Starfinder: The Jade Regent Pt. 05

Ami snarled. "Fuck you." She said, then whistled. Magic surged and the Tengu yelped as the ground suddenly was slick with wet slop, both his and Ami's feet scrabbling from under them. But he managed to keep his feet, jerking Ami back, skidding slightly on the grease - keeping his posture with preternatural grace.

"Naughty naughty," he snarled, then yanked back, pressing the blades to her throat once more.

Nora continued to work at her wrist, keying buttons on the fly as she mumbled to herself. Anybody nearby could her her let out a cackle after a second before the music abruptly changed again, shifting zone and language completly to something Tian she had discovered. It was loud and it was intense and it was specifically coded to hit the high pitched frequencies only the corbies and the Tengu could hear.

Each of the corbies and the Tengu all clapped their hands to the ear at the sudden change in music, several corbies screeching in shock. Ami kicked him in the balls - then flung herself forward. She skidded past Hana with a loud: "Wheeeeeee!" As she skidded away, the drone opened fire at the Tengu - who slipped more by accident than anything to evade the laser blast.

Hana moved to place herself between Ami and the Tengu, her eyes glowing blue as she cried out, "Heaven or hell, let's rock!" As she assaulted his mind again. The Tengu staggered with the psychic impact - but the corbies shook themselves. The one who had fired at Rakain tired to fire back - but his shot was poorly aimed. Poorly aimed or no, it still almost pegged Rakain before he ducked behind some computer components. As he ducked down, the same corby who had tried to scratch and claw at Sam leaped on the burly woman, but she shoved him back.

The fourth corby...remained dead.

Sam didn't bother giving a verbal reply to the red skinned jerk's taunting, rather she answered with actions. She was dismissive to the very existence of the Corby that was continuing to attempt to attack her, and for the most part failing to do so as she once more rushed the Tengu and brought her blade down in a hard overhead chop.

The Tengu's blade and Sam's blade met and sparks flew. The two warriors stood, poised over the puddle of magically summoned grease. Then slowly, a single lock of the Tengu's hair fell from his head - while Sam looked utterly unharmed.

"...hurph!" The Tengu sniffed - but it was clear that there was fear in his eyes.

Pain flared where Rakain had been grazed by the laser shots. Despite the fact that he was aware of it, far more pressing on his mind was the pure unyielding rage of having been shot twice. He summoned his magic again, wreathing his hand in lightning. He surged out from his hiding spot and pounced on the nearest corvid. He roared his battle cry again as he slammed his palm into the avian's neck. The smell of burning feathers filled the room as he shocked the life out of his foe!

Xata stood and whirled into motion, slashing her katana at the Tengu... but he was able to evade just in time. The Tengu, meanwhile, snarled as he used his curved blades to reflect away the laser light, twirling around. He wrapped the chain of one blade around Sam's arm, then swung her around, skidding along the grease. Sam flew out and smashed it one of the walls, sending out a spray of ice chips and sparks as the speaker she hit was destroyed.

"Hah!" the Tengu sneered at her, his eyes glittering - his body blurring as he made a snapping gesture with his hand...four spectral versions of himself stepped out of his body, each one shifting around, making it hard to tell which one was real!

Nora took a look at the copies and quickly drew her pistol. She took aim with her drone and fired after a second of thought. She aimed for one, her drone another. She missed by inches while her drone manged to finally score a hit on one of the possible tengu. Tengi. Tengeese?

The blast slammed home and pierced through the Tengu's heart. For a moment, they all paused, even the still greased up Ami, blinking. The Tengu looked down.

"...well..." he said. "That's not supposed to happen to main cha-"

And then he face planted into the grease, the four duplicates shattering into a thousand shards of undifferentiated magic. The two remaining corbies gaped. Hana smirked, "It didn't happen to the main character, you're barely a footnote." She said, firing another small blue bead at one of the corbies, pinging it more annoyingly than anything else.

"Damn, nice shot boy." Nora said after a moment, turning to look at the bot clinging to her shoulder. Sam pushed herself up from the wall before kicking the corpse to make sure he was dead and not another one of his tricks. The corby shook with the impact - then squawked, turning and running desperately away, his friend joining him as they rushed for the exit! As the corbies started to run, a series of laser blasts and thrown pebbles from Hana slammed into the Tengu. The two remaining dire ravens hit the deck - smoking from the dozens of laser impact blasts.

Ami stood, her pistol dripping with grease. "So, uh..." She said, grinning. "I think we just killed a boss!" She looked at the rest of them, nodding.

After slashing down one of the fleeing corbies before it could escape, Xata straightened up and said, in Thuweir character, "It is logical that the needs of the... em, Us outweigh the needs of Them."

Rakain holstered his smoking pistol, heaving himself upright off the dead corby he'd electrocuted. The smell of burning feathers in his nostrils was even worse than the ogrekin he'd fried earlier. It took Rakain a moment to remember that he was bleeding, and he looked down at the two grazes on his arms.

"So, what you're saying is we should be getting some sweet loot?" Hana giggled slightly, smiling as she put her next bead away. "So.. just gonna put this out there, it would be neat if you didn't try and get yourself killed again, Xata."

"I was certain I had the Pulse of the Room," Xata replied with a touch of chagrin. "I will adjust."

Ami looked over at Xata. "Exactly!" She leaped forward, kicking Xata on the shin. Or trying too. Her foot slipped out from under her and Ameiko Kaijitsu, Princess of the Tian Star Empire slammed her butt onto the ground with a wet thump.

Hana looked over to Rakain, "Are you okay? Actual damage or just flesh wounds?" She said, looking at the vesk, before moving to help Ami back to her feet. Xata immediately duplicated the pratfall to make the Princess feel better about it.

"It can happen to anyone," she said brightly.

Ami blinked as she looked at Xata, her face twisted into a scowl. "Thanks..." She said, while Hana saw that Rakain's burns were actually on the scales, not just narrow misses. Nora let out a breath and keyed a few buttons on her wrist to let the music die down to something more quiet. She rolled her shoulders a little and shifted to start peering around the whole of the room.

"Hurts..." the vesk muttered through his teeth.

Hana moved over to Rakain, "Anyone mind if we take ten so I can take care of this?" She said, moving to look at his burns.

Ami looked down at her grease soaked clothes and sighed. "Can someone else clean me off?" She asked, a bit plaintively. Sam once more cleaned her sword and put it back into it's sheathe before grabbing the corpse of the tengu and dragging it out of the grease puddle and further into the room they were using for theater before dropping him back to the floor. She walked back to check the door the harpie had gone down, nodding as she saw the stairs that led down to the next level. Closing the door, she turned back to watch Hana as he wiggled her fingers, cleaning Ami off. Once Ami was cleaned, Hana got to work slowly and carefully repairing Rakain's scales.

Xata gave a nod of thanks to Hana's efforts. Then she started forward and started to check the room over. Sam moved over to walk with her.

Once they had a chance to pace the room, Sam and Xata found that four exits - including the one they had entered by. The three one ones led north, west and north-east, though their labels were long since worn away. As they searched, Ami - now cleaned - picked through the Tengu's pockets, frowning as she did so. "What is this?" She asked, holding up a shimmering, pulsating light that he had kept in his pocket. It was pale blue and glowed in her palm as she held it.

Rakain, meanwhile, got to see what Hana's work did - his scales smoothed out, the burns vanishing.

Xata exchanged looks with Sam. Her facial expression made her thought clear: Should they follow the harpy?

Rakain rolled his fingers. "Thanks, Hana," he murmured. He could still smell burning feathers as if the smell was lodged in his nostrils just to torment him.

Nora paused to linger around the harpy door, shifting around at Ami's words. "Whats what?"

Ami held up the glowing orb for them to look at it.

"Looks like a magic miguffin. Hana might know more," Nora hummed, rubbing her neck.

Hana blinked and then leaned forward, almost bumping her nose against the shimmering orb. She cocked her head, her brow furrowing slowly. "It's...someone's voice." She said, sounding mildly confused.

"...what if it's the harpy's?" Nora asked.

Ami blinked. "Someone's voice?" She asked. "How am I holding someone's voice?"

"Magic." Nora said, shrugging.

"Tengu can steal voices." Sam noted as she joined the rest after looking over the room. "They are literal demons."

"Why is everyone always confused when magic things happen?" Hana said, throwing up her arms. "It's some kind of natural Tengu magic. I assume.." She paused, pointing to Sam. "That."

"And how do you know that, Sam?" Ami asked - trying to not look skeptical, but...well...Sam. Sam was not exactly known for being the most bookish girl.

"It is indeed Tengu mafic," Xata confirmed after checking her memory banks.

"I'll take your words for it," Rakain muttered, still stuck on what he'd done with his own magic the past couple hours.

"Because I have had the bad habit of running into nasty things in nasty situations." Sam said with a shrug.

"Stealing of someone's music," Xata added with a shudder. "What a Fiendish Creature."She gave Sam a look of admiration for having beaten her to the insight.

Ami nodded, slowly. "Fair..." She said, then smiled and leaned forward to check over the corpses for more loot. "Pocketed! Now, for the rest of the loot, we have two military grade laser pistols, a snazzy as fuck pair of swoopy chain weapons, and a military grade laser rifle and this." She said, holding up a circular disk of metal.

"So, the Tengu was a dickbag, he was a jerk to the harpy, so logically we should go find the harpy and give her her voice back, right?" Hana asked. Then she pointed at the disk. "What's the disc?"

Nora stepped up to Ami, gently taking the disk from her hand. "I think this might be more my speed," She hummed. Ami blinked as the disk was taken from her hand. It appeared to be an image of the Brineice Asteroid, etched into steel via a laser. It was very sleek.

"We may... not want to suppose the harpy should be given her voice," Xata frowned as she watched this. "The term 'harpy' may have negative connotations for good reason."

"Sorry Ami! Just...stood out." Nora said with a little wince, flushing. "Uh, this is really neat actually. It's a different design than a normal card."

"Why's it all round and not like a normal data crystal?" Ami asked, her brow furrowing. "And it's cool, Nora." She smiled at the techy cyborg girl.

"Because it's magical." She said, frowning slightly, "Might be some kind of spell chip, but, you know, a disc! The hookblade things are enchanted to work well together and.. summon bees."

"Bees?" Ami asked. "What's a bee?"

Sam was just lost what they were saying in terms of the card, so turned her attention to the conversation that she could make sense of. "I'm for giving the harpy her voice back, it's a trick Tengu use to enforce loyalty and servitude." Sam said, following it with "I'd imagine."

"That...Those exist?" Nora asked, sounding perplexed. She stared at the card a little longer before offering it back to Ami. "You and Hana will probably be waay way more able to figure this out then."

"Like a wasp, but they make honey." Hana smirked playfully at Ami. She looked at Nora, "You don't know about spell chips?" She said in confusion.

Ami snickered. "Well, I think spell chips are a lot smaller than this." She said, reaching out and tapping the disk. "I say we pocket it until we figure out what it does." She nodded slightly.

"Upside of giving the harpy her voice back is maybe she can tell us what it does!" Hana said, smiling.

Rakain nodded, trying to put the awful smell out of his mind, though his tail still flicked back and forth. "I'm with Hana."

Xata nodded. "That sounds rational!"

Curious at this point Nora reached out to carefully paw over one of the military pistols. "I don't get magic frankly. Not really my area."

Ami nodded slightly. "So, uh, after the harpy then?" She asked. "Or...do we want to make sure this part of the base is clear. We never did check out the creepy murder door."

"So, is anyone else versed in longarms? And if we can't figure out the card then what about that odd weapon the Tengu was using?" Sam asked.

Hana nodded to Ami, then smirked at Nora, "Just think of it as computer programs." She giggled.

There was a sudden crackling on their personal com unit. A moment later, they heard a thump. Bump. Clatter. Then a quiet, male voice. "...no, I can...oh!" Brash's voice filled their ears. "Hi! I woke up from my nap! Hi!"

Hana giggled, "Hey Brash, what's up?" She said cheerfully.

"I was asleep, then I woke up!" He said. "Now, I will come and rescue you all from danger! ...are you in danger?" He asked, curiously, sounding like he was touching his nose to the speaker, considering how often they heard bumps and rasps.

Xata's circuits glowed pleasurably as she sketched a bow to the Mighty Little Dragon. Rakain's mood improved immediately upon hearing the little dragon's voice. "We're good for now, Brash," he said.

"Brash, you don't need to put your nose to the speaker." Hana giggled, "And we need you to watch the ship for us."

"We can trust No One Else, added Xata solemnly.

Sam nodded in agreement.

"Is the ship in danger!?" Brash asked, sounding nervous. "I can protect it! I can protect it nine times, cause I'm a dragon! And dragons have NINE limbs!" He said, excitedly.

Ami blinked. "Nine?"

"Yes! Wings! That's two! Then front legs! That's four! Then back legs! That's six! Then you have your head, which is seven, and your tail, which is eight!"

"And...the...ninth?" Ami asked.

There was a very long, crackling silence.

"...I will protect the ship!" Brash said. "Bye!" He hung up with a click. Ami blinked, then blushed furiously.

"R-Right!" she stammered. "To the murder door?"

Rakain bust a gut laughing.

"We could also call it the Adventure Door," Xata suggested quietly.

Hana giggled, shaking her head, "Yeah, we should probably check that out, no idea where the harpy's gotten to at this point.."

"We might as well haul the bodies out there anyways. Don't need the pirates raising a fuss over finding their leader's corpse." Sam said as she started spooling out wire from her pack. "Normally I'd say there would be a problem with blood trails, but with the state of this place it should blend right in."

Ami nodded - cheeks bright red.

###

The adventure door (or murder door, if you preferred) opened with an ominous creaking noise, revealing a darkened room, the ceiling lights out, leaving nothing but the dim light of a computer terminal flickering from around the corner of the entrance.

A low...wet...snapping cracking crunching noise echoed to the adventurers. Then a female voice called out. "Iss that you, brothers dearest? Here for more foood for your starving sister?" Crunch crackle pop.

Xata mimicked the Tengu's voice flawlessy, but seemed unsure of what to say, "Uhhh... I am fond of Space Explorer. I made them fight. It was extremely successful."

Hana looked to the others curiously, then sighed slightly as Xata spoke. Xata kind of winced as she spoke. Even she could feel it was off. There was a long pause. Then slowly, a figure filled the doorway. It was tall...and...grotesquely fat. It also seemed quiet muscular, despite that. A pair of pale yellow eyes glowed from the darkness.

"You're..." the voice said, slowly. "You're...you brought us the bitch..." She gurgled.

Ami sniffed, quietly, muttering. "So, I'm a female puppy, what an insult..." She scowled. "Except it's not because puppies are adorable."

"And biologically inaccurate," Xata added with sympathy.

Hana frowned, "So.. what's your deal?" She said curiously, looking the woman over.

Sam unclipped the wire that was dragging the corpses from herself and just casually rested an arm on the hilt of the sword at her hip. "Tengu as well?" Sam asked curiously, adding to the inquiry.

The monstrous woman chuckled. "Well, it looks like our mission's done..." she licked her lips, slowly. "Did you kill my...brothers dearest?" she murmured, quietly. "Lhutlet and Khullet? They were wrestling..."

"...Nope, the Tengu had them killed for offending him!" Hana said, mentally shrugging slightly.

Xata tried to play along. "And he had them slathered in greease for cooking!" she added. She was lifting her sword as she spoke.

The monster smirked, slowly. "You lied...but you at least...tried..." She snorted, then spat to the side, lumbering forward into the light - revealing that she too was a ogerkin, though older and far more intelligent than her brothers. "Since you've killed dick-nose and my two retard brothers..." She licked her lips with a slurp, her eyes glittering. "I got a deal for you. I tell you...where the treasures are here. You let me...get to one of the ships. I leave..." She chuckled. "Find some new place to...mmm..." She licked her pinkie. "Eat."

Rakain's lip curled. "Fat chance," he growled. Then he smirked at his unintentional pun.

Nora snorted in agreement with Rakain, reaching to pull her pistol from her belt. Her bot responded by opening it's mouth as well, the little laser there powering up.

"The probability is that you are overweight and will not get what you want," elaborated Xata helpfully.

"We've already found some rather tasty treats. And I think we can find the rest on our own. Not really sure you've properly motivated us to let you go." Hana said, looking the woman over. Sam rolled her shoulders in a manner that told everyone she was rolling her eyes at that. She drew her sword along with her companions.

The ogerkin woman smirked. "Well, I know who and what wants your princess dead..." She grinned. "And..." She held up a small control. She smirked. "This will kill your only chance to save the Empire..." Her eyes glittered.

Ami smirked. her fingers twitched and she whistled again.

And once more, grease appeared - but it appeared on the controller - and the tight grip of the ogerkin sent it flying from her hand, like a hot dog squeezed in someone's hand. The controller clattered onto the ground - and the ogerkin looked shocked enough for it to almost be funny.

Nora moved quickly, rushing up to the controller and reaching out with her hand. While her bot gripped her shoulder to aim the mechanic's false arm shot out a rip-thin cord that plugged perfectly into the device as Nora picked it up. She began to type at her wrist frantically. Her bot still missed but Nora was already cracking the controller's firewall.

The ogerkin bellowed in fury. "FUCKING BITCH!" She snarled - then charged...right for Ami. As she charged forward, she reached onto her back, pulling out a whirling gravity mace. She charged forward, uncaring of anyone nearby! Xata's slash just missed as the ogrekin charged past. The small bead Hana was readying flew from her hand as the ogrekin pushed past her, slamming into the woman's body.