Starfinder-Dead Suns ala Fabian (Inactive)

Game Master Fabian Benavente

Oriana nodded as the others voice their concern. "If they don't answer, then we'll take them out. I just want to give them a chance to answer us before we blow them up."

John shifted uneasily "In the future I'd caution against allowing a pause in combat. Legally it might indicate we were no longer in fear of our lives, turning self-defence into murder." He coughed "Obviously in this case we do still fear for our lives."

Turn 138 – No Answer

Read the OOC.

Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?

Game on!

Action 1

Zadie smirked, “Yes, they told us to avoid confrontation and that they would send

someone out there as soon as they could. They reminded us that piracy is a real thing in space
and that we should use well-travelled and patrolled lanes.”

"Very helpful. Wonder if the rescue crew decided to finish their lunch before heading out," Robert sneered. "If I ever decide to become a blight of the spaceways, this right here seems like a great place to hunt, the way the Security is acting."

Action 2

"Good riddance," Robert muttered as the ship came apart under one last fusillade of energy. "Had to be this way, since they didn't even bother surrendering - had we turned our backs and given them time, they might have put their ship together for another attempt at us. Now, we can be sure they are off our backs," he said.

Action 3

Fabian, remember that Robert is kinda famous already, thanks to his Idol theme, and tries to hide it ;^)

"Oh crap," Robert muttered the moment he spied the crew outside. This was just wonderful - one main reason he had come here from Kashak was to get away from the publicity he had already managed to gather. He had been on the edge for the few first days, but had decided that while the word had to be out, some other fad had buried his own reputation from the attention of the average consumer. Which was just what he had hoped might happen. And now this...

Setting his smart glasses for mirror sheen to hide his eyes, Robert drew up the collar of his bomber jacket in a futile effort to hide as much of his features as he could before stepping out.

"Starfinders first, right?" he asked the others. "We could use some friendly advice before we go face the Ambassador. I can't see a reason he would have acted to sabotage our efforts since we were working for him... well, at least the ambush going in was unlikely to be his work since we didn't have what we were after at that point. The second ship just might have been his attempt to tie up a loose end, unless those Eoxian ships were just a smoke screen to shift attention away from another party. Anyway, before we go marching off into the Eoxian embassy again, we could use some fresh information."

Action 3

Fabian, remember that Robert is kinda famous already, thanks to his Idol theme, and tries to hide it ;^)

Yes, I remembered. I was hoping you would play that up, either confusing the attention as being for you only or trying to hide from all the cameras. :)

apparently their images had appeared on countless video screens thanks to Gevalarsk Nor's broadcast

Do we know about this? What broadcast?

Quote:

apparently their images had appeared on countless video screens thanks to Gevalarsk Nor's broadcast

Do we know about this? What broadcast?

You assume it's your exploits on the Acreon and the Rock, which the little robot was recording and broadcasted...

Ah, ok, so we're like reality-tv stars.

Zadie cringed as she realized just how much of what she'd been doing her dads were now presumably aware of -- and how little it resembled a safe office internship. "Oh, crap," she muttered. "John, do you have any experience with the law surrounding emancipation of a minor? Because otherwise I may be grounded until I'm sixty."

Action 2:

Kamiya shook her head sadly, "They didn't leave us any other choice. Diplomacy goes both ways and they chose silence." Then her voice took on a fierce tone, "That's what they get for messing with the Maiden!"

Action 3:

Kamiya looked at the others confusedly as they were directed to dock elsewhere but she complied with the directive.

Kamiya's eyes widened and her antennae twitched in a fretful manner when she realized that the little robot had been broadcasting their exploits through the Pact Worlds. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no...not good." She looked down at her comm unit and saw that there were 47 messages from her parents. "So much for keeping Kamiya and Tort-Ace separate." She looked at Zadie sympathetically. "My only saving grace at the moment is that my parents are on another planet. Otherwise I'd be in the exact same boat."

She observed the small throng of people bearing down on them with some trepidation. "I don't think we're going to get out of this without saying something but I do think we'll need to get back to the Starfinder's Society before sharing much. They may want us to formulate a prepared statement."

The lashunta took it upon herself to speak for the group. Smiling at the crowd she announced, "It is great to be back on Absalom Station. We are truly touched that so many of you are concerned about our well-being. I'm sure you can appreciate the magnitude of what we've been through and our need to rest and have our physical needs attended to. We also need to debrief our superiors. I'm sure they will have an official statement for you shortly. Thank you for your understanding."

diplomacy: 1d20 + 12 + 1d6 ⇒ (11) + 12 + (6) = 29

Action 2
Oriana frowned under her gele. It wasn't that she felt guilty for killing the crew - after all, it wasn't like they were really alive. But something about the entire situation didn't sit well with her. There are answers here that we have just blown into bits.

Action 3

At first Oriana had no idea what was happening. "Who are all those people? What's happening?" It wasn't until the others explained that she realized that the ambassador had made his broadcast public. Aghast, she said, "That can't be legal, is it? We didn't give permission for that!" She reached out and caught the little spybot with two hands, then found the power switch and flipped it with her third hand. "Traitor!"

Alarmed at the publicity, Oriana lingered back, straightening her gele and adjusting her clothes. She was filthy, stained, torn, and smelled horrible. She wished she'd taken the time to clean up on the way back to the Station, but she'd been so exhausted she'd just dozed off in the Captains' chair.

Embarassed, she put her head down and tried to ignore the onlookers and questions. "Definitely Chiskisk," she agreed with the others.

Action 2:
"If it is any comfort they may have been dead - or dying - anyway." John assured the crew. "Any atmosphere would have vented by this point, so they'd be down to their suit atmos', slowly waiting to die while the counter ticked towards zero."

Action 3:
"I'll look up the law while we walk, if you can keep lookout." John reassured Zadie, though in truth his mind was elsewhere. John's early life had been lived with no exposure to people - only sims and vids. Finding himself a celebrity, seeing himself make the news - however briefly - somehow reassured him.
Reaching into a pocket he pulled his remaining stock of business cards, and desperately handed them out to his newfound fans.

I'm glad somebody is pleased by the attention!

Kamiya isn't against the attention :) She's just unhappy her parents now know of her previous stunts.

"That can't be legal, is it? We didn't give permission for that!" She reached out and caught the little spybot with two hands, then found the power switch and flipped it with her third hand. "Traitor!"

"Why the hell did the Ambassador want to publish our quest for his lost little cache of goodies?" Robert asked once the bot had been silenced. "I got the impression he thought the matter was of some sensitivity, and now all we ever said about the package during the mission is a matter of public recoreds? Entertainment, even? What did he had to gain doing that? Or was this thing hacked in an effort to discredit the Eoxian?"

Hmm... all the recordings are in the public media, right? Would it be possible to "gather information" about those feeds to quickly check if some important bits and pieces are included or if there has been some editing... say, running searches for words "Eox", "Eoxian", "Nor" and "Ambassador" to see if information about our employer was left in? And quickly check the bits recorded in the ruin's control room, when we discussed some of our discoveries?

Hmm... all the recordings are in the public media, right? Would it be possible to "gather information" about those feeds to quickly check if some important bits and pieces are included or if there has been some editing... say, running searches for words "Eox", "Eoxian", "Nor" and "Ambassador" to see if information about our employer was left in? And quickly check the bits recorded in the ruin's control room, when we discussed some of our discoveries?

Good catch.

The video feed has indeed been edited.

There's mention of Eox and Ambassador Nor since he wants credit for sponsoring the ordeal but there is NO mention of his package at all.

"Well, good thing or bad, the feed was not quite live," Robert said after a moment of silence, as the results of his queries came up and were processed and categorized by the ship's powerful computer core. "Whoever got the news out forgot to mention a word about the package we were retrieving for Ambassador Nox. Perhaps that's his angle for leaking the video - everyone pays so much attention to our "heroics" and the horrible fate of Acreon's crew they don't think to wonder if we had a second reason for going there."

Kamiya frowned. Her opinion of diplomats sank even further as Robert revealed the video had been edited. "How convenient for him. If he thinks any of us will trust him after his antics, he has another thing coming. It's because of incidents like this that others have misgivings about Eoxians. However, I would like him to explain himself - after we talk to Chiskisk of course."

"Huh. Also lowers the value of any unedited footage we might have - 99% of what we saw has already been sold. We should definitely consider the vid rights to anything we do in the future when negotiating." John notes.

Action 2:

"If it is any comfort they may have been dead - or dying - anyway." John assured the crew. "Any atmosphere would have vented by this point, so they'd be down to their suit atmos', slowly waiting to die while the counter ticked towards zero."

"Plus, y'know, they were already dead. Or they'd already died once. Or however you want to put it," Zadie added. "If someone comes in to scoop up enough pieces, they can probably reanimate them. Again."

Good catch.

The video feed has indeed been edited.

There's mention of Eox and Ambassador Nor since he wants credit for sponsoring the ordeal but there is NO mention of his package at all.

Had our adventure in the ruins of that control room been left unedited? If so, hints about mysterious high-tech remnants might be a major topic in the media storm around us. After all, who gets there first and gets a claim profits ;^)

Turn 139 - Celebrities

Read the OOC.

Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?

Game on!

Action 2

"Castrovel? Us?" Zadie asked, her voice going high and squeaky with excitement. "You mean, going to a real planet with a real atmosphere that's not man-made? Score!" She turned to the android. "John, we'll get to see a real sunrise! And going to a university to talk to faculty: that's educational! Surely my dads can't say no."

Action 1

”…care to comment…”

”No.”

”…implications of the alien technology…”

”Don’t care.”

”… your strict anti-theological statements…”

”Drop dead,” Robert growled to the reporter who had asked that last question, pushing aside the recorder the woman was practically ramming down his throat as she jockeyed for position next the group of recent celebrities who had just emerged from their ship and tried to get through the crowd filling the docking area.

Unlike John, who was busy giving out something – business cards, perhaps? – to every hand, claw or tentacle reaching out in his direction, Robert was far less eager for the attention. He had embraced the anonymity he had enjoyed here on the Station, after his meteoric rise to infamy a few careless comments to media had casued, and now this… Had he believed for a moment the Eoxian ambassador would care the tiniest bit, he’d have quite a few things to say to the undead thing the next time they met. But as things stood…

’Perhaps they’ll just forget about it in a few weeks,’ he hoped, kicking a particularly aggressive interview-hunter in the knee and shouldering his way past the man before he could recover.

Action 2

Getting to know more about the builders of the ruins they had discovered would be interesting, Robert thought. Even a small piece of a full installation had been a source of technological marvels. If they somehow managed to find a more intact relic, perhaps even a data repository… with enough time and trouble, Robert was certain he could manage a working understanding of the alien language, making studying the relics and putting their findings to use progressively easier.

Action 2:

The blood drained from Kamiya's face at the mention of going to Castrovel. Suddenly it was going to be very difficult to ignore those 47 messages from her parents. "Let's hope my parents will be so glad to see me that they'll forget what they've learned in the last few days."

The lashunta's curiosity outweighed any reservations she had about going back home. "Why do you call the source highly unreliable? And why do you refer to Zan's expeditions as disruptive?"

After their meeting with Chiskisk, Kamiya smiled weakly, "At least we'll have a place to stay on Castrovel."

John smiled back at Zadie "Exotic!" he agreed "I'd very much like to see Rain. Do you think there will be any?"
The android sighed in relief as someone else failed to pick up a name. "Yes. I'm going to need a background on this Zan. And the University. And Catrovel. And Xenoarcheology."

New topic
"Chiskisk. I note that there is no health insurance attached to our Starfinder contracts. Are there suppliers who can issue us a discount? We went through a lot of medical supplies on out expedition, and we all need to have a thorough investigation to ensure we are not... pregnant." John searched for the word but it didn't feel quite right "Carrying embryonic young."

"Somewhat unexpectedly we have inherited a starship. I'll need to transfer all the papers and ensure everything is in order. Can the Starfinders help with this? I imagine I'll need a conveyancer. I am also interested in the Starfinder position on salvaging ships. How long post-combat would we need to wait before we can legitimately declare a ship as 'salvage'?"

On the agenda after the ambassador; Let's... go... shopping! And get a medical check up.

sorry guys but Long day today so I will move things along tomorrow

Hmmm - started looking at equipment and realised there are two issues. 1st is cost, of course, but equally important is what Tier we can buy. I have a feeling we're limited to tier 3, with a chance of tier 4 or tier 5.
I also have strong ideas on how to modify the ship. I'd like to set it up so it is easier for everyone, and ideally more exciting. Broad Arc weapons can shoot into multiple arcs (at a penalty) so might let more people have the fun of gunning - or at least make it an alternative to their normal role (and roll).
Replacing the port and starboard weapons with broad arc, and the front with a longer range gun means that when shooting front or rear up to four people could take pot shots. If the front was left as broad arc as well then in two of four arcs we could fire four weapons, and in the other two we could fire three.
That would make maneuverability less important.
I'd like to switch the computer out from +2/+2 to +1/+1/+1/+1 - technically less good as we can't prioritise who gets the big bonus, but means everyone can get a flat bonus. It's save us points. Ideally I'd like to start incorporating some of John's artificial personalities with the ship.
I'd suggest countermeasures to stop us getting hacked, but if the adventure wants it to happen it sort of needs to ;)
Personally I'd be interested in the backup generator for John (as in, installed in John. He needs to buy better armour. His weapons are pretty good, but he needs something melee - perhaps a knife. Interested in getting a standard datajack so he has better access to email.

On the agenda after the ambassador; Let's... go... shopping! And get a medical check up.

Let's go paint the Station red with medical check-ups!

And how much money did we have to play around with? For personal expenses and for beefing up the ship?

Robert's Engineering rolls are pretty easy as they are, he's going to manage those with pretty much anything but a thrown "1", so he could live without the +1 bonus. Later levels open up some new actions, that might come with harder DCs.

The starship cost and personal gear cost are off the scales (not comparable).

Therefore, use your wealth to buy personal items. I have pretty much followed the module with regards to treasure so you all should be where you should be according to WBL but it's always good to check. So go ahead and tally up the items and their cost and we'll see where everyone is.

Available gear is tier 4 and below.

Turn 140 – Real Atmosphere?

Read the OOC.

Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?

Game on!

Action 1:

The Starfinder Senior member asked into their minds, “Is there anything else you require from me?

Kamiya continued to focus on the subject of their investigation rather than where it was supposed to take place. "Will you provide us with an itinerary for our time at University? Who we should speak with and when? Surely the faculty members have busy schedules and wouldn't appreciate us showing up unannounced."

Action 3:

Kamiya was visibly shaken when she learned that she had been infested with the parasitic embryonic akatas. It did not make the lashunta feel any better when they assured her that they were easily removed. All she could think was I almost became a void zombie. She was sick to her stomach when they left the facility both from disgust and the treatment.

Needless to say, Kamiya was not in any mood to speak with any reporter at the moment. She used her ride-share access which was still active to get a vehicle big enough for them all. Ushering everyone into the vehicle, she hopped in the front seat and sped them away. She expertly weaved them in and out of traffic, "So, supplies? We'll need to upgrade our supplies before leaving."

Gear:

Second Skin armor (250credits)
Personal Comm Unit (7credits)
Backpack (3credits)
Everyday clothes (1credit)
Hygiene kit (3credits)
Serum of healing mk1 x1 (50credits)

Grenades:
smoke x1 (40credits)
frag x4 (35(x4)credits)
incendiary x1 (375credits)

azimuth laser pistol (350credits)

Wealth: 6credits+470credits

Gear total = 1219 credits
Wealth total = 476 credits

Grand total = 1695 credits

Kamiya will want to do some shopping, for sure. Just let me know how much she has to spend :)

Item Cost
Light Reaction Cannon 250
Second skin (+1/+2, +5) 250
Tier 2 computer 250
Rounds x20 90
Computer: Add personality 25
Computer: minaturisation x2 50
Tool Kit, Professional (+4 prof) +control 22
Tool Kit, Computers + control 22
Took Kit, Engineering + control 22
Comm Unit+control 7.7
Hygiene Kit 3
Professional clothes (+1 prof) 5
Starsone Compass 3
Industrial Backpack 25
Artillery Laser 425
Subdermal Implant 0
Glammered fusion for cannon 120
Credits 525.3
SUM 2095

Gear, (GP value 1422c)
Knife, survival (95c)
Pistol, semi-automatic, tactical (260c)
Rounds, small arm (30) (40c)

Datajack (standard) (625c)
Computer, Tier 1 (miniaturized, implanted) (55c)
Second skin (250c)
Computer, Tier 2 (250c)
- Secure data module, average (Academic data, mathematics) (10c)
- Secure data module, average (Engineering data, computers) (10c)
- Secure data module, average (Solar system map data) (10c)
Comm unit, personal (7c)
Tool kit, engineer (20c)
Tool kit, hacking (20c)
Hygiene kit
Creadit stick (20c)

Gear, for sale(GP value 830c)
Rifle, autotarget (755c)
Rounds, longarms (25) (75c)

Plenty of swapping to do... I'll get rid of the Longarms prof feat now, so the autotarget rifle can go. Which means, Robert has 2578 credit to spend.

More about gear... what Robert really wants is a Personal Upgrade (+2 Int), which would cost 1400c. Nothing on the loot list really interests him, although we should certainly keep the healing consumables - they will come handy sooner or later. Better armor would be nice, but Robert can't afford it. Infrared Sensor upgrade for his current armor would be nice, since it's cheap (200c). Next projectile small arm upgrade is TL7, so we can forget about it for the time being.

Other than that, I could take a prosthetic arm (100c), purely for RP purposes since it... actually doesn't do anything, except be made of synthetic materials. Nothing else really interests me... could upgrade computer, but it kinda seems like that isn't worth the effort, as it mostly makes enemies harder to hack them, not even give bonuses to tasks made using the computer. Which is a bit strange... unless Robert carries some very sensitive data around on his computer and wants to keep it safe, why would he ever want to get a 320000c T10 computer over a free T1 computer?

Let me know what party loot you will keep.

I will liquidate the rest (probably at 50% list price) and then distribute the gains for your use.

Your WBL for level 3 is 4,000 credits.

Questions?

Game on!

Let's at least keep the fusion seal, medpatches and the lesser restoration spell amps. Robert doesn't benefit from any of the armor or weapons we have.

I think Zadie wanted the static arc pistol but if she doesn't then Kamiya will take it. Other than that, I agree with Robert.

Gear:

Tactical baton (90)
Laser pistol, azimuth (350)
Arc pistol, static (750)
Second skin (250)
Battery x2 (60)
Personal comm unit (7)
Hacking kit (20)
Engineering kit (20)
Trapsmith's tools (20)
Starstone compass (3)
Club-going outfit (1)
Society subdermal graft (?)

Total: 1,571 credits of gear + 848 credits unspent

Zadie will keep the static arc pistol. It's a strict upgrade from her laser pistol and is one of a very few small arms out there under tier 4.

If we're going to keep the weapon fusion, someone ought to get a bludgeoning weapon worth the wielding and get it attached so we can actually use it. We might as well keep the backup generator armor attachment as well. Did John say he wanted it? And batteries! More batteries! Everything runs off batteries!

Sorry to hold everything up. I'm hoping to have time to post in this game tomorrow night.

Yeah, backup generator would be good. Armour is the big priority though.
-250 for the second skin.
2680 remaining.
Ceremonial Officer's Plate is 2275.
I'd like the backup generator, but at 2100 I can't afford it.

I'd like the backup generator, but at 2100 I can't afford it.

Geeze, one charge to one battery per 10 minutes of action, and they want to charge 2100 credits for it? That's ridiculous. Looks like Starfinder carried over Pathfinder's propensity to invent items with mildly handy but not overwhelmingly useful properties and charge prices for them that ensures no one will ever buy them.

We could buy 70 fully-charged batteries for the same price. :P

PARTY LOOT

I've set up the spreadsheet that shows your items, a common pot, and items for sale.

Loot Sheet

The spreadsheet also shows how much you have to spend and what your total value is.

Please review and let me know if it seems OK. If so, let me know how you want to spend your money.

@Oriana: I need to input your items.

Questions?

Game on!

Yes please. Exchange second skin for ceremonial officer's plate... actually, I'd be prepared to keep the second skin as "leisure wear".
-2275 credits

per core, you have to pay for each charge. Under that reasoning I can understand the cost - basically "you'll never have to buy charges again."
Worth it for John once he gets power armour, though, for sure. Who wants to change a battery in power armour!

Action 3:
"Yes - I think we should get supplies before we talk to the Ambassador. There's a good chance we're going to expedite our departure afterwards." John looked at his display "I need armour. Big, heavy, hard armour. My chassis is tougher than most of you, but I was still too close to destruction too many times."

So... Personal Upgrade (+2 Int) for 1400c, then let's get that Infrared Sensor upgrade for armor for 100c (cheap Darkvision for the price). I can save the arm for later, one augment is enough for a RP tool. That'd leave him 871c to save or spend... Robert would be OK lending it to John for the purchase of that Backup generator... for a reasonable interest, of course - he's still a bastard, not a benefactor ;^)