While at the morgue, the attendant implies that he could help you forge a death certificate for a modest donation of 100 credits.
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"Ah, something I can try," Joaquín's voice comes over the comm. "Can't guarantee success, but then again..."
Now on track, he goes about trying to rub shoulders with possible acquaintances. Each one gets a forced thanks and a glowing introduction of Ceren. "I have a friend who'll be in need of a different career soon. She's quite nice, you'd like her."
Joaquin's efforts receive a rather unenthusiastic response and non-committal commitments.
Shess goes to work on the corpse and, before long, you could almost swear that you were looking at a deceased Ceren.
Believing, now, that you have adequately created a false death for Ceren and a new life for a pseudonym, the old woman tells you to meet you in the Jitembe Gardens.
"I'll get there with less attention if I travel on my own," Ceren says. "Big guns escorting an old nobody is going to look odd, don't you think?"
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As soon as they start their journey to the Gardens, Hikaze is suddenly no longer with the group.
Hikaze fades into the scenery and begins to tail Ceren.
Hikaze finds that Ceren is actually still quite good at losing a tail. He nearly loses her so many times that he almost gives up, but he does manage to follow her to Jitembe Park. No one else seems to have followed her.
Eventually, the others arrive. Open to all citizens, Jatembe Park occupies a wide portion of the Eye of Absalom Station. Filled with lush trees and open grass fields, the park offers some natural terrain to the otherwise metalclad station. Ceren’s meeting point is one such forested portion of the park, specifically a spot often ignored by citizens due to the winding path required to reach it.
As Kit, Shess, and Joaquin approach the bridge where Ceren waits , they see three street thugs approaching from the other side.
"Hey, you three," the lead thug calls over the bridge, "Best if you get out of here, you know?"
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"Compelling suggestion," Joaquín grins in Kit's direction. He then turns to the thugs. "Yours, too. If I could make a slight edit, though, maybe you should leave. Haven't been around here long, so I wouldn't wanna sully my record on you. On the other hand, I'm still used to beating the problem into a pulp 'til it goes away." His entire body begins to glow with a faint amber light, as if surrounded by a ghostly form.
The hired thugs quickly do the math. "Meh. They didn't offer enough for this much trouble," the lead thug says and then waves the others off. The other two seem more than happy to give up the bounty, and all three of them retreat into the gardens.
"Well, that was effective!" Ceren says with a chuckle. "You've proven yourselves effective, so I'll go with you to meet your boss and hand over the files."
A short trip later, you enter Historia-7's office with the elderly hacker. The android venture-captain detaches from the multiple jacks and looks you over. "Well done. I only had to fix some of your work. Thank you for your efforts," she says to you and then begins to interrogate Ceren.
Ceren, for her part, seems energized and excited, eagerly handing over the data and answering Historia-7's questions. "This is the most alive I've felt in years!"
You are dismissed and free to meet with the next venture-captain: Radaszam of the Acquisitives, Zigvigix of the Exo-Guardians, or Fitch of the Wayfinders.
After you make your choice and before you arrive, a courier robot approaches you. It delivers a package with a message from Historia-7: Within is a datajack as a token of thanks from the Dataphiles and an old rifle that Ceren's grandson found while cleaning out their flat.
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"Lady Ceren, I am gratified that we were able to ensure your safety, may Weydan grant your continued freedom."
He bows to both Lady Ceren and Historia-7 as the group departs.
"Joaquín, considering that even Historia-7's mission very nearly brought us to combat, I would imagine any of the Venture-Captain's assignments are likely to bring us into conflict with one faction or another. However, simply based on their overt goals, the Exo-Guardian assigment seems the most likely to ensure a hostile encounter."
When the courier arrives and hands over the package, I am not in need of any of these items at this time. Might I suggest, however, that we save the credits for any expenses that may arise during our next few adventures?"
Garbage litters the ground around the district’s largest art park—a cement lot filled with undulating metal sculptures and covered in graffiti of grotesquely adorable creatures. The sounds of music and chatter drift over from the nearby clubs, chronically interrupted by the roar of the local gangsters’ engines. A heavily augmented host shirren is sitting on one of the park benches, eating a simple meal of cold grub-noodles and rice candy. Their antennae perk up at the tremor of approaching footsteps. “Welcome, new Starfinders! And congratulations!” the shirren’s voice telepathically projects. “My speech-name is Zigvigix, but feel free to call me Ziggy, if that would be easier for you. Have some rice candy to celebrate your graduation! Today is your big day!
“When you are ready, I have two assignments I could use assistance with. The first is to help me secure a new headquarters on Absalom Station. I’ve been in talks with our station’s protectors, the Stewards, and they were kind enough to give us ownership of a warehouse here in Downlow for that purpose! The current owners no longer want it because a vicious alien took it over and kills anyone who goes inside. Once the alien is gone and the warehouse cargo has been returned to its owners, we can start installing desks and computers, so please go in and incinerate the creature!
“My second assignment...” Zigvigix twitches their tooth barbs for a moment and then holds out a credstick. “Please buy the brand-new Strawberry Machine Cake album, Star Sugar Heartlove!!!, which is out today, and give it to Historia-7 when you see her. She is the head of the Dataphiles, so you should meet her today! I wish to do it myself, but I... I have trouble standing for long periods of time. Thank you very much!”
For what it's worth to the lashunta, Kit's streams are all working correctly again.
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On the way to meet Zigvigix Kit is thrilled to find SpaceTube is back online:
"Yooooooo, what's happening RejuvaViewers!? You might have noticed that our live feed was cut off during the last mission. I know you were all excited to find out who the mystery hacker was, the one who stole all the files from Bluerise. But, unfortunately, the hacker was so good, that he even managed to hack into the infosphere itself and delete my feed. I know right! What a major bummer. BUT don't go hitting those thumbs down icons, ok, because now the RejuvaCrew is on its way to get a new mission. And it is going to be EPIC! Even Hikaze is super psyched. So you guys are going to want to actually hit the thumbs up icon, to like this video, and if aren't already a subscriber, make sure to subscribe because you are not going to want to miss another second of The Kishari Show.
Kit records Ziggy's briefing and then speaks once again to the camera, trying to sound excited but looking a little pale now:
"Whoa, our new friend Ziggy needs us to take care of an alien creature, but what kind of beast is it? Comment below if you think you know what kind of creature the Warehouse Alien is. But the big news is we are going to the launch of the new Strawberry Machine Cake album, STAR SUGAR HEARTLOVE!!! Who knows, maybe we'll even see the band themselves, this is going to be so exciting! Stay tuned! And don't forget to like and subscribe!!"
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"Thanks, Ziggy," Joaquín says, accepting a rice candy but unsure of whether he'll eat it. "This all sounds like a plan, but...Star Sugar Heartlove? Strawberry...Machine Cake? I can use a random phrase generator too." He fishes out his datapad and mimes doing so, clearly confused about this strange combination of words.
"Eh, it's not a problem. I'll follow your leads when it comes to that. The monster shouldn't be much of an issue either. Know anything about it?"
"They're only the best band out there!" Ziggy enthuses mentally. "You must've been living under a rock if you haven't heard of them."
He slows his antennae's frantic waving as he changes the subject to the alien in the warehouse. "We believe that it is a feather stalker. Trust me, it is a more unpleasant beast than its name suggests. The Stewards suspect that some two-bit crime lord smuggled the creature onto the station, and then it promptly ate him. Here. We have video."
Ziggy pulls up a holorecording of a feathery tendril covered alien impaling and consuming a rather unscrupulous looking individual within a warehouse.
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"They're only the best band out there!" Ziggy enthuses mentally. "You must've been living under a rock if you haven't heard of them."
"Yeah, that's a pretty accurate description of Apostae."
He slows his antennae's frantic waving as he changes the subject to the alien in the warehouse. "We believe that it is a feather stalker. Trust me, it is a more unpleasant beast than its name suggests. The Stewards suspect that some two-bit crime lord smuggled the creature onto the station, and then it promptly ate him. Here. We have video."
Ziggy pulls up a holorecording of a feathery tendril covered alien impaling and consuming a rather unscrupulous looking individual within a warehouse.
"Looks big and nasty, but we'll take it down."
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Kit's camera turns to Hikaze, and Kit gets right up close to him so their faces are both in the shot together. "That's a great idea Hikaze. I've heard that music can be used to tame a savage beast. What do you think guys? Comment 'Star Sugar Heartlove' down below if you want us to get the album first. Or comment 'Stalker' down below if you want us to fight the feather stalker! Which is it gonna be!!"
"Oh wow. I thought you guys would want to see the monster first, but it's almost unanimous that we go to album premier. You guys must love Strawberry Machine Cake! I guess the rest of the RejuvaCrew can voice their opinions, but it's pretty clear what the fans want. With any luck, we'll even get to see the band themselves!!"
Heading to the venue where the physical album for Star Sugar Heartlove is going to be released, you find a massive crowd of civilians of all races, genders, and ages eager awaiting the moment the force fields separating the tellers from the masses is deactivated. Many of the people are dressed in cosplay of their favorite singer.
After the first hour of waiting, you come to realize why Ziggy sent you to do this instead of doing it himself. After the third hour, you begin to wonder if this was not some sort of zen test or a cruel trick. By the fifth hour, you just don't care why he made you do this.
On the sixth hour, the shields go down and the crowd presses forward, sweeping you with it.
Once you finally reach the teller, a cerulean-haired lashunta wearing a Strawberry Machine Cake T-shirt looks to you and asks, "How many albums?"
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Joaquín can barely confine himself to internal screaming. By the time the shields go down, he is bored out of his skull and dead on his feet, hardly paying attention. That is, until getting clocked in the face by a flailing passerby. He narrowly decides against starting a brawl and pushes to the front.
"I'll take one," the half-orc grumbles. "I'd sure love something to remember all this by. Might even give it a listen too, I s'pose."
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Kit is like a kid in candy store at this event. While the team waits in line Kit runs all over the venue, recording interviews with fans, holding impromptu cosplay contests and Strawberry Machine Cake karaoke/dance battles. When he finally returns to the line he is huffing and puffing for breath.
"Ugh... guys... did any one think to bring water? I am like, dying, from thirst right now. So tired. Did you guys get the album yet or not? What's the holdup?"
Exhausted, Kit finds an overturned garbage bin to sit on, while he makes the others continue to wait in line. He casually watches from his seat as the crowd swells past (he winces seeing Joaquin take an elbow to the face from a passing fan).
As the group finally gets to the front he rejoins the group. I'll take one please." he sticks his credstick in the slot, but his smile fades when the machine beeps unhappily at him. "What happened?... Insufficient funds? Aw man. Guess I won't take one after all."
Some of you fatigued, you make it to the warehouse after obtaining the requested album. Two station security guards flank the entrance to a warehouse, a force field prevents entrance and exit.
"You're here for the Exo-Guardians?" one of the guards asks while the other prepares to lower the force field to let you inside.
The doors to the warehouse were forced open and no longer lock. The warehouse ceiling is 30 feet high, and a catwalk runs 15 feet above the floor. The crates and vehicle are approximately 5 feet tall, while the cylindrical containers and the crate-filled scaffolding are 10 feet tall.
A pit in the warehouse floor is 10 feet deep. The scattered junk on the floor creates an area of difficult terrain. The lights on the catwalk are not bright enough to illuminate the area, leaving the warehouse in dim light.
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Kit moves into the warehouse, narrating quietly to the camera.
"Ok guys, we are now in the warehouse where the feather stalker is supposed to have made its layer. Uh,... I don't see any monsters in here, but it is, like, so creepy in here. Uh, the lights don't work. There's, like, emergency lighting up there I think, but it is still pretty hard to see. I think... oh man!" he spins around, pretending to have spotted something, purely for the benefit of his viewers. "Guys, what was that? I swear I saw something move over there... Oh! Did you hear that?" he swings the camera to another corner of the warehouse. "I heard some thing over there now! Guys, I am like kinda freaking out, I just want to find this thing and hopefully destroy it and get out of here because this place is soooo scary... Good thing I have lots of RejuvaJuice with me, in case I get hurt. I can just grab one of my RejuvaJuice Healing Serums and I can take it and hopefully be okay. Yeah, I've got, umm, Black Hole Blueberry, Little Green Mint, even some Skitterberry Solar Flare. Lots of great flavors, so I kind of actually hope this feather stalker does hurt me a bit, so I can try some of these delicious flavors." He stops in front of the junk scattered on the floor. "Hey guys, Look at all this, like, junk on the floor. It looks like its all busted up. Like something just left it here. Do you think the feather stalker left this here? Man, I wish it would just show up..."
So far, there is no sign of the feather stalker. There are a lot of hiding places that such a beast to use, and a rather large hole in the floor.
Hikaze notices an abandoned flashlight on the floor near the stairs to the catwalk. Kit notices--somehow with all the chattering--a usable medkit that spilled out of the ruined crate in front of him.
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Still being extremely cautious and paying close attention to his surroundings, Hikaze moves forward, checks the flashlight for traps, and picks up the flashlight, testing it for functionality. He then puts the light in a loop on his belt, and draws his Azimuth Laser Pistol.
The entire situation has him on alert.
So far, nothing eats you. The flashlight works just fine.
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In response to Joaquin's suggestion to narrate louder Kit mutes the camera's mic and says "Nah, the viewers love this suspenseful stuff, pretending you heard something or saw something, they eat it up. Just act like an idiot, look scared, and repeat the same three things over and over, works every time. This vid is gonna get like a trillion views! Everyone will forget all about that hacker fiasco."
Kit approaches the pit, narrating again.
"There's some sort of weird pit over here guys. It looks like, I dunno, like some sort of creature, sort of dug through the floor or something. I've never seen anything like this before. Do you guys think the feather stalker made this hole? It doesn't seem possible. Aw man maybe we should just get out of here, what do you guys think?"
As Kit moves toward the pit, everyone hears a loud screech from the catwalk. Next to the orbital taxi in storage, you see a creature that resembles a sea anemone with two bird-like legs. Dozens of feathered fronds rising up into the air and rattle threateningly.
Combat! Round 1.
Party is Up
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Kit's jaw drops when he sees Joaquin's stellar weapon. "Whoa! That's badass! The fans are gonna love it!!!"
Once he shakes off his awe, he starts making for the stairs up to the catwalk pulling out his azimuth laser pistol as he goes. About halfway to the stairs he stops and fires at the stalker, making sure the camera is following all the action of course.
"Whoa guys! There it is! Oh man it's so weird looking!"
Hikaze fires at the feather-tendril beast, but the blast strikes the catwalk's railing. Kit fires into the back wall well away from the feather stalker. Shess, however, strikes the creature dead center. Her laser bolt sets it on fire.
The alien shrieks in pain and anger then runs down the catwalk, hops onto the crane track and fires a feather harpoon at Shess. It spears her in the leg.
Combat! Round 2. Bold may act.
Hikaze
Kit
Joaquin
Shess (-8)
Feather Stalker (-3 hp; burning d6)