"I came in through the bathroom window. -- Without protection. Not even a silver spoon."
"Being alone was risky enough, but without protection?" Reynar shakes his head, a mixture of awe and incredulity. "A silver spoon? That wouldn't have been much help. You needed a silver hammer to bring down upon their head."
Hurondo: "Not much more. Look at their leaflets. They're promising cures that sound too good to be true. The hallmark of charlatans and cheats."
Bargai: "And they don't stick to a deal.
But we've never been inside the place. We don't know what actually goes on in there. Daria can lead you there, but she isn't going in."
"Oh, we've looked at 'em," he says, idly flicking through one of the brochures they'd collected earlier. "Definitely sounds too good to be true." He sighs. "But it could be music to the ears of someone desperate and without other options."
'So they never told you why they cut you off?" the pahtra asks Bargai. "Nothing went down that might have soured things?"
She smirks "We'll start by jumping through a window and starting to punch any staff we see."
Reynar mirrors Mercy's smirk, a clawed hand clenched before him. "Let's make Hurondo proud."
He helps Mercy dig for rumours and stories of the Open Collective on the journey.
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The Open Collective is only a 30 minute walk from the Uniters’ Headquarters in a similarly run-down region of the Spike, though it sees a trickle of foot traffic near its front, with a half-dozen or so citizens travelling to destinations using the corridor path. Several parts of the building appear damaged.
The south-facing door is the main entrance. From the lobby there are doors to the east and west. Opaque force fields in the south wall (marked red on the map) block the way into other rooms. There are locked fire exits in the western and eastern walls.
Reception Area
The building’s doors don’t shut properly, with one door clearly at such an angle that it almost digs into the station plating. Signage flickers on and off, randomly displaying mismatched letter styles that read: “Open Collective.” A reception desk and a hallway lined by a visible force field can be seen beyond the ill-fitting doors.
A line of approximately 20 hopeful yet downtrodden creatures are here talking excitedly about what they are going to do with their lives after being miraculously cured. They wait behind the empty reception desk.
Mercy strides right into the lobby after a skeptical look at the sign and the rather run-down building. She heads to the back of the line and strikes up a conversation with the last person to arrive before the party. "You all got the flyer too? It's not quite what I imagined it'd look like. How long have you lot been waiting? They must be running a real tight ship if they can't even afford a receptionist."
Missing any significance of the building or environs, Attenuate goes straight to the sick individuals and starts scanning them with his custom microlab, looking for people he may be able to quickly help.
Trailing Mercy, Reynar's step slows as he casts a sceptical eye over the rundown facility. He didn't know what he expected to find, but it wasn't this.
"You all got the flyer too? It's not quite what I imagined it'd look like. How long have you lot been waiting? They must be running a real tight ship if they can't even afford a receptionist."
"Make that both of us," the pahtra says, joining his companion at the back of the line. "Could be they're just so busy the receptionist's needed to help out the back," he suggests. "Has there been any update?"
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They've been waiting a couple hours since the receptionist went through the door to the west. About 20 minutes ago a woman who had been waiting went through the door to find out what's going on, but she hasn't yet returned.
Most of the people in line have little or no physical damage. Their problems seem to be mostly mental or imagined. There is one shirren who should be at a real emergency room. He's suffered broken ribs and has internal bleeding.
Attenuate attends to the injured Shirren, using the Advanced Medkit (acquired from the United Headquarters) and a healing serum to stabilize the creature.
”Excuse me, injured citizen. May I treat your wounds?” Attenuate says in his best bedside manner.
If yes, apply Cybermedicine Booster.
Healing = (5+Shirren’s CR+2)*1.5 health
Mercy raises one golden eyebrow "Have any visitors even been treated since you all started waiting here? Makes you wonder what's holding them up. Maybe some particularly tricky procedure." She almost ends up putting air quotes around the word tricky.
To the party she suggests more quietly "Seems they just got whatever they wanted here done and packed up already. Would explain why they ghosted the Uniters. But we might need to poke around a little to find out where the patients ended up and why they didn't go back to the Respite."
Reynar nods thoughtfully as Mercy shares her suspicions.
"That's one hell of a lunch break," Reynar quips to those waiting nearby. "Maybe we should see about getting a job here. Sure looks like they could do with some extra staff."
"Excuse me," the pahtra calls, stepping out from the queue and slowly making his way toward the front of the line. "Have you all been checked in? Maybe they have a schedule of appointments?" He leans over the desk to check out the display of the reception console.
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The crowd says no one's been treated or at least no one's come out of the door for hours. Reynar checks the calendar; "SHould they being doing that? Appointments are scheduled and it looks like they were almost on time a couple hours ago when the receptionist went west, but nothing's changed since the receptionist left.
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Attenuate attends to the injured Shirren, using the Advanced Medkit (acquired from the United Headquarters) and a healing serum to stabilize the creature.
”Excuse me, injured citizen. May I treat your wounds?” Attenuate says in his best bedside manner.
...
The vesk has been in enough pain long enough that any offer of help is gratefully, if gruffly, received. Attenuate adroitly tends his wounds. The vesk's gratitude afterward is less gruff.
Attenuate has already expended the biohack to accelerate healing, so he will use the second serum.
+50% = maybe 2 hp
Finishing up, Attenuate says to the Vesk, ”Your life-threatening issues are cleared. Rest, proper nutrition and hydration are indicated.”
”The force field provides a standard medical quarantine against biohazards,” he announces to his allies, adding to the rest of those in line, ”My scans indicate the rest of you are not experiencing life-threatening injury or illness. Please go about your business. If you wish to cross the biohazard forcefield, I suggest you activate environmental protections.”
Attenuate, being inorganic, has less to fear from most pathogens, but he activates his armor’s environmental protections anyway…
Following Attenuate's lead, Mercy activates her armor's environmental protections as well. Though the stories are always clear that the really harmful stuff laughs in the face of ordinary suit barriers. She shrugs to the crowd "This operation's more and more of a mess by the minute. How about we go knock on a few doors and let you all know whether there's any doctors left in the building."
She turns to the rest of the party "Want to follow the receptionist and see what's going on?"
Having established his medical bona fides, Attenuate responds, ”Agreed, excessive wait times are improper. Let us establish contact with the local medical staff and determine the cause of the delay.” He moves along behind Mercy, ready to start exploring as well.
Mercy starts by knocking and listening for any response.
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There's no response to Moira's knock, so she opens the door. Behind it a hall extends to the western edge of the clinic, ending in a door marked with an emergency exit sign. A reception area is visible to the south. Three doors line the northern and southern ends of the hall, each marked A through F with clear signs. A background odor of citrus pervades the area, seemingly at odds with the facility’s lack of cleanliness.
The view shimmers slightly through the energy field covering the doorway.
Mercy steps through the doorway into the western hall while keeping the door open "Hellooo-ooo? Anyone here? Receptionists? Doctors? ... Victims?" She looks to see if there's any indication of a door being left ajar or any obvious footprints or other indication of where the two from the lobby would have gone.
Reynar activates his armour's protective seals at Attenuate's suggestion. "Can't be too careful," he murmurs.
"Maybe they bailed put that exit..." the oahtra speculates as he joins Mercy in an inspection of the hallway beyond the energy field.
Mercy shrugs at the eerily quiet building "Makes sense Reynar." She heads down the corridor to check the door to the outside. If this some elaborate scam, it makes sense that they might've bailed out the back door. She looks in particular for any sign that the door was used recently, such as footprints or objects dropped in haste.
Passing safely through the barrier, Reynar finds himself standing in a seemingly deserted corridor.
"Is there anybody out there?" the pahtra sings in query to Mercy as he moves to join her by the exit.
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The door is a crash out emergency exit. It's closed. It's posted "Alarm will sound." No one mentioned hearing an alarm.
The floor is tile, not quite as gleaming clean as you'd expect in a hospital. Slightly discolored swaths of floor form an irregular web anchored at the doorways.
Reynar opens the door. The room is long and narrow. At the far end is a desk with a computer terminal.
The user interface is active and open. The terminal records the date and treatment status (“treated,” “untreated,” or “inactive”) of numerous patients. But the filing system is a chaotic mess. Records only seem to go back a few weeks.
Computers, DC 18
With no immediate threats presenting themselves, Attenuate moves over to the computer and directly interfaces with it to quickly download any useful information. He does start a bit carefully, though, just in case there are any viruses or firewalls that might try to infect or block him.
Cross-matching the client file to Hurondo’s file, Attenuate presents his results (feel free to read the spoiler).
Mercy eyes the push bar, internally debating the merits of causing a big ruckus now or later. Eventually she shrugs and heads back over to the doorway to the computer room "How's it looking in there? They logged Hurondo's patients, huh. So they did end up coming here. Not a particularly professional establishment if they can't even spell anything right." She neglects to mention her own over-reliance on spell checkers. "Does it say what the outcomes were for his patients? You'd think if everything was all good, they'd be back home."
As she speaks, she keeps an eye out for any doctors or nurses leaving the other rooms.
Reading the logs over Attenuate's... shoulder?..., Reynar replies to Mercy. "The staff either got better over time or they got better staff over time. Yeah, the records show the patients' treatment status."
"You'd think so. We can check out their homes if we can't get more answers here."
Once it seems like everyone is ready, Reynar will check on the next door along.
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Reynar opens the door onto some kind of treatment room. The table in the center of the room is cold hard metal. Restraints made of wide plastic strapping are fastened to the table. Behind the table is a console with monitors and instruments, metrological and operational. Discolored swathes like those in the hall weave around the table and up the walls. Stepping into the room and looking around the pahtra notices scratch marks , numerous, deep, and heavy on the inside wall, door frame and the back of the door.
The last door on the north is locked.
Attenuate waits until the room is searched, then moves over to the locked door. Prying off the nearby panel, he attempts to override the security and get it open.
…unsuccessfully.
Mercy runs her fingers along the scratch marks "Hey. These aren't your usual thing for a medical facility, right Attentuate? It's like some beast was bein' restrained here and was thrashing around. Not the kind of thing you'd expect for a medical facility focused on helping people with their mental trauma." She scowls "Bad vibes."
She awaits any trouble that might have started from Attentuate's attempt to open the north door. Her cracking knuckles are audible in the quiet hallway.
”This marks would not indicate a voluntary procedure,” agrees Attenuate darkly, ”Though sometimes with mental conditions restraints are needed.”
He allows, ”Given the shoddy operation of the clinic, the subjects may being subjected to experiments against their will. We should proceed with caution.”
”Almost there…” says Attenuate.
Reynar gives a low whistle as he inspects the scratch marks. "Someone did not like whatever was happening in here," he observes. "Don't think I'd want to meet whatever did that."
"Hey, on second thought..." he begins as Attenuate works on the lock...
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Attenuate pops the lock and the door swings open. Inside a half-orc woman is strapped to the examination room. An android working on the equipment at the far end of the table straightens up and turns to face you.
You stare at each other for a moment, then it reaches for the pistol at its belt.
The woman screams, "Help me!"
Reynar, Init: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Android, Init: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Mercy Rose, Init: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13
Kyzin Gaz, Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
8-10-U8, Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
"Heh. I think you're leaking. How 'bout you let that woman go? She clearly doesn't want to be treated."
Seeing the android reach for their pistol, Reynar attunes himself with the cosmic forces.
"Easy! We're not here to hurt anyone, if we don't have to," Reynar calls to the android, open hand outstretched before him.
With a twist of his wrist, he rotates his hand, closing it into a fist and lifting it, fingers facing upward, to eye level.
When you are attuned or fully attuned, you can use the psychokinetic hand ability of your gravity hold to immobilize, lift, or move a Medium or smaller creature. The creature can attempt a Fortitude save to negate the effect. While under this effect, the target creature cannot move, but can take any other normal actions. This ability follows all of the restrictions of the spell other than the weight limit, but you can’t lift a creature higher than 5 feet off the ground. When you spend a standard action concentrating to maintain the gravity hold, the target can attempt a new save to end the effect. Once a creature successfully saves against this ability, it becomes immune to further uses of this revelation for 24 hours.
"Not the chatty type? Works for me." Mercy repositions, then blasts like a rocket toward the uncanny android, launching herself with a blast from her knuckles. Gauntlets of light encase themselves around her fists as she flies and she drives one straight into the android's chest as she arrives.
On his turn, Attenuate focuses his custom microlab on the organic material causing the hostile Android to bulge weirdly, concerned it may be a biohazard for everyone nearby (good thing we have our environmental protections up!)
Class Feature gives a 32 Life Science check to identify that organic matter if it counts as a creature. Otherwise, here is a roll:
Once that is done, Attenuate shares whatever information he learns and spends his action starting to undo the half orc’s bindings.
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Lifted, the android can't maneuver, and Moira finds it an easy target.
Attenuate identifies the green patches as parts of a bodysnatcher slime. The bulk of the creature must be integrated into the android and controlling it. Fatal damage will drive it from a dead host. Just the right amount of damage may convince it to leave before the host is dead. Attenuate begins a litany of immunities common to oozes.
Ooze immunities:
Critical hits, paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, and stun.
Gaze abilities, illusions, visual effects, and other attacks that rely on sight.
Flanking—oozes are unflankable.
In addition to describing the ooze situation, Attenuate starts calculating how much damage needs to be done to cause the ooze to leave its host but not kill it. He plans to monitor the android’s health and advise his allies, then swoop in and stabilize the android if/when the ooze leaves.
"Vile." Mercy grimaces as Attenuate explains the situation.
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Mercy's in the way of a shot. So are Reynar and Attenuate. Viny vegetation squirms out of the cuffs of Kyzin armored jacket as he shoulders past the pair in the hall and into the treatment room. He reaches across the half-orc to strike with his vine-wrapped hands at the android.
...
The android takes the blow .
"Okay, you made your choice," Reynar calls to the android. "The hard way it is!"
He continues holding his hand out before him, attempting to maintain his influence over the android's gravitational field.
In awe of Reynar’s control of gravity, Attenuate asks, ”Reynar, can you use your control of gravity to pull the ooze out of the android instead of just lifting them both up?”
"Could I do that without hurting them?" Reynar asks Attenuate.