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"What a pity this lounge isn't bright and sparkling. Look at this filth!" A self-important shirren gestures to the mostly-adequately-clean area around her. "It's a good thing I brought my own disinfectant," she mutters, whipping out a spray can and liberally applying said disinfectant to all the nearby surfaces.
Thanks for humoring me with bossy Anock. GRIM*! and Oud are her new favorite people, since they didn't roll their eyes at her, talk back, or undermine her in any way. What good minions! ;D The Chronicle looks good. Anock will choose the Gnoll boon. Thanks for running this, GM Redelia, and for being flexible with the number of players.
"I most certainly do not!" Anock replies indignantly. Honestly, she's rather underwhelmed with this Vault. It was too unsanitary, and that central intelligence thing was rather sadistic, playing cruel jokes on them--for what purpose? Really! It had no purpose! At least the inhabitants were friendly enough. She never felt her life was in danger--until the temple incident. Really!
"Hm. Well, at least this place is well lit. It ought to be easy to see how clean it is." Anock begins inspecting the interior, but jumps when the doorway is sealed. "What?! Are you kidding me?!" “Greetings, interlopers. Your behavior thus far has been noted. Final adjustments to the study have been made, and the building has been sealed for your personal safety. Commencing Duskmire sterilization protocols. Thank you!” "I say! There's sterilization, and there's obliteration, and you'd better not be doing the latter!" She shouts indignantly at the glowing pillar (for lack of a better source of her indignant ire). Quickly she looks around and reaches out with all her senses to determine if there's anything she can do about this situation.
Before leaving the gnolls, Anock shakes hands all around and brags about the Starfinder Society. She also asks if the herbs they were seeking have medicinal properties. Anock makes a show of nodding sympathetically at Grim*!'s assessment. "Yes, I'd be surprised if they can even access the infosphere from inside this Vault. They are truly deprived. Anyway, it's time for us to go inspect that swamp temple. I can't believe those words exited my mouth." Shaking her head at the thought of trudging through another swamp, she asks Oud: "If we encounter more filthy muck, may I have another ride?"
Anock crosses her arms. "Oh, let them respond first!" She continues in GRIM*!'s head telepathically: "If they don't cooperate without it, you can show them. We don't want to scare them into NOT cooperating, you know." Addressing the gnolls, she builds on Oud's introduction. "Basically, we're trying to set up a system that allows everyone to get what they need without harming anyone else. So the unicorn won't kill you when you need something from the swamp, for instance. And the yetis won't steal from or hurt you. All it will take is a little cooperation from each of you. What do you think? Is it worth hearing more and considering?"
As the unicorn speaks, Anock's chest expands, puffing up with portentous pride. "Hm. This is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the diplomatic mission of the Starfinder Society. *Cooperation* is vitally important in such a confined world as this Vault. We would be honored to broker a mutually beneficial trade agreement between all three parties. Can you point us in the direction of the gnolls' territory?"
Well, I see I have to take charge. *Again.* Anock sighs. The mantle of leadership can be so heavy sometimes. Ah, well. I *am* the most qualified. (Actually, she's not.) From her place on Oud's back, hovering above the muck and mushrooms, Anock waves at the unicorn. "Hello there! We're new here, and we're trying to get our bearings and see who else is here. I am Anock, and this is my team of Starfinders. And you are...?"
It takes a moment after the words leave her mouth to realize that she has no idea if unicorns can understand and speak language. Hopefully she hasn't made a complete fool of herself.
"No, I think the gnolls were killed by another individual or group because they stepped on the mushrooms. And of course, the *only* ways to avoid stepping on them ourselves are to turn back, start flying, or immerse ourselves in that rancid muck!" Anock huffs indignantly and crosses her arms. She is *not* going to be the one making the decision about which of those options to choose, but she has a sinking feeling that release from this Vault will require getting dirty. Very, very dirty. She shudders.
Mollified, Anock relents. "Oh, well, fine. But if you get lung cancer, that's on you!" Ugh! I can't *believe* anyone would deliberately inhale smoke! So filthy and unhealthy! She flounces off to pout about 20 feet away, not even realizing that a tiny part of her subconscious is experiencing a bit of FOMO. It manifests as a vague feeling of unease, which she misattributes to concern for her teammates' health and safety.
Anock hustles over from where she had been watching. "Wait! Do you even *know* the properties of the particles you're inhaling?! Do you have any *idea* what they could do to you?! For crying out loud!" She does the shirren equivalent of rolling her eyes before cautiously examining the smoke and its origin hole.
Overhearing what the next challenge is, Anock can't help but peek around to spy one herself. Maybe she can help one of her teammates spot one.
If she spots anything, she suddenly develops a tic in her shoulder, twitching and jerking in its direction as she coughs and clears her throat to get their attention.
"Oh, I just want to see what it entails first. We don't know enough about this place for *all* of us to be out of it like that. I'll stand watch so you're not ambushed while this is happening." Anock plants herself in a spot where she can see as much of what's happening and what's coming as possible. It doesn't occur to her that her refusal might have a negative effect on the situation.
Oh. NO. Anock stands back, certain that there is probably some awful hazing ritual to join their tribe. (Honestly, she just doesn't approve of putting oneself into a stupor, so isn't interested in fraternizing with those who do.) But she's totally on board with GRIM*! trying it. He can handle whatever it is, I'm sure.
"Well, defeating them seems easy enough. We just need to tie them up." Anock starts looking around for rope, manacles, or anything that could be used to bind the yetis. "By the way, is there anything left of whatever substance they consumed? It may be useful. I just hope it wasn't something in the air."
"Ugh! Indeed! Fan out, check for threats, and watch for jump-scares. They may not be as out of it as they seem. I'm going to do triage." Anock bosses her team as she approaches the nearest yeti cautiously to check their vitals. She puts on a surgical mask, rubs in some hand sanitizer, and slips on a pair of surgical gloves before touching anything.
"Well, take notes on that projector, everyone. HQ will want to send some tech wizes to analyze it." Of course, Anock doesn't bother taking any notes of her own. You hear the sound of raucous laughter and loud singing far to the southeast. With a dramatic sigh, Anock points southeast. "Sounds like our first target is that way. Let's sneak up on them so we can observe their strengths before we have to interact with them." She shoos everyone ahead of her, leading from the back.
“Greetings, ERROR: NULL RECORD...” "An error already? Well, *that's* not reassuring." Anock snaps, irritated. The least the Vault could do is be professional enough to not waste her time. Error, indeed! "You can enter the temple and be released when you have achieved dominance over the other two resident powers within the Duskmire area." "Are you kidding me?! It's just some petty fight club or something? Ugh! ... Then again, this could be a decent training ground for Starfinder trainees if the challenge level is appropriate. Hmm..." She pauses in thought a moment, then sighs dramatically. "<sigh> *Fine.* It'll do. Let me see that map. ... Huh. Where are we on this thing? Couldn't they at least put a 'You are here' marker on it? Geez! There's more than one error in this program, I guarantee that!"
"And yes, I have sanitizer for everyone."
He turns to Anock. "I'm good on stuff. I'm just a bit excited now... We don't know what's at that vault! Do you need help with sanitizing?" Anock's eyes light up with appreciation at Oud's offer. "Yes! There is always more to sanitize. Infection is the death of many, and the pain of many more. I make it a point to ensure sanitary conditions whenever possible." Now *this* person has potential!
Anock is...quite stunned at how scary GRIM*! is when he's worked up. In fact, she nearly wets herself a little bit. *Nearly*, mind you. Not *actually*. She stammers as she responds to his query: "I-I-I'm not physically c-capable of carrying that m-many supplies. Please do *not* wrestle the entire Veskarium on this mission." She manages to banish the sound of fear in her voice by the end, replacing it with her normal imperiousness. Turning, she nods at Oud. "How do you do, Oud."
Breathlessly power-walking into the room, Anock stops short as soon as she spots GRIM*!'s belt full of...trophies and bones. Oh. My. *WORD.* Those had *better* be sanitized! She peels her eyes away from the probably-germ-riddled do-dads, drawing herself up to her full height to address the VC. "Venture Captain Vex, my apologies for my tardiness. The lift *obviously* hadn't been properly cleaned in quite some time, so I took the liberty of thoroughly sanitizing the control panels. Now, I see we'll be investigating another section of the vault, eh? I must admit, I am curious about how different this section will be from the last. So, energy signals, hmm? And you haven't gotten better readings just from opening the door, so the source must be deeper inside. Right! Well team, I'm your medic." She looks GRIM*! up and down. "I'll stay behind you and patch you up as need be. Now, what questions do you have for the Venture Captain?" Her magnanimous glance includes Grimalki.
Done and done. Anock is an egotistical "medic" nanocyte who uses a nanite surge with her Cloud Array to grant Fast Healing 1 (SP only) + 1 Temp HP (stacks) to whoever seems to need it most. The target must be in or adjacent to the Cloud Array. She can do this up to 7 times/day. If her arrogance gets too strong for anyone, let me know and I'll tone her down so we can all have fun. :) Regarding the Pregen: Not knowing what the third person is bringing, it looks like we need skills and maybe a meat shield. So I'm leaning Operative or Soldier right now. Thoughts?
Anock watches Irres closely for signs of succumbing to the morphogen while "supervising" the evacuation of the residents of the Joro vault. In her report, she helpfully suggests monitoring her indefinitely. Also on the list for monitoring: the CommanJoros. They seemed to so deeply believe in their cause that she's concerned one or more of them will try to find a way to pick up where First Joro left off. She refrains from criticizing her subordinates too much in her report. It's clear to her that they are newbies, so they deserve the opportunity to fail safely so they can learn to improve. She congratulates herself on ensuring that they survived this opportunity, preening as she dictates to the AI stenographer. (Yes, she knows that old-fashioned word; and no, she doesn't expect anyone else to be cultured enough to recognize it.) They obviously couldn't have succeeded without my expertise.
Anock is generally indignant at what First Joro has been doing, but also curious about the extent to which the other Joros know about it. After all, Roofer and Baker Joro seemed amiable enough, as did most of the Joros playing board games. I'd like to conduct an experiment. She informs the group telepathically. I'll tell them the truth, and we'll all watch to see which ones like it and which ones don't. Without giving time for feedback on her idea, she launches into an explanation of the Starfinders' findings. "First Joro has been forcing non-Joros to become Joros against their wills! I understand this may be hard to belive. There's a whole lab set up where people's bodies and minds are broken down and remade, which we can show you as proof. I wonder how many of *you* were another person before, but your memories were wiped when you were forced to become a Joro. Doesn't that disturb you?"
"Joking around about hurting people? Really?! How can you convince yourselves you're not *horrible people*?!" Anock isn't interested in receiving an answer; she just enjoys pointing out their moral turpitude as a way of stroking her own ego. When the one with the red armband looks like he's about to retort with another pun, she shoots right at his mouth. "No one wants to hear you right now."
She talks a big game, but she can't hit the side of a space station.
"You should bug out!" Anock retorts, stepping (1) to the side to gain some cover and releasing her nanite cloud (2). Ouch! She's tempted to use her last surge to help her heal, but decides to save it in case one of her underlings needs it more. She draws her azimuth laser pistol (3) and holds it at the ready.
The one with red insignia takes a step back and shoots at Anock. "You bug me!" "You should bug out!" Anock retorts, stepping to the side to gain some cover and releasing her nanite cloud. Ouch! She's tempted to use her last surge to help her heal, but decides to save it in case one of her underlings needs it more. She draws her azimuth laser pistol and holds it at the ready.
"Technically, he didn't introduce himself. For all we know, that was a different Joro." Anock corrects her teammates, annoyed that they're stalling and sending a mental message to each of them: Don't escalate until we get them away from the civilians! Of course, she's assuming these CommanJoros are as competent as the hospital staff and will quickly forget to confiscate anyone's equipment if everything else goes smoothly.
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