”sorry for the unanswerable question”
Move out of its way and follow the scent of the killer
You decide it's best not to cause a scene so you apologize and leave this place.
You have to circle around the general area a couple of times, sniffing this way and that, searching for their unique mixture of smells, but eventually you manage to pick up the trail again. For a while things continue as before. Then you come upon a point where the two trails diverge. It's much easier to follow the Killer's distinct scent, so you do so. It leads you through something between an underground passage, a maintenance tunnel and an alleyway that goes on for some time. It's just below ground, you can hear the sounds of the people above, distorted and echoing through the passage, and occasionally catch glimpses of the streets through grates and small holes. This area is dark and empty and the noise helps mask the sounds that would normally warn you of approaching danger. You walk carefully, wary of a possible ambush. For him to go through this place... you get the feeling you're in his territory now.
The noise slowly dies down and you are left in the silence, with the echo of your footsteps keeping you company. You eventually emerge from the passage. The first thing you notice is the light, so bright, brighter than the clouds at midday. A fake-sun, like the real-sun you see in your dreams. As your eyes adjust to the brightness you begin to take in the wonders of this area.
Instead of the various tiny shops and buildings full of dirt and flashing lights layered on top of each other, this area has large walled plots of land with stumpy houses hidden in large gardens. There are plants of many shapes and sizes, beautiful reds and greens and blues, some even hiding small creatures in them. In the distance you can see larger buildings: a gleaming tower, a monolithic black cube, a brown organic-looking thing... Beyond them you can see the edge of the tower, the normally bright white clouds appearing somewhat dull compared to the artificial sunlight. Behind you there's a wall, separating this part of the tower from the rest.
This is a place that's mostly empty of people, especially compared to the crowded streets you were in when you entered the passage. The masses of pedestrians may be intimidating, but you had gotten used to them somewhat, to the fact that one can hide in them. Without the crowds to hide in, you feel like you stand out even more. You feel the gazes of guard-droids and the occasional passer-by falling on you as you walk through the paths. You need to be careful. The things here might look pretty, but they have teeth.
Fortunately the trail doesn't take you to one of those guarded gardens. Instead it takes you to a small tower of metal and glass, like a miniature of those towers that exist near the top, above the clouds, where you can see the sun and the stars. The trail of the Killer is reunited with Dahia's a short distance before the building's entrance and ends at said entrance. This must be a usual destination for him. You can smell his scent, more recent now, much stronger. He might even be inside.
Through the glass door you can see a bored-looking young human male sitting on a chair next to an elevator, fiddling with his datapad. You see a stun baton hanging from his belt. Could he be the Killer? Or is he somewhere higher in the tower? You could just enter and check. Or maybe it would be better to try and fly up to the top, find a way inside and investigate? But there's always the chance that someone will see you and you'll get in trouble. And then there's this more recent scent trail. You could try following it to see if it gets stronger, to see if he has actually left this place. Or instead of following him, perhaps it would be better to wait and try to set up an ambush?
Age: some months (wyrmling)
Size: about the size of a human (if bipedal)
Status: full, energized
Health: fine
Weapons: claws and teeth
Armor: scales
Abilities:
- Short Flight: You can glide in order to survive falls and quickly move great distances. You can even fly upwards for short distances. You can use favorable winds and updrafts to increase your glide time.
- Basic Human Language: You are able to understand many of the most common words of the human language, including some that express more abstract things, though there are still a great many words and expressions that you have yet to learn. You can also read, though it takes you some time to understand the words. You can also speak, though it's sometimes hard for others to understand you.
- Communication: You have a knack for understanding other beings, even those whose language you don't know.
- Basic Nursing: You know the basics of caring for patients and preparing and maintaining equipment used in their care. You can also administer certain simple treatments. However you still lack much of the knowledge necessary for you to be able to determine what said treatment should be.
- Maintenance Tunnels:
- Large Sonic Rifle covered by old torn clothes
- 2 holdout blaster pistols (roughly 20 shots each, effective range 20m, HSB-200)
- Low quality vibroknife (low battery)
- Eiwhyl's Clinic:
- 576 credits (5 orange, 11 blue, 7 red, 4 grey, 6 cyan, 4 pink)
- 2 packs of smoke sticks
- small can of droid oil
- small metal toolbox
- Warm blanket
- Basic Datapad (contains datacard with encrypted files)
- Datacard with human medical information
- Datacard with human language dictionary
- Datacard with dragon info compilation
- Datacard with story about hunter of dragons
- Large hooded cloak (required)
- Pack with plastoid tape modifications (equipped on left side, under cloak)
- Half-used medpac
- Purse with credit-reader:
- 135 credits (2 orange, 1 blue, 1 red, 1 grey)
- half-used roll of plastoid tape
- flashlight
- pack of smoke sticks
- lighter
- keycard with symbol
- small glass statue of bird
- Ali's Apartment: A tiny 2 bedroom apartment. The little human Ali lives there with Dad/Jobal and Mom/Ania. Room 327.
- Ali's Apartment Tower: Apartments arranged in a circle. Clean, bright, mostly locked doors, few hiding places. Little traffic during the night.
- Eiwhyl's Clinic (Lair): Sells medpacs and other healing items and provides treatment. Warning: stabby. Room 509.
- Streets: Dirty streets, parked hovercars, shops, building entrances, street vendors, little traffic during the night.
- Maintenance Tunnels: Interconnected tunnels, small and large, going low and high. Connect various streets and buildings. Wires and pipes. Dark, dirty, with old machines constantly rumbling. Scavenger-vermin and hunters-of-vermin.
- Garbage Pit: A large room with mountains of garbage half-submerged in a sea of sludge. More garbage frequently arrives from holes in the ceiling. A monster lurks here, may pull prey underwater.
- Hydroponic Pool: A room with a large pool filled with plants. A ceiling full of bright lamps. A spherical gardener-droid takes care of the plants. Patrolled by hostile gunmen. A corridor leads to other rooms. Storage room. Processing room. Other rooms are unexplored.
- Iyran Grower Shop: A store located deeper into the tower's streets. Operated by a cephalopoid. The grower sells cheap synthetic meat, amongst other things.