All in a Day's Work - 1-2 Report

General Summary

Having returned top-side with their barrel of red goop and their looted anti-grav crystals, the party decided on their next course of action. Lonna took the crystals to begin studying them with the hope of uncovering more specifically how they function and how they can be utilized. Davin also sought out Fulgur and asked the engineer to try to repair a malfunctioning gadget that he had been holding on to.   The party visited the Trident Beanery where Davin asked the barista to put the word out that he'd like to host a meeting of Synoro's sym-bonded in the back room in a couple days' time. The word did indeed get around and the night of the meeting, Davin found himself speaking to an audience of over 40 people of a variety of species. The passionate speech that followed swayed the hearts of most of the gathered group as Davin entreated them to begin becoming more open with how they used their symbiotic powers moving forward; to become examples of the net good that sym-bonded can be in society and counterpoints to the negative PR that currently pervades the worlds. Although some responses, especially among the intoxicated, started to jump to slightly more violent, retributive acts towards the powers that be, these voices were successfully quelled and there was a sense of optimism in the community about this course of action.   Seeking some more lucrative work, Bliqtaz, Davin, and Häxan signed up for a week-long security contract for the Astral Depths Mining Co., successfully negotiating a higher-than-average base pay. Day 1 on the job stationed the trio at a truck staging area near the mining operations at the base of the massive Phoenix Tree. Majestic natural beauty aside, the shift was largely uneventful until late afternoon when a Nightmare Sloth crashed through a week branch high above them in the Pheonix Tree's canopy and plummeted 200 feet to land between Bliqtaz and Davin. Despite its injuries from the fall, the nightmare sloth proved to be a formidable monster and inflicted grievous wounds into the pair before they were able to take it down. The staging area foreman acknowledged their kill and signed off on a slip that gave Bliqtaz and Davin a bonus for the day's work when they returned to town.   Catching up on the day's events, the unfortunate talk of the town was that a sym-bonded miner at a different Phoenix Tree worksite had unleashed a fireball while trying to defend herself and her coworkers from a monster attack. Although the monsters were destroyed, two of the coworkers were caught up in the blast and had to be rushed back to Synoro's medcenter where they are still in critical condition. It sounds like Astral Depth's corporate security corps is still holding the sym-bonded miner in custody to ensure she won't harm anyone else, although they also appear to be taking into account that the situation was one of self-defense.   The next day, the party hopped on the personnel transport back out to the Tree. After keeping watch for aggressive fauna and dealing with some minor, easily handled threats, the trio noticed a trian miner speedwalking up the ramps that lead from the truck staging area down into the actual mining worksite. The fellow sped away on foot but soon a call of alarm caught their attention and they rushed over to investigate. A daerpon woman, kitted out visible kevlar and multiple knives, was chasing the trian and shouting that she had a warrant to bring him in. Although Davin slowed and sat down to watch things play out, Häxan and Bliqtaz tried to insert themselves into the situation.   The trian attempted to hop down a terraced cliff edge to get away but the daerpon threw a blade that caught him in the shoulder and seemed to hurt him severely. Häxan, always empathetic to the criminal element, attempted to waylay the daerpon by asking to see the warrant while Bliqtaz chased after the trian to be in position to either "help" the daerpon bounty hunter or otherwise work the situation to her advantage. Growing frustrated as Häxan perused the warrant and spewed a continuous stream of follow-up questions, the daerpon took off after the trian again and tried to cut him off. Bliqtaz finally caught up to them as well and feigned tripping over something on the ground, successfully careening into the bounty hunter to knock her prone but playing it off as an accident. Bliqtaz grappled the trian to keep him in place.   The party convened around the trian and the daerpon and assessed the situation. The bounty hunter, although annoyed at being knocked over, offered a tiny cut of the 45gp bounty to the trio since they had helped, to some degree at least, in apprehending him. However, much to her chagrin, Bliqtaz lifted the gnomish figure away as the hunter tried to grab him. Davin attempted to psychically suggest that the bounty hunter just leave the trian with them but was rebuffed by her mind twice. Häxan was helping with the negotiations but saw that both the hunter and Davin were growing increasingly agitated. Davin boiled over first, abandoning all subtlety and piercing directly into the daerpon's mind, causing a migraine and forcibly suggesting that she leave her stuff and the trian here and go home. Muttering to herself, the bounty hunter dropped her remaining poison-coated knife and a small pouch of opaque, black spheres and slowly begain walking away.   Interrogating the trian, a fellow named Jym, the party found several containers of symbiote-covered tree root fragments, which Jym continued to adamantly call his "vitamins." In exchange for his freedom, Jym offered the party the contents of his bag saying that Pucktak at the airship terminal, a fellow vitamin enthusiast, would pay 200gp for the stuff, far more than the measly 45gp of the bounty. Feeling like it would be too much hassle to bring the trian in themselves if they weren't going to cash in the bounty, the party decided to let him go to walk back to town on his own. Bliqtaz even healed Jym up before he left.   That night brought more disappointing news and another sym-bonded individual had accidentally set fire to a market stall while trying to entertain a crowd by shooting fireworks out of his hand. Other, more positive events had also been reported that day, but the firework fracas made the headline that drowned them out.   Day 3 at the work site began as usual but once again, as the day wore on, the party noticed a large, monstrous figure crawling through the branches far above them. This particular Nightmare Sloth seemed to be moving more methodically than the last one however and did not simply fall from the tree. Although it was hard to make out at such a distance, the three heads of the creature seemed to notice the trio, craning towards them as it dangled by two of its six legs, before letting out an echoing bellow and dropping from the canopy towards them.