"If we are not swift, they will escape. Who knows what escape routes might be within the building?" Vorza comments as they look at the building. "But, it is good to catch them unawares if possible. Get close enough to pounce and sink our teeth into our prey! Come, comrades - silent and deadly."
More quietly than would be expected for a vesk of his size, Vorza slips up towards the building in the shadows cast by the adbots, trying to avoid a fight until it's time. Seeking out their quarry, they look carefully inside the nearest window or door to scope it out.
Jaedana had her rifle up and pointed before she even knew what she was doing, but hesitated enough to miss her chance. A small sound of annoyance (at herself) comes out past her mouth covering.
"Okay, I'll patch in and see what I can see." the youngin slings her rifle and quickly looks around for something that will let her slot in.
With Vorza and Lunar-17 scoping out the building, Trevor looks at Jaedana, "Maintain a visual on me, pay attention to my clothes to identify me."
Doing his best to blend into the crowd, Trevor approaches the building to assess.
Jaedana quickly discovers that if there are any cameras inside, they're hardwired or offline. This unit within the mall is listed as the address of a number of defunct businesses, most recently a portraiture studio.
Trevor and Vorza approach - there's no way in that has blocked lines of sight, but no one seems to be paying you particular attention, and while the door looks sealed shut, you've seen it open too recently to fall for that, and are able to easily get it open. Inside, the ramshackle hideout seems out of place in the otherwise orderly megamall. A lean-to made of a bright green backing-tarp and the roof of an old autobus -probably once a prop- is wedged between other remnants of at least one past business. Trash, stained clothing, and food remnants litter the narrow unit. A thin bedroll peeks out from behind the tarp. Ashes from old fires sit in a metal drum nearby, but though the makeshift camp seems as though it was deserted some time ago, thick tendrils of milky smog hang in the air, seeping out of a broken air pump.
With no insertion points, Jaedana fidgets without anything to do. The soldiers seemed to want to do the interesting things and protect the others, which is counter to the philosophy she grew up with, Everyone defends the ship.
So after a moment of trying to do as asked, she huffs and moves forward. She doesn't go inside (yet) but instead retrieves the drone and gives it a once over, hoping to see what she can learn from it.
The drone's security isn't anything serious, and Jaedana is able to export its recent activity into something intelligible.
There are artless picts of each of you as well as Tierny and for some reason the bartender attached to this Data Log:
CURRENT RECON LOCATION: Analog Cafe; Striving
CURRENT RECON TARGET: unknown subjects; filter chatter from regulars, except relevant terms
CURRENT RELEVANT TERMS: Tier-99-Professor, Tierny, relic, First Ones, investigate, Zirem
EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: On detection of communications from Tier-99-Professor, take measures to intercept, eliminate, or corrupt; return to agent.
RECENT AUDIO INPUT: club beats reverberating [irrelevant; filter out]; crowd chatter [irrelevant; filter out]; sirens [scanned to determine trajectory; determination: irrelevant; filter out]; shouting [no relevant terms detected]
RECENT VISUAL INPUT: rain-slick rooftops; dense smog; neon lights; all typical, all irrelevant. Anomaly detected; origin unknown; likely irrelevant.
AUDIO/VISUAL GLITCH DETECTED: Holo-likeness of Tier-99-Professor; emergency protocol triggered.
DAMAGE LOG: Evasive maneuvers resulting in collision. Power surge; rotors unresponsive. Termination of feed.
The smog is getting thicker.
Trevor types a quick status check on comms. Inside, homeless encamptment. Situation? Hopefully they understand the shorthand, wish I'd had more time to prep this team.
Noticing the growing smoke, Trevor attempts to trace it to the source and stop it from filling the building.
"Everyone who would prefer I be shot first," Vorza says as they attune to their solarian power and develop a hammer and shield from gravitons. "Get behind me. <No fang shall pierce these scales!>" He finishes in Vesk, before darting into the building properly.
The hatch where the smog is coming from is of interest, but seeing as Trevor is on it, they proceed to check the lean-to and bedroll for anything that might pose a threat, or a clue to their drone operator.
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As Trevor gets too close to the broken air pump, suddenly there's a sudden susurrus of furious cursing as tiny elementals come whipping out of the vents!
...Or at least one does. With hacking cough, the little entity whines in Susurran back at their companions for not following after it swiftly enough, but then its last wheezing fit leads to an exhalation of filthy fog all over Lunar-17 and Jaedana!
Elemental (Red)
Trevor
Vorza
Lunar-17 - Basic Fort DC 16 vs. 4 Poison
Jaedana - Basic Fort DC 16 vs. 4 Poison
Elemental (Green)
Elemental (Orange)
Elemental (Yellow)
After a fit of painful coughing, Jaedana's instincts kick in. She pulls her laser rifle from its slung position to stock to shoulder, held easy and aiming at her nearest target (no matter how cute it is), as she steps to the wall and potential cover. A sharp zip of red burns through the space between her and it, ripping through its flesh.
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Lunar-17 coughs and gags as the toxic gas engulfs her. "My eyes! The goggles do nothing!" she wails as she staggers over towards some nearby crates, seeking cover. Once there, she calls on her mystic powers to fire a beam of mind-assaulting eldritch energy from the dark spaces between the stars at the elemental.
"Begone pests!" Vorza raises his shield as he strides towards the broken air pump, readying to strike with his hammer the next creature to emerge from the device!
Doing his best to take cover, Trevor marks the nearest elemental, "Focus fire, on my mark!" Taking his own advice, Trevor draws his pistol and opens fire.
The smoglings flit around Trevor and Vorza, keeping their distance from his frightening looking hammer. As one they belch new clouds of smog over the pair, leaving them choking and wheezing almost as much as the elementals! "Yeah! Yeah! Don't let 'em fix it!" they jeer to each other.
Elemental (Red)
Trevor - 3x Basic Fort DC 16 vs. 5 poison
Vorza - Shield Raised, +1 st. to hit orange, 3x Basic Fort DC 16 vs. 5 poison
Lunar-17 -4, +1 st. to hit orange
Jaedana -4, +1 st. to hit orange
Elemental (Green)
Elemental (Orange) -4 (Healed a little)
Elemental (Yellow)
Vorza hacks and coughs and looks especially annoyed as he strides towards the marked target and strikes out at the flying pest!
Where the hammer strikes, space seems to warp around it, gravity pulling at hit creatures and slowing them down!
Lunar-17 fires another beam at the marked target and takes cover behind the crates.
-> ->
Trevor holds his breath and runs away from the smog, before turning and firing at his mark, "Stay on mark!"
Focusing fire makes sense, so the young woman focuses her sights on the one the human is shooting and fires two quick shots.
Vorza smashes the injured smogling into vapor, and Lunar-17 and Trevor combine their efforts to bring down another.
The last one plunges to the ground, hands pulling its ears flat against the rest of its head. It lets out a long hacking cough then screams, "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!. SURRENDER! SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!"
Trevor -6
Vorza -12
Lunar-17 -4
Jaedana -4
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"Ah, surrender! So pleasing to see your enemies cowering before your might!" Vorza grins down at the little smogling. "You may go...after answering all of our questions. Commander," He addresses Trevor, "Shall I restrain the prisoner? Perhaps squeezed into a tiny bottle so we may shake it around if it is less than cooperative."
Seeing the small, pitiful creature cowering, Trevor shakes his head at Vorza. "I suspect our foe will be cooperative already."
Addressing the elemental, "Why did you attack us?"
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"AAAAAHHHHHHH-" **AHÅÖAEUGH** "-HHHHHHHHHHH DON'T BOTTLE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. I'LL FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO LIVE. YOU CAN REPLACE THE VENNNNNT!"
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Jaedana looks to the Vesk, the human, and then the cowering smog thing. While her rifle is still out and pointed at the creature, she is CLEARLY uncomfortable with torturing the creature.
"It sounds like it was just their home and they were defending it." her voice starts uncertain, but as each word follow they gain a defiant steel as only a teenager could. "We're sorry for your friends." she said, meaning it, but unable to undo it. "But we ARE letting you go." there is another hesitation there at the end, cause she has nooooo idea how she could make the Vesk do anything.
"I hacked the drone, not much but I'll tell you what I got, once this guy is gone." trade might work, or it might get Jaedana in her own bottle.
With his pistol now in its holster Trevor slowly shows his open hands, "We are not here to hurt you. We simply cannot survive in such a smog filled environment."
Trevor gestures for Vorza to step back and lower his hammer. "Now please, a humanoid passed through just before we entered. Can you tell us where they went or anything about them?"
"UMM, UMM," **HAUGHK** "WE DIDN'T REALLY KNOW HIM. WE JUST CALLED HIM THE MAN IN THE MASK. HE'S BEEN HERE FOR A COUPLE MONTHS, BUT NOT MUCH THE LAST FEW WEEKS? WE PROMISE TO SCARE PEOPLE AWAY AND HE PROMISE TO BRIBE THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO KEEP THEM FROM REPLACING OUR VENT AND TAKING SMOG AWAY."
Looking through the area you see mostly food wrappers and trash that back up the timeframe the smogling had been talking about. There's a burner datapad that's been thoroughly broken, but also a commercial medpatch, a set of microgoggles, and an infiltrator serum.
"OH! OH! THE MAN IN THE MASK, HE USED TO USE THAT DATAPAD!" When that fails to cue any dramatic organ music, the smogling adds a bit sheepishly, "He used to log in as 'Z.'"
While the others question the smogling, Lunar-17 reaches out with her mystic powers to download healing into herself and her companions direct from the Akashic Record.
With a brief sigh Trevor thanks the elemental for the information, "We have no interest in destroying your home, but I believe that man lied to you. This building has been deserted for some time, and likely will continue to be. He gave you nothing."
Trevor picks up the items of clear use and turns to the others, "These might be useful. I'll keep the medpatch for now, but I'm not sure I'll get much use out of the microgoggles or serum."
With the broken datapad in hand Trevor turns to Jaedana, "I don't suppose you can get anything from this?"
Jaedana slings her rifle, and takes the pad "One can only try, says the elders." she opens the data to see what is wrong, looks up at the googles "Can I?" plucking them from the human's hands and slipping them over her elongated head, then starts to gentle prod the circuit board.
Jaedana thinks she might be able to get the datapad working again with time and some UPBs, but the information once stored on it is surely lost.
"Nothing left here. Normally I would advise going back to crime scenes, but today, we are the ones hunting the murderer and not the other way around," Vorza says as he turns his bulk towards the door. He gives the scamp one last intimidating glance before striding out to head back to the meeting place.
It takes several minutes of travel to reach the Analog cafe again, as Vorza seeks the waitress that had served them amongst the throng of android and anacite faces. The vesk is not subtle about it.
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"Fear not, friends. I shall use my mystic might to ask the Akashic Record for information!" Lunar-17 says confidently. She psychically reaches out to the collective unconscious of the universe to send the information about this Z person to her comm unit.
Lunar's attempt to read the Akashic Record is unsuccessful, but more than that, it seems almost as if something is wrong, like the Record's index has been scrambled. Probably it's just because you don't know more about this Z?
The bartender, Ghellon, looks up in pleased surprise as you all return. "Were you able to get in touch with Tierny? It's very nice of you to come tell me; I was very curious about whatever was on that vid."
"Oh, Tierny's hologram pronounce them dead. It was about to accuse the killer, and then some drone using vagrant went and shot it!"
Vorza laughs. "It would have been fun if mercenaries had rushed us, instead, we were forced to chase a drone across several blocks. I am disappointed there was not a decent fight to be had." He gestures towards where their booth was. "Anyways, if you have a copy of the recording, we wish to see it in full."
Ghellon claps a hand to her mouth with a dull **clink**
"No! Tierny?" The apertures of her eyes narrow in a remarkably organic looking grief. "I don't have another copy; I just have the one they gave me a month ago. I haven't seen them since, but ghosting isn't especially unusual for them. Tierny has a pattern: they come in a few times a week for a while, then disappear for about a month, then one day they show up again and it's back to their old routine like nothing happened. I always figured they got busy - I know they'd been working on something challenging at work. But they always came back..." She trails off, muted by sorrow.
Jae might not be the most people person person, preferring games to conversations (mainly since her family was all she could talk to most times), but she recognized grief at least. She pats Ghellon with her two right hands, and asks softly "Do you know what he was working on, or know of people he might have been working with, especially with the initial 'Z'?"
Trevor frowns seeing Ghellon's grief. "I'm sorry for your loss. Is there anything you can tell us about Tierny that might help? Anything he said to you, people he met with, where he lived, just anything you remember could be critical."
While talking, Trevor scans the establishment for signs of anyone listening too closely and any cameras that might have record of Tierny's latest visits.
Ghellon corrects Jaedana and Trevor a bit more sharply than she might have in less emotionally trying circumstances. "They're not a man, but they often worked with colleagues from Polytechnica. I think there was a visiting professor whose name started with a Z... He was a human... Zamie? Maybe? But Tierny could always find a friend wherever they went. They didn't have a home exactly, but their charging platform was here in North Circuit. Does any of that help?"
"Colleagues, we have another point of interest to investigate," Lunar-17 says. "To the charging platform! Let's go!" the android says excitedly.
Jae leans back at the rebuke, but then humbly adds "I did not know them, I am sorry." then quickly follows Lunar-17.
Ghellon nods, mollified. "It's a good default for anacites. They mostly don't do gender." She thinks for a second and adds, "Oh, do be careful at the charging platform. I haven't been, but it's supposed to be an eccentric neighborhood."
***
This massive, 2,036-foot Y-shaped building towers over the street, piercing the swirling atmospheric gases and casting deep darkness at night, though it glistens with a cosmos of multicolored twinkling lights.
Occasionally, several sets of metal doors in the base of the tower slide open and anacites scurry in or out, flocking to and from the nearby street. It’s easy to enter through any of the building’s automated doors. A few yards inside, a metal elevator zooms to and from the charging platforms high above at precise 1-minute intervals.
Past the elevator is a short corridor leading to another set of automatic doors labeled "Shalalamula". An anacite briskly travels in, letting you see that beyond those doors are a forest of petrified trees.
You might be able to hack into the network and find the information you need, but maybe there's someone you can ask for help? Which one will get you more information - and which one will leave more of a trail for Z..?
Vorza prods Lunar-17. "You are less likely to draw attention in this place than the rest of us. I am your humble bodyguard if anyone asks." He grins, flashing his sharp teeth. "I will emphasize your importance to those you speak to."
"Thank you. Let me try teh haxx0rz first..." Lunar-17 says, eyes gleaming. She taps at her comm unit as she tries to access the network.
Jae looks over Lunar's shoulder "Hmm, you know... I mean... that node looks lacking of def and hp." she tries to help.
There is a lot of noise to sort through before you're able to find the signal, but after about an hour, you're able to confirm which cell is currently synced to Tier-99-Professor by spoofing his charging ID.
The door slides open, and you see Tier-99-Professor’s cache - an object of unusual beauty. It’s a 4-foot-tall plinth of smooth, dull opal carved with graceful concentric fractals. Tiny white flowers blossom in the moss growing over its base, which is lined with minute, capering sculptures of anacites with oddly proportioned bodies. The plinth stands beside a deep well, around which a lush and creeping garden of colorful ferns and fruited vines seeps into the floor’s metal tiles.
When you approach the plinth, circuitry glows and swirls within the fractals in time to some erratic pulse revealing that it appears to have a physical storage compartment as well as whatever digital data reside within it. You can also see from disruption to a section of circuits that there's an almost imperceptible cut through part of the plinth - possibly down to an atomic level.
"My god, it's full of stars!" Lunar-17 gasps in awe at the beautiful cache. The circuitry lining her face and arms begins to glow and pulse in time with the plinth's. Her pupils turn into little swirling wheels of color as she uses her wireless connection to attempt to hack the console.
"Accessing cache... Please standby... Buffering... Buffering... Buffering..."
Tier-99-Professor’s latest activities are self-reported in their memory storage, along with a kaleidoscope of infographic and sensory memories about various topics and experiences with time stamps that seem to span about 3 months of their daily routine. Their only recent activities were study and rest. The last time Tier-99-Professor used this memory storage was after charging two weeks ago during fulldark.
There are additional data here, but they're encrypted and will take a little more work to uncover. However, the physical storage unit can be opened from here with a simple prompt.
Overlapping sections unfold like a flower, but what lies within is far from beautiful. Tierny's crumpled chassis is curled inside in a tight, hunched posture as though they were protecting their vitals and face from some unseen attack when they shut down. One of their hands still clutches a note printed on nanopress and precisely folded dozens of times into a tiny boat.
I fear my studies are leading toward danger. This is why I have called on all of you. Take whatever material objects you find in my possession—what was mine is yours. Consider this a partial payment for services I hope will soon be rendered—namely, solving my murder. I believe my murderer seeks an important item. This item could be very dangerous. I have removed it from Polytechnica’s collection and hidden it. I dare not write more about it, in case this note falls into the wrong hands.
I trust you.
I believe I have no other options.
Tier-99-Professor
After considering the note Trevor rubs his chin in contemplation. "Although we'd cover more ground if we split up, it seems likely our movements will be tracked." Hearing his own words Trevor takes a moment to scan Tierny's storage unit, inside and out, in case there are any surveillance devices.
Switching to telepathy, Trevor continues his thought. "Jaedana, Lunar-17, see if you can find anything about this Z character. If you can access security records here or at the Analog cafe, you might find a record. We can't rely on the name Zamie, but it's a starting point."
"At the same time, it seems our next best lead is Polytechnica. If we know what we're looking for, it might give us leads on who is searching for it, or even where he might have hidden it. Assuming you can hack on the go, taking a taxi seems prudent to avoid delay."
After finishing the note, Vorza steps back over to Tierny's body. "It is not often a corpse gives me permission to loot it," He muses as he turns over the anancite's body for any possessions aside from their body. He also looks to discover if the cause of Tierny's death is determinable.
"Requiescat in pace," Lunar-17 says over Tierny's body. She then searches the area thoroughly.