet any absent members. Meanwhile, I will consider the events of the recent days and will share any information that would be helpful to you when you check in before leaving the Respite."
"You do you. We'll find him." Mercy moves on to Hurondo's office to follow Jiwalla's advice and take a look for anything that might've indicated which members he went to visit.
8-10-U8 checks to see if anyone injured themselves during the competition. Assuming everyone is still fine, the SRO follows along docilely.
Reynar follows Mercy into Hurondo's office, also scanning for anything of interest or out of place.
"Okay, what let's see what we can find," he says.
If nothing else stands out, he makes his way over to the calendar.
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Hurondo’s office door has an engraved brass nameplate given to him by First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo during the Respite’s opening. Inside, a holographic interface displays a newsfeed from the infosphere, currently playing a short segment describing several of the Respite’s missing clients and instructing viewers to report any sightings of these people to the center. Several holographic projections on the walls display images commemorating Hurondo’s service to the Starfinder Society; the largest shows a continuous loop of a ribbon cutting ceremony outside the Healing Arches attended by Jiwalla, Hurondo, Zigvigix, First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo, and a small group of other high-ranking Starfinders.
Reynar notices several datapads containing the personal information of various creatures, including photos and addresses associated with several temporary residences in the Spike.
The datapads contain confidential information related to the type of trauma each creature was being treated for as well as their associated treatment plans.
Finally finding something he can help with, 8-10-U8 approaches the data pass and efficiently processes them.
Seeing the treatment plans, he processes them to see if they are well thought-out, making annotations as needed to improve them.
"Well there we go. You'd think Jiwalla could have led with that, but it's never that easy." Mercy jabs her finger at the pads Reynar and Attenuate are inspecting. "I'm sure we'll get ourselves a proper lead if we go check their homes. And if we don't we can make it back here and question more people."
She crosses her arms "Unless you want to try Jiwalla again?"
Finishing his search of Hurondo's desk, Reynar holds up a canister of spray flesh and an advanced medkit fished from a drawer. "These of any use to you, Attenuate?" he asks. "They could be needed, depending on what we find.'
Reynar nods, "We've got some names and addresses, now. And faces to put to them. Seems we'll be more likely to find out more there."
Reynar uses the short time required for his companions to gather for departure to collect his thoughts and meditate on what lies ahead.
”Affirmative,” responds Attenuate, taking the items and stowing them in some previously hidden built in storage compartments.
”Reminder—healing function full efficiency requires attunement of on-board medical microlab. Please affirmatively acquiesce to this attunement for appropriate attenuation of any ailments,” he requests for a second time, strangely slipping into an assonance speech pattern for no apparent reason.
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There's no sign of Hurondo's personal calendar, nor of a personal datapad in which Hurondo would have recorded his plans for the last few days.
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"Anyone find that calendar Jiwalla mentioned? Other than the memorabilia, I didn't find anything personal of Hurondo's. Let's let Jiwalla know what we found and then head to those addresses."
"Sure, that sounds useful," Reynar says to 8-10-U8. "Thanks."
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"Hey you can feel free Attenuate - I'm not gonna complain until you start pumping me full of experimental concoctions that make me worse at fighting." Mercy laughs. "Yeah, Jiwalla then. Hope our lead with these patients holds up."
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Jiwalla's door opens at your touch. Inside, her furniture is all spotless surfaces arranged in rectilinear patterns. A single datapad is on her desk. Two more are in a rack on top of the file cabinet behind her. The geometric precision is at odds with scuffs and peeling paint of the office walls.
"Agents, I've not been able to recall anything that I feel may be of use to you. Did you find any leads in Hurondo's office?"
"Presumed last office activity was development of patient treatment plans, including apparent frustration with lack of services. Logic circuits indicate potential connection to additional medical resources available in newly opened clinic," observes Attenuate.
"Hey, if I had to guess, he went to personally reach out to some patients down in the Spike, only to get encounter some trouble here. Everyone knows it's a rough place. Maybe he insulted the wrong person. We're planning on heading down to check with the patients he was going to check on." Mercy shrugs, figuring its the best lead they've got. The new clinic is a bit odd, but not a smoking gun.
Kyzin nods to Attenuate. “Scan away. I’m all for getting healed if I need it.”
In the office, Kyzin listens and wonders how best to help in the moment.
“Where do we go from here, Mercy?”
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Jiwalla bares her teeth in a smile. "I may not have had useful information, but maybe I can help pay for some. The Society has provided us with a discretionary fund for 'the aid of exemplary agents.' I can think of no better use than to help find Hurondo. This credstick has 1500 credits on it. Just bring him back alive."
"Well the pressure is on now, isn't it?" Mercy smiles with a bit of forced cheer as she takes the credstick "But we'll find him, don't worry."
With the Respite searched well enough for now, she leads the way out and toward the first address that the group found of Hurondo's patient visits. "Kyzin, I think we'll have to keep eyes and ears open for any hints of where Hurondo might've gone as we check in with the patients. Maybe he never got to them, but we'll see some sign of where he did get to along the way. Hopefully some of them will know though..."
Having reviewed the medical files, Attenuate volunteers, ”Individual treatment plans assessed; second opinions formulated for patient benefit. Let us proceed to the first individual listed.”
Approaching the Ysoki, Attenuate asks, “Excuse me, are you in need of medical attention?”
Mercy turns on her way out "Attenuate? Hurondo could be getting sliced into Shobhad steak by some kidnappers right now. Shouldn't we go?" She hops from foot to foot, feeling like the Respite has already wasted too much of their time.
”I will take no more time with this specimen, then,” replies Attenuate, ”Though my interaction here has used much less time than the pointless physical exercises earlier.”
He moves on with the others towards the first address, wary of anything threatening nearby of a greenish hue.
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A mission in mind, course charted, you step out of the Lorespire Complex en route to the nearest transport tube. Outside two humans distribute pamphlets and talk to passersby about a new medical clinic in the Spike that promises to ease their burdens and erase painful recollections of traumatic events via a state of the art memory modification procedure. The humans loudly proclaim the procedure is 100% safe and effective.
The thoroughfare here is long and narrow, 20 feet wide, and crowded with creatures travelling to and from the Lorespire Complex and various other locations. The area contains different types of flora commonly found on the native planets of the major species that call Absalom Station home,
many sealed in atmospheric containers.
The UNiters, DC 21 Culture
Attenuate takes the preferred pamphlet, scans it, and returns it to the individual. As they travel, he reads his electronic copy and considers the possibilities.
Mercy similarly takes a proffered pamphlet and looks it over.
She's a much worse judge of character than Attenuate, but that doesn't stop her from putting two and two together and realizing these might be the same people the patients at the Respite were talking about. After Attenuate offers his insight she asks the humans "That sounds too good to be true, even to me. And I don't know zilch about medicine. What's the name of your medical clinic? Maybe I wanna go see this for myself."
"Services other than wiping trauma out of your brain? What other miracles are they up to?" Mercy smirks, then slaps the fellow on the back.
Reynar also takes a pamphlet and, unable to pick up what the pamphlet peddlers are putting down, idly peruses the publication's contents.
"The Open Collective? Cool name. What's it a collective of?"
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"Services other than wiping trauma out of your brain? What other miracles are they up to?" Mercy smirks, then slaps the fellow on the back.
Mercy's back-slapping gambit succeeds. The Uniter relaxes. "I don't know about medical s%&~. They do good work, and that's why the Uniters work with them. And we get a nice finder's fee for new patients. Bargai calls it doing well by doing good. "
...
Reynar also takes a pamphlet and, unable to pick up what the pamphlet peddlers are putting down, idly peruses the publication's contents."The Open Collective? Cool name. What's it a collective of?"
...
The other human replies, "I don't know. Collective -- Commmunity. Bringing people together. It's like the Uniters, man. Does it have to be more than a cool name?"
They're both dressed in semi-current street-punk, the cheapest of lightly armored faux-flightsuits, weighted fingerless gloves, knife tucked into calf-high boots, and a small semi-automatic handgun in a holster above their butt crack. Could be a gang uniform. Could be a poor marketing ploy to borrow some Starfinder vibe.
Kyzin takes a pamphlet.
"Helping people connect makes sense. My people travel together and rely on each other. But erasing pain from your mind? That sounds dangerous..."
"Can't fault finding a job you can feel good about." Mercy rolls her shoulders "But you lot look like you're cut out for more than just handing out flyers. Have you done anything else for this Collective? Like say, finding people?" She leaves it at "finding" even though she has a sense they're probably fine doing dirtier work.
The other human replies, "I don't know. Collective -- Commmunity. Bringing people together. It's like the Uniters, man. Does it have to be more than a cool name?"
"Nah. It's like a band name," Reynar replies with a crooked smile. "As long as it's catchy it doesn't need to mean anything. Just be remembered."
"Cool. I get the link, though."
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Kyzin takes a pamphlet.
"Helping people connect makes sense. My people travel together and rely on each other. But erasing pain from your mind? That sounds dangerous..."
"That's why they have doctors." The young Uniter replies, as if doctors make everything all right.
"Can't fault finding a job you can feel good about." Mercy rolls her shoulders "But you lot look like you're cut out for more than just handing out flyers. Have you done anything else for this Collective? Like say, finding people?" She leaves it at "finding" even though she has a sense they're probably fine doing dirtier work.
"We're really just pledges. We have to do all the scut work. Bargai says we have to prove our worth. Are you guys really real Starfinders? You seem less twitchy than some of the ones we've talked to."
The other human replies, "I don't know. Collective -- Commmunity. Bringing people together. It's like the Uniters, man. Does it have to be more than a cool name?""Nah. It's like a band name," Reynar replies with a crooked smile. "As long as it's catchy it doesn't need to mean anything. Just be remembered."
"Cool. I get the link, though."
"Yeah, it's cool. And the message is great. But we don't take any flack from anyone. "
"How do you figure? We never said we were Starfinders. The Starfinders I've met haven't been all that twitchy though. Normally, they're pretty placid actually. Too placid even." Mercy rolls her shoulders "You meet some of them recently?" She attempts to tease out if this group has crossed paths with Hurondo.
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"Give me a little credit. You just walked out of the Starfinder Headquarters. You're not a suit or a comrade plebian. But I had to ask because you're not packing as much heat as most. (I dig the handware by the way.)
We've met some Starfinders. Most who talk to us are real twitchy. They been through some fraking piles. The big dude is chill though."