[GDVII, SFS, Special] GM Blake's SFS 1-99 (Tier 1-2) (Inactive)

Game Master Blake's Tiger

Sebrir scores a burn on the lost Starfinder captain, and then Aazanar charges across the room and brings the captain down with a powerful blow. Although he was careful with his strike, the wound does continue to bleed.

Chogas stops the lost recruit from dying. He notices that something unseen was working on the wound in a failing effort to stop the bleeding before he arrived. He then moves on toward the last standing Starfinder.

Takeshi fires at the last foe, grazing him with the dart. The lost Starfinder punches Chogas, but the soldier's armor absorbs the blow.

Then everyone unleashes a wave of attacks that ultimately bring down the last, lost recruit.

Sorry to hand wave that last round, but with the way the site has been, I figured we could use an extra day, and save for a few stamina here or there, no difference in the outcome.

Aazanar: I don't see anywhere that Critical effects do not trigger on a Critical Hit even with non-lethal damage or change to non-lethal damage themselves. However, based on the way unconscious and stable conditions work, the bleed can't kill the Captain.

The fallen Starfinders remain unconscious and, thanks to your interventions, stable. Nothing you do to them, however, can rouse them from their comas. Their faces maintain the frozen screams.

You continue searching the starship graveyard and make a terrifying discovery: dozens of Starfinders are currently comatose and held in secure stasis chambers.

GM: Cool about the crit effects. It just seemed weird that a nonlethal attack could deal lethal damage anyway, but I couldn't find any rules for it. Sounds like something that the devs probably never thought of.

If I can take 10 on the computers check, I will.
Computers Take 10: 10 + 5 = 15

"That's weird," says Aazanar, holding up his comm. "These guys are emitting a signal... an it's coming from their bodies, not their gear. It looks like the same thing that corrupted our ship!"

GM: are these Starfinders androids by any chance?

Takeshi ponders the signal and code that Aazanar discovered as he approaches one of the statis chambers.

He inspects the chamber, initially from an engineering perspective, but as he gets to the control panel his brain switches to medical mode.

Medicine: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12 The dice, the irony!

The readings are disturbing. He turns to the others, "According to what I see if we try to remove these brave captives, we stand a good chance of causing irreparable harm, or death."

He leans back against a blank bulkhead, "This is a dire situation, suggestions?"

"Perhaps there is a master signal going out to these people, controlling them somehow. If so, we need to find its source, and shut it down!"

Aazanar uses his comm unit to try and detect anything the signals might be communicating with.

Computers: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

The three lost Starfinders that were defeated are two humans and one lashunta. Among the Starfinders in stasis, you find the usual range of race, gender, and age from the roster before the Scoured Stars Incident.

Aazanar tries to find a lead, but it eventually becomes clear that the problem is far too complex for you to tackle with your current assets. When you contact Historia-7 for additional instructions and resources, she advises you to head to another point of interest while a specialized research team works the problem.

Translation: It's time gated.

You can spend 1 RP to regain your Stamina while on the shuttle craft to your next destination, if you desire.

I have one vote from Gunnz for Bastiar-7, I beleive.

You can spend 1 RP to regain your Stamina while on the shuttle craft to your next destination, if you desire.

I have one vote from Gunnz for Bastiar-7, I beleive.

I will spend the stamina to regain 10 SP.

And I'm fine with Bastiar-7.

Does "Time-Gated" mean we took too long?

"To Bastiar, my friends!" Sebrir says, excitedly.

Time gated means that part of it opens at a certain time (in the future).

Zigvigix, leader of the Exo-Guardians, gestures at a screen behind them. On the screen, several derelict ships can be seen drifting amid the ring system of an ice giant planet. “Look, look at that! So many ships. They all look pretty badly banged up, so we don’t expect to find any survivors here, but there must be a reason why they’re there. If you can find any intact data modules, we may be able to uncover what happened. Something destroyed those ships and we don’t know what it was, so choose a functional ship for yourselves that you think can handle any trouble you may find.”

Please select either the Drake or Pegasus Class ship.

I would take the Drake. Pegasus has a tech lab and science lab, but the combat abilities are far weaker. Not that the Pegasus can't win fights, but with the reduced firepower they take so much longer to do so.

Drake sounds like a solid choice.

Rule of Two indicates the Drake is the choice, but I happen to concur. :)

As you approach Bastiar-7, your sensors confirm what you have been shown: several Starfinder vessels are floating in the planet's icy ring system. Your scans detect no other vessels in your vicinity.

You will need to fly carefully in order to make the space walk to the other ships and investigate the damage and data logs.

Fly to an adjacent hex in order to investigate a wreck.
Engineering can determine how the ships were destroyed.
If you pass into an occupied hex, you must attempt a Piloting check or you collide with the object.
Ice chunks and wrecks can be fired upon in order to destroy them: AC 5.
If you get too close to the planet, the mass of the gas giant will draw your ship toward it until your ship is inevitably crushed by the gravity.

Tactical map added.

Roles to be filled:
Captain (Sebrir or Aazanar)
Engineer (Onda, Takeshi, Quirk)
Gunner (Up to three - one per mount)
Pilot (Chogas +8)
Science Officer (Any of the left overs)
-
Preferences?
-

Sebrir definitely believes himself to be a captain-type, so that'd be my preference.

Chogas is a good pilot or gunner, but we need the former more.

Chogas stoically brushes off medical attention and straps himself into the pilot's chair of the Drake.

Saving the RP for now.

So this isn't active ship combat, I take it? I'll make some initial piloting checks anyway just for good measure. Since this doesn't appear to be an immediately dangerous situation, I'll let others use the +1 to three checks rather than taking one for piloting.

Piloting: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Sebrir definitely believes himself to be a captain-type, so that'd be my preference.

Sebrir and Aazanar are both in more or less the same boat. Aazanar is built to be good at being captain and not much else while on a ship (he just doesn't have the skill ranks or stats). Both Aazanar and Sebrir are mediocre gunners (at +2) and their other skills aren't as good as others in the party.

The main difference is that Aazanar is good at Intimidate (+11) and decent at Diplomacy (+7). Sebrir is the opposite, +11 to diplomacy and +8 to intimidate. Since Intimidate is used for the Taunt and Demand actions it is a bit more useful, except that both those actions can only be used a limited number of times, whereas Encourage uses Diplomacy and can be used over and over.

I'd suggest that Aazanar take the captain's chair at first until we run out of intimidate actions that are worth doing, at which point he switches seats with Sebrir. There's no restriction on doing that as long as there is only one captain at a time.

Engineer (Onda, Takeshi, Quirk)

Onda and Quirk both are tied for the best Engineering skill. But Quirk makes a better gunner, So I'd suggest Onda be our Engineer and Quirk be a gunner.

Science Officer (Any of the left overs)

Takeshi is our best science officer, with a +9 in computers.

Pilot (Chogas +8)

Yeah, that one is a no-brainer.

Gunner (Up to three - one per mount)

Worth mentioning that only two of our weapons can face to one direction at any given time, so most of the time we won't need more than two gunners.

So my suggestion is Quirk and Sebrir as starting gunners, with Aazanar and Sebrir switching seats part way through a fight.

"Let's move in closer to get a look at those ships," says Aazanar.

Are we in combat turns right from the get-go?

Takeshi ponders the signal and code that Aazanar discovered as he approaches one of the statis chambers.

He inspects the chamber, initially from an engineering perspective, but as he gets to the control panel his brain switches to medical mode.

The readings are disturbing. He turns to the others, "According to what I see if we try to remove these brave captives, we stand a good chance of causing irreparable harm, or death."

He leans back against a blank bulkhead, "This is a dire situation, suggestions?"

"Zee tech schould pe vorth a few credits, effen as scrap, und I know an exberimental bharmaceudical, cosmetics, und food tesding facility zat takes piological zambles--nein gueszions asked."

As you approach Bastiar-7, your sensors confirm what you have been shown: several Starfinder vessels are floating in the planet's icy ring system. Your scans detect no other vessels in your vicinity.

"Zalffage. Ja! Moffe zis Duck in clozer. I'll get CRUD ready."

After boarding the Drake class vessel with the rest of the group, and a quick crew assignment discussion, Takeshi straps himself in at the Science Officer's station.

Computers: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19 A check just in case it is needed

@Aaazanar: I am fine with Sebrir conceding the captain's chair given your analysis. He'll stand behind you and talk to his camera the whole time. :)

Not rounds right now. Move your ship adjacent to one of the wrecks to start. Just keep in mind your maneuverability when it's time to move to the next one.

The scanners still show no active threats, only passive ones if you pilot poorly.

Moving close to the nearest ship. The white things are ice chunks, right? So gunners can destroy them?

"Approaching wrecked ship. We will be within EVA range in two minutes," Chogas announces over the intercom. "Gunners could target the ice rock at 0 degrees and clear a vector to the next wreck, perhaps?"

Correct on both (gunners can destroy ships, too).

Chogas slides beside one of the wrecks, allowing a team to investigate the remains. While Takeshi gets to work finding and connecting to the ship's data core, the rest of you are free to examine the ruined hull.

Engineering check for those examining the hull.

After a several minutes' work, Takeshi has collected a few fragmented files.

You are now ready to move onto to another ship.

Engineering aiding someone with a higher bonus: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

Correct on both (gunners can destroy ships, too).

Chogas slides beside one of the wrecks, allowing a team to investigate the remains. While Takeshi gets to work finding and connecting to the ship's data core, the rest of you are free to examine the ruined hull.

Engineering check for those examining the hull.

Sorry, thought we had to walk over to look them over.

knowledge (engineering): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Anything salvageable?

Onda is unable to find anything useful. The ship looks like it was destroyed by weapons fire.

It's a non-tactical space walk. I'll let you know that everything that'll happen in this encounter will be on the star map.

"Looks like it's a hulk. Maybe a proper salvge op can get here later. For now, let's move on to the next vessel. And watch out for the icebergs. Actually..." Aazanar thinks for a moment as he looks at the Scanner.

"Let's not fire on the ice asteroids until we know what happened here. It's possible that doing so might trigger something... I'm not sure. Call it a hunch. Only fire if you have to."

Chogas: Remember that the Turn In Place stunt can be made without a skill check. So we should be able to gingerly pick our way around without hitting anything if we pause to do that periodically.

"I'll just let you all go first, I'm not one for floating around out in the middle of nothingness, personally." Sebrir remains in the ship.

Takeshi keeps working the Science station and monitoring the scanners.

How often do you want/need Computers checks for this?

Computers: None. Engineering: Two more.

You-bot move on to the next closest rig.

Onda fires CRUD out a makeshift torpedo tube/former-laundry chute toward the next wreck. **CLANG!** He then assess it through the drone's visual sensors, before hauling it back in with a winch.

engineering: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

"Vo zays zey neffer hear you 'CLANG' in sbace?"

While Takeshi downloads more fragmented files from the wreck, Onda examines the hull. He makes a discovery: this ship was destroyed by weapons fire as well, but it looks like the damage was done by weapons typically deployed on Starfinder ships.

For the sake of catching up with these outages, I'll move you to the next easiest ship to access and use Onda's roll.

The third ship that you investigate turns out to have the same tell-tale marks as the last ship, suggesting that it was destroyed by another Starfinder vessel.

After you return from investigating the third wreck, you receive a request for communication. However, Takeshi cannot detect any other active energy signatures in the vicinity.

The hailing light continues to flash. Waiting to be answered. . .

"I'm worried about answering this. What if it's another virus, like the one that affected us on our approach to the last planet?"

Onda glowers at the comm, and the rest of the crew.

"Really? You act like it is zee Bharasmin Vitnezes calling. Ve peat it pefore, I don't zee vy ve can't do zo akain now zat ve are ready for it."

Takeshi preps some anti-virus countermeasures, just in case.

Computers: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Then waits for the Captain *cough* Aazanar, Sebrir to answer the hail.

"Oh, me? Well, then, I suppose it would make sense to show our most dazzling smile to anyone on the other end!"

Sebrir walks over to the comms station, straightens his hair and his Starfinder Society uniform, and answers.

"I am Sebrir Feedbringer, of the Starfinder Society. How can we help you?"

"I think you may be right... but right now if a virus makes us shoot at allied ships, well... there are none in range, except these dead ones. Let's listen to it, but first see if we can't quarantine that signal so it doesn't infect anything..."

Computers (aiding Takeshi): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

"Okay, put the message on Audio."

"Hello? This is the Starfinder Vessel Silver Retriever. Please identify yourself."

Ninja'd by Sebrir! :)

Onda turns to Quirk and says: "I zought it vas a duck not a dog."

Takeshi smirks, then chuckles at Onda's comment. Spacefarer superstition keeps him from pointing out that a Retriever historically went to get dead ducks.

He shakes his head and turns back to his monitoring with a grin.

Whether the transmission is free of a computer virus or your digital net is not savvy enough to catch it, your program does not detect any invading code.

Sebrir and Aazanar, each of you give me a Diplomacy check.

"Silver Retriever? I am not familiar with that call sign. I am Starfinder Captain Katryn Mathius of the Empyrean Eye," the voice on the comms answers. "You do, indeed, appear to be a Starfinder ship, but our sensors indicate that you are phased out of the Material Plane. What is this technology?"

You can attempt to dodge the question with a Bluff check or try to make up an answer using Computers, Engineering, Mysticism, or Physical Science (because as far as you know, you're not out-of-phase). Only one attempt.

Onda wracks his brain for an excuse to use. Post-diplomacy checks.

engineering: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

"Uh, had a slight veabons malfunczion. Put, uh, efferything's berfectly all right now. Ve're fine. Ve're all fine here, now, zank you. How are you?" Dummkopf! Flustered, he puts a paw over the mic and hisses to the rest: "Zomeone do zomething vith zee zenzors to find out vere zis is coming from. Schnell!"

I don't know if it matters but I'll throw a computers check in here anyay.

Computers: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Takeshi's gaze stays resolutely on this station, but his grin enlarges at Onda's statement. He starts running through all possible combinations of sensors to try to lock down where this hail is coming from.

Still need the Diplomacy rolls for the first scene.

"We're fine now. All repairs completed. Did you come to kill me like the others did?" Captain Mathius asks.

Try as he might, Takumi cannot triangulate the source of the signal. It's like you're receiving a signal from a ship out of phase with the Material Plane.

When you're ready to answer the captain's question, use either Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate for the respective tactic to influence the captain.

"Err?" Onda seems at a loss.

^ . . . try to . . ,

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30 "My good friend, we of course have not come to kill you! We're here to rescue any Starfinders we may run into, including, I assume, yourself!"

^ . . . try[ing] to . . ,

...Entice someone with charisma to post. ;) And my little plan worked too in spite of all the characters, and their Silver Retriever, duck, drake thingy! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Not going to beat that Diplomacy roll.

Aazanar turns to the others. "Can you see if Captain Katryn or the Empyrean Eye are in our databanks?"

Aazanar turns back to the commuincator.

"Roger that, Empyrean Eye. Silver Retriever is a recently commissioned ship. You do not show up on our scanners either. But we are on a rescue mission and have no intention of engaging Starfinder ships. Do you need assistance? And can you tell us what happened here?"

Diplomacy (aiding Serir which I hope is not actually necessary): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

“We were conducting a scientific mission looking for rare minerals on First Seeker Jadnura’s orders when the force field appeared. After all of that, we’re just trying to survive," the captain answers. "When we arrived here, we found these Starfinder ships already destroyed."

Searching your ship's database reveals that Captain Mathius and the Empyrean Eye were part of the first Scoured Stars mission.