The summons arrived to your respective datapads and personal comms devices early in the morning, barely leaving you enough time to grab some food before heading to the Lorespire. Venture Captain Arvin's message had been simple enough, if a little unusual:
"Brilliant new lead from the Communion Vaults! You pulled the lucky straw to follow up on them. Come to my office in the Lorespire within the vast that awaits."
Feeling you must have misread, you took a second look at the message, and indeed, it seemed quite ordinary:
"Brilliant new lead from the Communion Vaults! You pulled the lucky straw to follow up on them. Come to my office in the Lorespire within the hour. A great boon to the Society awaits!"
You have the whole trip to the Lorespire to mull over the odd experience, and upon introspection, you can't help but feel that you dreamed the night before. A vague recollection of green and gold shapes against pure black. Without quite remembering the specifics, your preferred mode of transportation arrives at the Lorespire Complex.
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The Lorespire Complex hums with activity as you make your way up to the Venture Captain's private office, with all manner of agents bustling about in preparation for some major mission. You find Venture Captain Arvin's office door open as you arrive. The room smells faintly of cake.
The lashunta man seems full to the brim with energy as you assemble. He greets each of you with a smile and a quick raise of his antennae. "Exciting business, I can't wait to fill you all in! But so I don't have to repeat myself, let's make sure we're all here! Feel free to take a moment to get to know each other while the others arrive. You'll need your best teamwork for this mission!"
He paces back and forth behind his desk tapping notes into his datapad, occasionally murmuring "Hmmm..." and "Ah, maybe..."
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Basalt is an ambassador from the Salvation's Moon. He was sent to join the Starfinders to experience this vast new plane and report back to his clan. He's friendly as dwarves go and has a sense of wonder about him as he learns more and more about what the Pact Worlds and beyond have to offer. "Greetings everyone and well met."
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As a corporate agent, Troy Stardust has been to a couple of the Pact Worlds already. Troy is currently in the employment of North Central Positronics, one of the larger corporations on Eox. Troy's senior officer ordered Troy to join the Starfinder Society to learn more about potential rival corporations.
As he enters the room Troy calmly scans the room. His tattoo-like circuits are a dead giveaway that he is an android. His voice is flat and soft but his words are very articulate. He seems to be thinking about every word leaving his mouth. "It is a... pleasure... meeting you all. I am very interested in all of your... stories."
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A big, lanky, dark-haired human in sparkling green iridishell armor speaks up, "Burn Kenyon. I'll do what I can to help, and if there's trouble I've got your backs."
His simple bluff demeanor, battle glove, and big reaction cannon, mark him as a soldier. And if you trust such things, the Exo-Guardian badge on his shoulder warranties his words about having your backs.
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A gangly humanoid just under 10 feet tall crouches down to fit in through the human-size door into the room - her stature, pale blue skin and dark eyes identify her as a sarcesian. She seems well-adjusted to life among the Starfinder Society, sporting mostly standard issue gear with the exception of the assault rifle strapped to her back, which bears the greenish plating characteristic of Azlanti arms.
"Happy to be working with Pathfinders again so soon. I've been using my shore leave to help rebuild operations on Nakondis, but we've hit a bunch of snags and the locals' complaining was getting unbearable. Nice to be back with a team that can get the job done."
She gives Burn a nod and a smirk, admiring his cannon and the Exo-Guardian badge on his shoulder. "Nice weapon. The Acquisitives were the ones who recruited me to the Society, but I decided to split my loyalties with the Exos after I realized they get the best toys. Ziggy's personality is a plus, too."
Venture Captain Arvin sets his datapad down and nods approvingly at the group. "Very prompt! Much better than the last team. Welcome, all of you. While you've been introducing each other, I've been reviewing the *very* interesting lead we picked up this morning. I'm sure some of you know of the Society’s magical archive for divining potential new finds, the "Communion Vaults"?" He pauses to see if any of you recognize the name. "For years now, the Vaults have housed a sleeping Liavaran Dreamer named Whisperer of Solar Winds. The Dreamer rarely rouses from its torpor, but when it does, it telepathically imparts fragments of its dreams to the agents we've staged at the ready. These "dream stories" have been invaluable in tracking down new finds... sometimes ones that were right under our noses, but that we would never have otherwise thought to look for." He pauses, reminiscing for just a moment about a particularly interesting discovery.
"Now here's the good part. The Liavaran Dreamer awoke in the middle of the night just last night. Though a couple of agents were sleeping on the job, there were enough there to record fragments of the dream story that it had for us! And what a story it was! All about a fractured sandstone tablet that could point the Society to a great treasure." He grins, looking almost childish at the thought of a treasure hunt.
"Of course, like all the dream stories we've gotten from the Dreamer, everything comes in the form of rather obtuse allusion and allegory. Here, take a look."
He turns his datapad around and pushes it across the table, waving a hand to turn the screen back on. Upon the screen are a trio of three-line poems.
"Other agents have been hard at work all morning long decoding exactly what these fragments are referring to. At this point, we're fairly confident that they reference three locations around the Pact Worlds where we will find fragments of the Sandstone tablet. What I'd like the five of you to tackle is tracking them down! Find each of the three pieces and report back here so we can get everything pieced together and figure this dream out!"
"Now, we'll likely need all three fragments, but I'll leave it up to you which one you'd like to investigate first."
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Troy turns to Hermena with a look of recognition and nods. "It is... nice to meet a fellow member of The Acquisitives."
Troy then walks over to Basalt and thoughtfully looks at the three poems. He seems deep in thoughts and after about a minute he suddenly looks up at Basalt. The expression in his eyes is still the same flat expression of an android, but his voice sounds almost excited. "I think I know... I know what that second poem is referring to. I have been to that place."
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Hermena nods to Troy, both in response to his comment and to suggest he elaborate further. ”I’m inclined to think the second one is referring to the home of my people, though it’s a bit of a flippant way to describe the Diaspora. I guess that’s not unexpected, though, since it came from a dreaming balloon creature. I wouldn’t mind a visit home if we want to start with that one.”
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Troy turns to Hermena and nods in agreement. "I think you are right. The second poem I believe is indeed about The Diaspora. I think that the two sisters actually refers to Damiar and Iovo, the twin planets... or sisters if you will, that collided long ago. As you well know, the Diaspora is home to many... undesirable elements of society. This is what is meant by bandits stalking the fields."
Troy looks around the room. "However, I am not sure about that last sentence. Does any of you know what it means?"
Arvin pulls up the second dream message transcript as you discuss it between yourselves.
"Bandits stalk the fields
Two sisters long since passed
Allies feast upon stone"
"Very sharp!" Arvin nods, smiling at the sarcesian and android "That's exactly what my aides were thinking as well. The dead ruins of Damiar and Lovo." He raises an eyebrow at Burnham "And of course, a mining operation seems to be what 'feasting upon stone' refers to as well."
"This morning I sent a few feelers out to my contacts currently in the Diaspora, trying to see if any sandstone tablets might have passed hands recently. And as luck would have it, my contacts in the dwarven Silverbrew clan answered right away. Turns out they'd recovered a sandstone tablet buried in one of the asteroids they'd been prospecting, but a group of opportunistic smugglers waylaid one of their transports and stole a whole load of minerals along with most, but not all, of the tablet."
He shakes his head "The Silverbrew clan still has one piece... and they're willing to pass it on to the society if we help deal with their smuggler problem. You see, the smugglers decided to bunker down at one of the Clan's mining facilities, and they'd like us to go and chase them off, recovering the stolen cargo in the process." He grins "The Silverbrews always try to make things a transaction."
"Any questions?"
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Troy looks at Linsniket with mild curiosity. "Did you actually think it means that we have to eat rocks or were you merely... kidding?"
Then he turns to the others. "It seems that we will be traveling to The Diaspora... home to at least some of us."
"What do we know about this… Silverbrew clan? Is there anything we need to about the mining facility?"
"As far as my… starship expertise… I am a capable pilot, but I could also function as your science officer. Even engineering would not be beyond my… capabilities."
If I'm not mistaken I can use the Acquisitives Champion boon.
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"Well then, Snik, you get to engineering and make sure this starship is in good order for a possible hostile encounter." Basalt wasn't the best with the technical part of running a ship, but he did know how to get a crew to work together. "Hermena, I understand you're a good pilot, Troy, you said you understood the SO station, so take that, and Burnham, man the main guns. Make sure you're familiar with your controls. The locals may not be friendly."
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Hermena gives Basalt a salute, made less serious by the dramatic height difference between the dwarf and the sarcesian. "Aye Aye, captain. If I'm behind a gun or behind the wheel, I should be of some use to the team. I can also retro-fit our ship with an aeon caster we salvaged from an Azlanti scout ship that attacked the colony on Nakondis, if we want to diversify our armaments."
She then turns back to the Venture-Captain. "I'm happy to be returning home, but the Diaspora is a big place and I'm not familiar with all the extracurricular activities going on there. What do we know about these smugglers? Are they violent? What kind of ships to they pilot? Any additional information could help us prepare accordingly."
Arvin nods each of the questions, answering "The Silverbrew clan are a hardworking sort, long time mining clan. While they're able to strip a Station sized asteroid bare in less than a week, they're not the most... martially inclined... among the dwarven mining clans. We've helped them before with both pirates and marauding Besmaran Whelps, and for that we've been compensated quite well." He looks down at his datapad. "This mining facility that got captured was one of their older outlying ones. I don't have any detailed information on it, unfortunately."
"As for the smugglers, the Clan didn't have many details. The most common in that area are those aligned with the Free Captains - though a smash and grab like this suggests a smaller operation. Maybe even just a single ship and crew. I'd be on the lookout for any trickery. They'll be looking to pull any edge out that they can."
He picks his datapad back up and taps a few times before continuing. "I've requisitioned the Loreseeker, a Pegasus-class vessel, for your use. You'll find it waiting for you at the Docks." He nods "Alright Starfinders, get out there! Good luck!"
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Taking hints from some of my fellow SFS PBP GMs, I'll be condensing Starship combat a little to get it running more smoothly. The goal is to be able to finish at least one starship combat round every 24 hours.
To facilitate that, I'll be rolling the piloting checks for 'initiative' each round for both parties. Once those are done, each player should declare their crew action (order doesn't matter: helm, engineering and gunnery phases can be done simultaneously) and I'll try to decode them in a way that makes sense. After 24 hours are up, I'll resolve the actions that both sides have taken + provide 'initiative' piloting rolls for the next round. As in normal combat, I'll skip anyone who doesn't post within 24 hours of the round starting, unless they've specifically given me botting instructions (see my GM alias profile page for more info on that).
When you move the Loreseeker across the map, please copy the GREEN arrows provided on the map to show the path of the starship's movement for that round.
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The Loreseeker eases out of Absalom Station's docks and Hermena engages its drift engines. The trip itself takes days, and during the journey you notice an unusual number of drift-sharded pieces of some fiery plane among the riotous colors. When you leave drift-space, the wide open expanse of the Diaspora spreads in the ship's primary viewscreen.
It doesn't take longer than a couple of hours to weave through the debris of the Diaspora towards the Clan mining facility, and before long, you find yourselves looking out into a densely packed field of asteroids, with the inactive facility centered on the largest among them. You can even see the telltale yellow hazard striping common in dwarven architecture on your visual scans of the facility. Thankfully, the rocks are in a relatively stable orbit and Hermena is confident that she can pilot in without too much difficulty.
From visuals, everything seems quiet.
Troy takes a few moments to complete a scan of the vicinity. The readouts show no significant heat signatures coming from the mining facility - suggesting that the place is truly abandoned. Beyond that, all your scan picks up is the presence of dozens of asteroid clusters in close vicinity. Likely the remains of the Silverbrew mining activity in the area.
The benign results of the scan leave you off guard when a comms channel opens unexpectedly. The hologram of a ysoki dressed in fine clothes and gaudy jewelry appears on the Loreseeker's bridge, a wide grin on his face. "You’ve come a long way, travelers. You can call me Mr. Smiles. I’m everyone’s best friend around these parts." The ysoki, Mr. Smiles, looks off to the side, nodding at some unheard comment. "Of course. Crank, Stock, Shell, Shuffle, and Breach all say hi." He steeples his little paws "You've wandered far away from the normal routes around these parts. I thought- Ah! They might be lost! Maybe we, her humble grandchildren, could help you?"
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"Greetings, Mr Smiles. You may call me Stonepeak. My comrades and I are Starfinders. We're not lost, but have come all this way because we heard terrible rumors that some claim jumpers have taken over a mine belonging to our friends the Silverbrews. We just want to make sure that those rumors were false and baseless. So, tell me, friend Mr Smiles, are the Silverbrews still in control of their mine? Is all well in this part of the plane?"
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Troy looks up from his readings. He's clearly confused. "I do not understand. The scan did not look like anything to me... and yet...", he mutters.
Then Troy turns to Basalt and starts to speak. He makes sure that he remains off-screen and keeps his voice low. He doesn't want to be heard by this Ysoki creature. "Captain. I have had some run-ins with Ysoki before and I would advise you to be careful. I do not like the look of this."
The ysoki rubs his nose. "Pleasure to meet you, Stonepeak. That sure sounds like terrible business. We did see an abandoned mining base in this area - but no sign of any uhhh... what did you call them? Claim jumpers?" He grins. "If you're worried about encountering some, perhaps you'd like to hire our services. We could protect you. Say... 10000 credits for the duration of your business here?"
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"I appreciate your concern for our safety, but we're pretty capable of handling ourselves. What we could use, though, is information. For instance, you seemed to suggest that the Silverbrew Clan was no longer in control of the mines. That causes me some consternation. I would really like to know what happened. Friend."
Mr Smiles shrugs nonchalantly "Oh that Silverbrew clan. Who knows why their base got abandoned, truly. Maybe it ran dry? Maybe they died to a space plague?" He raises his hands "All I know is that my honest crew is providing quite the good service and one you'd do your best to get in on before we're booked out."
As Basalt keeps the ysoki busy (for a LONG time), Snik and Troy attempt a deeper scan of the vicinity. Not only do they detect the ysoki's ship in the lee of an asteroid nearby, but they also detect disguised energy signatures coming from two other asteroids. They focus their attention on those two asteroids and find that the signatures match that of starship weaponry... it seems as though two of the smaller asteroids have been converted into makeship defensive turrets!
Troy and Snik wirelessly send data packets to the unsecured comms connections of the two turrets, turning them off. Almost as soon as they do, you hear a squawk from the background of Mr. Smiles' ship. The ysoki's eyes go wide. "Huh, you want it that way then? Fine!" He cuts off the connection.
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Round 1 Initiative:
Hermena wins initiative. River Rat has moved! You guys are moving second. As mentioned in my earlier spoiler, you can all make your starship role actions at once (Science Officer, Engineer, Captain, Gunner all simultaneously) and I'll resolve in the order that makes the most sense. If the River Rat wins init on a future round: if the enemy moves after you and a particular Gunnery weapon is invalid, I'll switch your damage roll out for whichever weapon you could have used to aim at the target.
If you need a refresher on starship combat, here's a handy resource. Also check out the FAQ'd Starship DCs here!
Just for your awareness: I will be attempting to run 24 hour rounds for Starship Combat with a fairly hard cutoff to keep us moving at a good clip. If you haven't posted during a round and haven't given a heads up here or in discussion that you need to be botted, I'll likely skip your action.
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Hermena glances over at the scanner data, using it to calibrate where the ysoki ship is heading while she focuses on navigating around the asteroids. "Let's close the gap, shall we?" she mutters as she banks around the large asteroid ahead of the Loreseeker, ready to face the enemy head-on. "Get ready to patch up the forward shields, Snik - with any luck we'll get them caught in the gauntlet up here!"
Round 1 - Open Spoilers for Details
Snik sends a brief boost of power to the Loreseeker's weapons too!
He manages to make Burnham "shaken" for a round.
Meanwhile Hermena easily keeps up an evasive formation.
and the River Rat does the same!
Troy rapidly scans the enemy ship, unveiling its secrets.
But instead sends a reckless blast into an asteroid seven kliks away!
In return, Burnham's coilgun pierces right through their frontal shields and punctures their hull with a heavy mass round.
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Current Loreseeker Status:
HP: 55/55
Shields (F/P/S/A): 10/10/10/10
Current River Rat Status:
Shield Damage (F/P/S/A): -5/0/0/0
HP Damage: -7
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Medium explorer
Speed 10; Maneuverability good (turn 1)
AC 12; TL 12
HP 55
20 Total Max shields - initially distributed evenly. Core PCU 100.
Attack (Turret) coilgun (4d4)
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Round 2 Init:
You guys move first!