[SFS - PbP Outpost I] 1-04 Cries From the Drift - GM bigboom (Inactive)

Game Master bigboom

stumbling back leif utters to Lucus
keep it together everythings going to be fine we did this before we can do it again
heal for 6 stamina

Okay, Leif's action assumes Lucas had spent a RP earlier to rest. So we'll have to retcon Lucas' stats a bit...

Going into the fight Lucas will be at 8/8 SP, 11/11 HP, 3/4 RP. Next, Lucas got bitten for 9 points of damage, putting him at 0/8 SP and 10/11 HP. Then just now, Leif's inspiration heals some SP.

As a result, Lucas is now at: 6/8 SP, 10/11 HP, and 3/4 RP.

Hirix dashes past a nearby console, taking up a position behind the strange creature, and pauses just a moment to analyze its movements. With an abrupt pull of the trigger, she fires her laser pistol into the distracted alien's back.

Sense Motive (trick attack): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23
Az. Laser Pistol: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Az. Laser Pistol damage, plus trick attack dmg: 1d4 + 1d4 ⇒ (3) + (2) = 5

Twik squeak grunts out his disgust as his shot flies so wide the richochet almost crashes into Hirix!.

Lining up the creature, he tries again...

Trick Attack - Bluff vs (20+CR): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31
If the Trick Attack succeeds, the attack roll is vs flatfooted KAC and the bonus damage is applied
Trick Attack - Pistol vs KAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
TA Damage (Piercing): 1d6 ⇒ 2
TA Bonus Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Ketch curses as his shot misses by a hair. He than darts around in the shadows before takes another shot.

stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
azi pistol: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 101d4 + 1d4 ⇒ (4) + (1) = 5

Okay, Leif's action assumes Lucas had spent a RP earlier to rest. So we'll have to retcon Lucas' stats a bit...

Going into the fight Lucas will be at 8/8 SP, 11/11 HP, 3/4 RP. Next, Lucas got bitten for 9 points of damage, putting him at 0/8 SP and 10/11 HP. Then just now, Leif's inspiration heals some SP.

As a result, Lucas is now at: 6/8 SP, 10/11 HP, and 3/4 RP.

That's fine by me. So long as I have enough RP left to not die!

Lucas barely has time to register the small creature's appearance before it leaps up and tries to bite his arm off. It's sharp fangs sink into his flesh but he manages to shake the thing off just as another pulse of energy causes his force baton to flicker and spark again.

"Crappy thing," he growls, dropping the weapon to the deck with a clang before winding up a strike against the four-armed bitey thing, trying to crush it's head with his battleglove.

Free Action to drop the force baton, Standard Action to punch the creature with my cestus battleglove.

Battleglove attack vs KAC: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Botting Kali...

Mysticism: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Kali fires her arc pistol at the creature!!
Arc Pistol vs EAC: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Electrical Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

A flurry of attacks are directed at the creature as Twik, Ketch, Hirix and Kali shoot at it while Lucas throws a punch! However, only HIrix's and Kali's attacks hit the target!

Kali recognizes the creature and quickly yells out the following information to the party...

The xill takes another bite at Lucas!
Bite vs KAC: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

The creature just manages to penetrate Lucas' armor, who then again feels a strange, tingling sensation...
Lucas Fort Save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
...and like before, Lucas shrugs off the effect and the sensation passes!

The xill howls its frustration in response to Lucas' resistance!!

Round 2 cont'd & Round 3

Unknown Effect, Round 3: 1d100 ⇒ 34

The following characters in bold may take their action:
Twik <-- currently in round 3
Xill (-6)
Leif (0/5 SP, 9/9 HP, -2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic) <-- currently in round 2
Ketch (-2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic) <-- currently in round 2
Hirix (-2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic) <-- currently in round 2
Lucas (0/8 SP, 6/11 HP, 3/4 RP, -2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic) <-- currently in round 2
Kali (3/4 RP, 2/3 Lvl 1 spell slots, -2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic) <-- currently in round 2

Ketch fires another shot that goes far wide left.

stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 41d4 + 1d4 ⇒ (4) + (1) = 5

Twik sighs as his 2nd shot matches many of the rest of the teams and goes wide. If they keep this up, they will get ripped to pieces by this thing.

Trick Attack - Bluff vs (20+CR): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26
If the Trick Attack succeeds, the attack roll is vs flatfooted KAC and the bonus damage is applied
Trick Attack - Pistol vs KAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
TA Damage (Piercing): 1d6 ⇒ 3
TA Bonus Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Bonus Crit Damage: 1d6 + 1d4 ⇒ (5) + (2) = 7
I don't remember if the TA damage is doubled as well and I cant check right now. Adjust as necessary

Trick attack damage gets doubled on a crit!

Hirix stays in position and continues her own attack at the surrounded Xill. "I'm not gonna do surgery on any of you lugs, so don't go getting any eggs implanted in you! Stop messing around and start getting serious like Twik here!"

Trick attack (sense motive): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27
Az. Laser Pistol: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Az. Laser Pistol damage: 1d4 + 1d4 ⇒ (2) + (2) = 4

"Ahhhh, daemons? So want to get back to the Temple!

Kali Casts a Spell...(DC14)

Mind Thrust: 2d10 ⇒ (10, 1) = 11

Kali, because the target has spell resistance, please roll a caster level check to determine if your spell penetrated the xill's spell resistance. In your case, it will be a 1d20+1

The little beast's claws penetrate Lucas' armour again and he lets out a howl of pain. He retaliates with a punch to the creature's head, hoping to knock it out before it can bleed him to death.

Standard Action to attack the creature.

Battleglove attack vs KAC: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

leif yells to Lucas, but finds that he can't help him much more so he takes a shot at the beast
attack vs KAC: 1d20 ⇒ 5
dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Kali's caster level check versus the xill's spell resistance...

1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Kali attempts to mentally fry the xill's brain but finds that her spell is completely blocked!

The rest of the team unleashes another massive flurry of weapons fire towards the xill! Ketch, Hirix, and Leif miss their mark, but Lucas successfully lands a blow!

And Twik not only manages to distract the xill but also tricks it into exposing its vulnerable backside, landing a critical hit!

This time, the xill goes all out, attempting to bite Lucas as well as swinging with the couple of pipes it is wielding!

Bite vs KAC: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Improvised Weapon 1 vs KAC: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Blunt Damage: 1d3 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Improvised Weapon 2 vs KAC: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Blunt Damage: 1d3 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
But the gods are smiling down on Lucas as the xill misses all three attacks!!

Round 3 cont'd & Round 4

Unknown Effect, Round 4: 1d100 ⇒ 25
A pulse shudders through the air which seems to cause your weapons to malfunction!
Unless your weapon has the analog or archaic property, you take a -2 attack penalty on round 4.

The following characters in bold may take their action:
Twik (-2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic)
Xill (-24)
Leif (0/5 SP, 9/9 HP)
Ketch
Hirix
Lucas (0/8 SP, 6/11 HP, 3/4 RP)
Kali (3/4 RP, 1/3 Lvl 1 spell slots)

Ketch darts in the shadows, trying to trick the xill with the eerie nature of the ship it’s stowed within.

stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17
azi pistol vs eac: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 131d4 ⇒ 21d4 ⇒ 3

With their luck changing, Twik offers the creature a grin before continuing his dodge and shoot routine.

Trick Attack - Bluff vs (20+CR): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24
If the Trick Attack succeeds, the attack roll is vs flatfooted KAC and the bonus damage is applied
Trick Attack - Pistol vs KAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
TA Damage (Piercing): 1d6 ⇒ 5
TA Bonus Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Hirix persists in her careful laser fire, despite the previous shot flying well wide. "This perp's damn quick on his feet..." Her mental voice grinds with frustration.

Trick Attack (sense motive): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19
Az. Laser Pistol: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Wow Twik, I think your shot just barely connected.

Turning the thicker plates of his armour's shoulders and chest stops the xill's attacks this time. As a flurry of incoming fire sparks around him Lucas brings his fist down towards the little creature, hoping to kill it in one final blow.

Standard Action to attack the xill.

Battleglove attack vs KAC: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

guys we're nearly there, we can do this
leif says as he takes a pot shot at the thing
to hit: 1d20 ⇒ 5
dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Seeing Lucas in danger of going down should that thing make a lucky hit or two, Kali channels!
HP Healing: 2d8 ⇒ (6, 1) = 7

Twik's bluff just managed to trick the xill into shifting the wrong way, giving Twik a small opening to hit with his pistol!

Lucas swings and again hits the xill with a solid punch!!

Ketch, Hirix, and Leif's gunshots fail to connect with the xill.

Kali's channel restores Lucas' HP to full!

The xill, looking badly hurt and having nowhere to run to, desperately tries to take Lucas down!!
Bite vs KAC: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Piercing Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

The xill's first bite just manages to hit Lucas as Lucas made a valiant effort at dodging the attack. Overwhelmed by the bite's pain, Lucas goes down, unconscious!!

The xill then moves towards the next closest target - Hirix!!

Round 4 cont'd & Round 5

Unknown Effect, Round 5: 1d100 ⇒ 19
A pulse shudders through the air which seems to cause your weapons to malfunction!
Unless your weapon has the analog or archaic property, you take a -2 attack penalty on round 4.

The following characters in bold may take their action:
Twik (-2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic)
Xill (-36)
Leif (0/5 SP, 9/9 HP, -2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic)
Ketch (-2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic)
Hirix (-2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic)
Lucas **DYING** (0/8 SP, 0/11 HP, 3/4 RP, -2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic)
Kali (2/4 RP, 1/3 Lvl 1 spell slots, -2 ATK unless weapon analog or archaic)

leif seeing his friend fall will hurry to his side and use a serum of healing on him
healing: 1d8 ⇒ 1
damn

Ketch groan in frustration as his aim is horrible.

I need to practice with that training dummy in the other room

stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
azi pistol vs eac: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 181d4 ⇒ 41d4 ⇒ 1

With the creature looking to be on it's last legs, Twik tries to match Ketch's shot and hit with his...

Trick Attack - Bluff vs (20+CR): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (11) + 14 = 25
If the Trick Attack succeeds, the attack roll is vs flatfooted KAC and the bonus damage is applied
Trick Attack - Pistol vs KAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
TA Damage (Piercing): 1d6 ⇒ 5
TA Bonus Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2

Hirix stands her ground, warily drawing out her survival knife (move action) and sending an angry "Alright punk, how about you beat it back to whatever sorry hellhole of a plane you came from?" directly at the creature. Without even waiting for a response, she swings in for a quick slash of her knife.

Survival Knife: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Survival Knife damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Interesting how when a party member goes down and starts bleeding out, everyone starts attacking accurately!

Ketch and Twik's shots connect and the xill appears to be done for. But just to make sure, Hirix slashes it across the chest and the xill goes down!

With Lucas down, Kali quickly performs another channel, healing Lucas for Channel: 2d8 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11 hit points and bringing him to his feet.

Leif, since the xill went down this round, no need to bother spending a mk1 healing serum. May as well save the consumable for some other time.

Combat Over

The party searches the room and you find the xill was using a damaged red star plasma pistol. Also, at the feet of the now-headless kasatha body that is sitting in the pilot's seat, you find a silk kasatha mouth scarf.

After a bit more searching, you find the Exo-Guardian data you've been looking for contained in a hard drive stored withing the captain's command console. The console itself is damaged, jamming the drive in there, so you can either forcefully pull the drive out or hook it up to a datapad, computer, or equivalent and download the data onto your own storage device.

The creature again bites deeply into Lucas' arm and this time something snaps. Lucas feels the not-unfamiliar sensation of breaking bone, followed by the warm rush of blood across his skin, then feels nothing at all as he collapses to the ground.

He wakes a few moments later, lying on the ground and feeling somewhat woozy, like he'd just taken a huge tackle or been slammed against the wall of the court. "Whatever that thing was, I hope there aren't any more," Lucas says as he pulls himself to his feet. "Thanks everyone, I thought I was a goner."

He takes a quick look around the bridge and retrieves the mouth scarf from the dead captain. "We should take this, so it can be returned to his family. The kasathans seem to like that," he suggests.

Hirix lowers her dagger, but fires an extra shot of her laser pistol into the xill's head, just to make sure. As Lucas picks up the scarf, she nods. "That scrap right there's the last of the mementos. We stashed the model, the book, the datapad and the baton from the crew quarters. We have some of the captain's personal effects. And now we have a scarf from the pilot. We even have some grisly mementos from that android. I'd say we have everything."

She peers at the console. If it seems straightforward to attach her communicator to download the data, she'll do so. If it looks like it'll take some technical skill, she'll leave it to those better versed in such things.

Ketch breathes a sigh of relief as the four armed monstrosity falls. He stays near the back of the room, keeping an eye out for anything else onboard the creepy ship.

"Finally. Crazy alien thing was tough.

Agreed. We seem to have something from everyone."

Twik will help with the data download if it's easy enough otherwise he will leave to those skilled in such things.

Downloading the data is a simple affair - Hirix and Twik do so easily.

With the Exo-Guardian data and the scarf secured, you quickly make your way back to the airlock. At the airlock, you grab the bag of android limbs and the powered armor containing the dead captain's body, bringing everything back on board the Drake. Without a moment's hesitation, you fire up your ship's Drift engine and just as you enter the Drift, you catch sight of the space storm overtaking the Struggle's Scholar, violently tearing it into pieces before consuming it whole.

Once you return to Absalom Station, Ziggy expresses extreme appreciation for the shred of hope that the retrieved data represents. The tale of the Struggle’s Scholar’s fate disturbs the Exo-Guardians faction leader and Ziggy promises to deliver the remains and personal belongings of the Struggle’s Scholar’s crew to the Idari for proper last-rite ceremonies. The Society maintained active files on each of the crew members, and Ziggy confirms that every member requested burial of their bodies or their final possessions returned to the Idari — even the android, Blue Sky-101.

As for the data, it has been damaged but Ziggy will send it to the Dataphiles in the hopes that their leader, Historia-7, might be able to parse the information and recover any word about the fate of Sangoro’s Bulwark.

Before dismissing you, however, Ziggy offers his personal thanks saying, [b]"This is the first shred of truly good news that the Exo-Guardians have had in a long time! My many thanks for all you have done in securing this important data. Now, there is another important matter I wanted to bring up.

“Prior to the Scoured Stars incident, I was part of a group of loyal friends, like the team you’re all a part of. Right before that dark event, I bought some tickets for my friends and me to a major upcoming concert. It was going to be our big outing—a capstone to all our missions together. Now, all my friends are trapped or lost in the Scoured Stars, and who knows how long it will take before we find out what happened there. The concert is coming up in a few months, and I wanted to extend an invitation. No promises or anything; you might be on assignment, and field missions take priority. If you are free, though, I would be honored if you would join me at this concert. Think of it as a remembrance for my lost comrades and a celebration of a new generation’s camaraderie.

“Oh! I just realized that I should invite Historia-7 too! Okay, well, thanks again. I should get going!”

And with that said, Ziggy limps off, leaving your party to enjoy your success.

Feel free to retroactively post any additional actions or dialogue!

Hirix smokes twice as much on the way back as she did on the way out, trying to calm the frayed nerves from their exploration of the vessel. By the time they get back to report to Zigvigix, she's as professional as usual.

"Zigs, I've got to warn you boss, Historia's no broad, to be played with gifts and concerts. Gal's a glaucite rod, if you know what I mean." Hirix pauses, weighing if she wants to expand on her thought. She waves a claw dismissively. "Nah, you just do you Zigs. I think I'm going to join the mementos from Struggle's Scholar on their trip to the Idari. Pay my respects." She extinguishes her cig.

"You get another job, you know how to get me." She waves a lazy farewell to the eccentric exo-guardians leader.

She catches up briefly with the rest of the team after the debriefing. "You lot held it together out there, even when things were looking rough." She nods grudgingly "And the job this time was a touch more serious than helping a floozy win a junkrace." With that final bit of dry mirth, she parts ways with the group.

Lucas sits quietly at his gunnery station as they return, reflecting on his first mission as a Starfinder and his first trip off Absalom Station. Satisfied with his performance, he feels a bond developing with his fellow agents.

Lucas' report to Ziggy is brief - with little understanding of starship engineering or stellar phenomena he can only report on what he experienced - the ghost-thing, the xill, and the fancy suit of armour gifted to them by the Vesk.

He shakes hands with the rest of his team as they depart. "If anyone ever wants some tickets for a brutaris game, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do."