Wraithguard's page

Have anything on your clothing or armor that boosts unarmed power or strength? I think you lose those benefits hopping into Power Armor, but I could be wrong. Definitely lose Power Fists and the sort though.

Speaking of bugs, I'll have to check and see if that old Yao Gaui recipe gives a damage boost much stronger than it should be.

In regards to what mods to use; I'd decide what you want to focus on in the game and then go from there.

Might be better on computers; but on consoles, tracking down problems with mod interactions or straight forward broken-ish mods can be difficult.

That said, I've got a bunch of mods running that are stable. Just requires some infrequent cache cleaning, which is simple to do.

The only thing I remember from my first time killing the Mirelurk Queen was bringing more explosives than a person should ever use and running around like crazy.

A different play through I found a Wounding Pipe Pistol, modified it to full auto with a drum barrel, and then emptied most of a drum into her. Died from bleed damage in under 10 seconds.

This playthrough I think I'm going to try and kill her with a melee weapon of some sort.

Reinstalled the game and everything is working fine now. Hopefully I can get back into it this weekend.

I spoke too soon. Fallout 4 completely froze up and wouldn't reboot even after powering the system off and on.

Maybe this is a sign I should skip mods entirely.

Got back into this game. Modded it rather heavily to change things up and provide more options in settlement building.

I'm going with the idea of my character waking up in the Vault and having no memory of anything that happened before waking up; amnesia.

Right now, I've just done a little exploration and the world would be a terrifying and deadly place if you woke up one day in the middle of it all.

Preston and crew were rescued but deciding to the oneself to a failing group of survivors just seems unwise at this point. Perhaps after seeing some more of the land and reading about the Minutemen's past it will change.

Close to what I expected it to be; which is awesome!

I think the Paladin sounds rather awesome.

The hierarchical structure for the code is a good call. That will definitely help to alleviate many compromising situations.

Using feats to customize class features sounds cool and it is nice to see the litanies return.

Nice job.

Congratulations Michael!

Alright, the way is clear. Time to go deeper into the Rotten Vale in search for the gigantic Zorah Magdaros.

Hey! Smart scientist people! Zorah is a freaking walking volcano, why the heck haven't we found a giant wake of destruction where it has passed through?

Nothing?!?!?!

Whatever. Let's go Sunshine, maybe we can find something.

Down to a new base in the Vale. Follow the scoutflies down a ledge to a chunk of magma. Definitely from Zorah, but how the heck did it get down here?

The flies pick up another scent and continue down deeper, on we go Sunshine.

Another huge chunk of magma is up ahead and Sunshine runs ahead.

Sunshine, could you not run off so fast, there is bound to be something around here that wants to eat you?

*ROAR* A big red beastie jumps out and and starts eyeing his next meal.

Great, what did I just say!

An old friend drives it off, and by the looks of it, by firing dung pods at it, and I get Sunshine back to base.

She implores me to make sure our friend it alright. "Only if you stay here and away from the hungry beasties."

Out I go to track the angry red critter. Not sure what it is but it sure looked ready to eat.

Doesn't take much to find him.

Odogaron, agile, red and angry with a wide flat tail (vertical) covered in... is that stone?

OK, he'll probably try to smack me with that, and claw me to pieces, and bite me.

Great, so everything on him is a weapon.

This is when I find out that bleeding is a condition, and it sucks, and everything you do while bleeding makes you lose health. Two ways to stop it, eat some jerky or stop moving long enough to patch it up.

Well, that was one faint.

Beat him up pretty good after I learned to fear the claws. The bite attacks aren't too bad but they are quick. Tail smacks are painful, but no bleed, thank god.

I get him to run back to the nest after a few encounters.

Wake it up with a Dragon Piercer, now I made it mad?!?

Dodge enough times to run out of stamina, try to fire a shot, and it gets me clawed again.

Then it hops up a wall and dives at me. Faint number two.

OK, lets stop playing around. Grab some explosives and head back out.

It is sleeping. I place the two bombs and blow it to the afterlife.

Done. Not fancy, no pride, but it is dead.

Carve it up. Tough -------.

Time to continue the story, at least as well as I can remember it.
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Back at the Research Center, they let us know that the Rotten Vale is very deep and they have found a way to drop us deeper down.

OK, I'm game, I guess.

Off we fly the airship-turned-wreck-turned-airship towards the zone.

Wait, so this is the zone that you tried to fly into and went down last time!

Great, so what did this monster look like?

Like that great big one flying towards us right now.

LEGIANA! REVENGE!

We turn the tub around and let the Legiana eat its fill of the little wingdrakes.

Little does it know that it is having its last meal.

Lets go Sunshine.

Fully stocked and ready to go.

I bet it lives some place high up, lets start at the base in the higher area, out the tunnel and to the left.

Tracks, gashes in the rocks. Now I'm on the trail.

A little bit further on and I see it descend in a neighboring area. Jump down the cliff and put a few arrows into its wings.

It screeches at me and the fight begins.

Quick, nimble, and no good weak spots other than the head. Oh well, time to cripple this beast.

It is very quick and dodges around frequently, causing arrows to miss unless I'm up close.

Tail is very devastating and allows it to unleash powerful ice attacks.

This is when I accidentally discovered how to properly use the bow without high level gear and multiple skills.

Rather than charge up for a big attack over and over and consume time and stamina, just rapid fire by pulling the trigger over and over.

Break a wing, it falters, shoot the head. It recovers, screams, and flies off. Chase it up the cliff and it decides to fight me on some small platforms between plateaus.

Bad area for me, small area, difficult to avoid tail swimgs and frost patches or attacks. I consume more than a few mega potions but eventually wound it bad enough to make it fly off up some more.

Using some wedge beetles, I swing across some gaps and climb up to its resting area.

Much nicer area, wide enough to run around a bit and no obstructions.

A few minutes more and I stand triumphant.

Well, if anyone wants some help or company, send me a private message and I'll provide my Playstation Network ID thing.

Another crazy week at work that saps most of my energy.

I'll leave some of my thoughts since I don't think I have the concentration left for much else.

It has been awhile since I fought a Great Jagras, but even a Tempered one is a freaking pushover.

Kulu-Ya Ku, I love these guys. During an egg stealing quest I had to get to herbivore eggs. Grabbed an egg, ran past the rather upset critters and got it back. Went back for another.

Round the corner and a Kulu-Ya Ku is already in the nest. He looks at me as I approach. I walk up right next to him and grab an egg. He grabs an egg. We walk off our separate ways.

Pukei-Pukei, easy to take down but a tempered one actually does a decent amount of damage if you aren't watching for the poison spit.

Anjanath, easy kill now, even tempered ones. Severing the tail with Dragon Piercers is easy to do but removes a good weak point.

Tobi. I still use some caution fighting a Tobi to avoid a few nasty attacks. I've learned to press the attack when it climbs trees thought, it is easy to knock off and score a ton of damage on.

Barroth. Grab some Watermoss to take the mud off of him and this guy is a pushover against anything.

Odogaron. I respect this beast. It is extremely vicious and still causes me just a little trouble. Respect.

Nergigante. I view him as a good test of skill for bow users that engage him in a straight up fight. He was the first fight I had to get some specific gear for. Took me about 4 tries to finally beat.

Legiana. I had to kill more than a few of these to finally get a Gem to craft an awesome Ice bow. Frustrating to fight depending on where it decides to engage at. Exercise some thought in deciding where to fight it at.

The other elders, not nearly as bad as Nergi.

The final boss. I was proud of that fight. I went into it not knowing what was going to happen and fought it very cautiously without any feints. Funny thing is, this beastie loves dropping gems for me to use, but almost refuses to give me horns.

I'm in the Hunter Rank grind so I'm just finding projects to do before I get new Assignments.

I've made a powerful bow of every element, but I'm thinking of crafting an end tier bow of every Tree just to take up some time. My armor is set for now. I've got a good offensive heavy set and a defensive set.

One boasts plenty of attack and affinity, while the other sacrifices affinity and a little attack for max Earplugs, Stun Immunity, and 2/3 levels of Tremor Resist. I could always swap some decorations around for Paralysis Immunity or near immunity to Vaal's miasma.

I think I'm pretty well kitted out for the time being though I'm still wondering what insane hunts they are planning to throw my way later on.

It has been a crazy week so I haven't had a chance to post back here until now.

I'm much further in the game than my posts indicate but I digress.

Back to our adventure...

I get back to the ship and in short order the crew gets the balloons rigged up and inflated. The genius does a last check with me to ensure I'm ready to descend into the Rotten Vale (as ready as I'll ever be) and off we go.

The first look at this horrendous place makes me wish I was back in any other area other than here. Carcasses, rotting meat, scavengers, and gas clouds that surely can't be healthy.

We find an area to drop into but it is rather crowded with scavengers. This is when Sunshine takes it upon herself to do something crazy; jumping down from our relatively safe lift to the ground below to toss me some explosive slinger ammo. I quickly load and fire the blast pods at the scavengers and they vacate the area.

Sunshine, could you try to not put yourself in an extremely dangerous position without saying something first?

Sunshine: "Let's go partner."

I'll take that as a "no."

Well, time to explore.

Dead things dropping from the sky; check. Giant sets of ribs that serve as walls, still covered with some flesh; check. Dripping fluid the color of human waste; check.

Alright, why are we here again? Oh yeah, trying to find the walking volcano.

Nothing up here except some strange ruts and a clump of tarred bones. Let's take a look.

A giant monster bursts from a pile of bones and some falling debris seals me in the makeshift arena.

Large and long, covered in bones, very slow except when rolling. When rolling though it is very unsteady and prone to falling over.

Well, it tries to turn me into a paste, and rather enjoying where all my appendages are, I sidestep and put a cluster of shots into his side. It falls over after wobbling for a second.

Dragon Piercer time, two of those and most of the bone armor has been sheared off. So wait, this whole thing is like a tar-covered monster that uses the refuse of this area to generate armor. Creepy but resourceful.

Fighting this poor thing is almost a joke as it only hit me when I let it get way too close and it slapped me with the nub of a tail it had left. It retreats, smashes through a wall and my mission changes to killing it.

Fine, time to put down the bone-covered monstrosity. I chase it back to its nest and it burrows into the ground.

Wait, it vanished, what the heck!

BOOM! Up comes the monster, a Radobaan, covered in even more bony armor than before. It starts to do a spinning attack by laying on its side and spinning . Not entirely effective but it can't be knocked over like rolling.

Eventually the beast falls from repeated Dragon Piercers and shots to the face. Quickly carve it up and back to looking for a base.

Down we go and it doesn't take much to find the base located off the side of the Radobaan rolling tracks. (That critter is why the walking lanes are so wide)

Well, that was fun. Time to go see what the higher ups want to do next.

Homeboy caught up to us and brought a friend, the old airship engineer that was left behind when this thing took off.

Seems they have this grand plan of getting this wreck flying again and they need the air sack from a certain critter nearby.

Did the reason this thing got knocked out of the air ever get addressed?

No.

Shouldn't we solve that problem first then?

No.

OK, what is it you need again, a Paoluma needs killed?

Let's go Sunshine, these people make no sense.

A quick flight to the new base and I begin the hunt for a Paoluma, whatever that might be. Process of elimination would suggest that balloon critter.

It doesn't take long to find tracks and it leads me to the wingdrake gathering area. Well, let's deal with this thing.

Paoluma: an inflatable bat with a beaver tail. *snicker* Poor thing.

It is rather maneuverable as it uses a combination of air puffs and the tail to sling its inflated body around. It is rather mobile for its hilarious appearance.

Stay too far off and it will shoot air at you. It does a little damage but it knocks you over, creating an opening. Even if you avoid it it leaves a little cyclone behind that will disorient you if you run into it, also creating an opening.

What does it do when it has an opening. A full body slam attack that looks hilarious but will one-shot you if you don't have a bunch of defense.

It doesn't pose much of a threat and I easily chase it back to its nest and finish it off.

Well, time to head back and get the wrecked airship flying again.

Outside the boat and just down from the little balcony is a small base camp. It doesn't get much use considering the people on the boat are all researchers and scholars.

The camp is rather high up but because of the flora of the area I can't really see much. Time to jump down and explore.

Familiar fauna, some really unfamiliar ones, some small predators that pester me enough they get shot and drove off, and some slightly familiar tracks.

The tracks lead to a critter that resembles the egg stealing Ya-Ku from earlier. This one doesn't use any rocks but possesses a pair of potent photophores capable of stunning things in front of it.

It stuns me and a bunch of critters and runs off. I'll get back to him later.

I continue down a path and up a ramp of coral. I get to some wingdrake gathering area where some large balloon like critter is harassing them in the distance. I'll get back to you as well.

Climb up some vines, hoping to get a better view. Not so much, but it leads to another set of vines leading higher.

Up we go.

Well the view from here is great but no detail. Guess I'll continue on.

Strange gashes. Examine. A footprint. Examine.

Big shadow growing larger. RUN!

A large critter with an uncanny resemblance to the one that caused Sunshine and I to fall into this area. REVENGE!

A large tail, ice attacks, very mobile. Running across the ice patches is no good either. I cause a few breaks but nothing major.

The message pops up that the Legiana is leaving the area. Darn coward.

Fine, I'll get back to you to.

New base, 20 feet to the right and through a tunnel. Figures.

Sunshine meets me there. I guess that was easy enough.

Time to head back to the wrecked airship.

Wake up to Sunshine poking me telling me we should head out to the ravine and scout it out since Zorah busted up some of it real good.

She promises it will be easy, no crazy volcano monsters or fire breathing wyverns.

OK, let's go.

The ravine is abuzz with hunters looking around and the different support groups scavenging what they could of what is left in decent enough shape.

Sunshine finds a small trail leading up into a newly made fissure. We jog up the path and find the most interesting area. Coral growing everywhere but we are high enough up that we can't see much else. Sunshine gets ahead of me while I look for something I saw move in my periphery.

A large flying critter of some sort and it doesn't look happy to see us. I run for Sunshine but before I can reach her the monster breaks the pillars we are standing on.

We both tumble down to the ground far below.

I wake up in the remains of some ship with some lady sitting on a throne staring at me. Wait, didn't some engineer back in camp mention the old Third Fleet airship that wrecked around here years ago.

Well, she lets me know whats going on and where we are, the Coral Highlands. She also says it would be a good idea to look for traces of Zorah. Why is that a good idea, because she says it is and she never has bad ideas.

*facepalm* Wonderful.

I go chat with Sunshine and we decide to head out and look for a camp for Astera to use for hunters. Seems like a good thing to do considering we are in uncharted territory.

Before I can even get to bed, Old Man tells me that we need to head to our camp in the giant ravine that Zorah will be passing through. Homeboy tells me to pack for extreme heat, this is a walking volcano we are trying to capture after all.

Sunshine and I fly out to the camp and we begin preparations. More accurately, I watch everyone prepare while I make sure my gear is ready to go. I guess it's time to wait.

I nod off for a bit and wake up to see everyone waiting anxiously. Stand up, stretch, and the scoutflies fly off towards the ravine floor.

That's not good.

Zorah emerges, sending rocks flying hither and yon effortlessly. Who agreed that we should try and stop a walking volcano? Everyone did? Great.

Troops get to task aiming and loading cannons as I man a ballista. Nice range but I'm just plinking away at this thing. I head to a cannon and start loading it with Nightshade. Slight adjustment to aim. Fire!

Much better impact. Why are the troops waving at me? I run over and see that they fully loaded the cannon but they haven't aimed or fired. What the heck guys!?!

Aim and fire. Head to the other, aim and fire again. I head back to my first ballista, reload, and fire again. Zorah reels every now and again from the relentless fire but it begins to tear down the wall we erected to hold it back.

We weaken Zorah a little and fire binders to hold subdue it a little. We continue firing but it proves pointless as the wall is torn down and the binders slip out.

Next line readies to hold it back as the hunters hop on wingdrakes to get dropped on top of Zorah. A quick flight when we receive orders to destroy something called magma cores.

Oh, that giant chunk of red and orange glowing rock. Got it. Dragon Piercer racks up some quick damage but it still takes a minute to break one core. In that time I notice a rather nasty explosion effect it does. Definitely stay away from that.

Tracking down the next core proves a little difficult as I have to find it on the body of a moving giant. The next I find partially inside the critter. I whittle it down and just after I break it I hear a strange roar.

That wasn't Zorah.

Old Man yells for us to get topside and repel the invader before it rips out the binders that we shot into Zorah. I hurry out, jump down onto the open area it is pacing.

It stares at me for one second before leaping at me, one clawed arm raised. I roll just before it impacts the area I once occupied. The flying stone and loud crash makes me think that would have ended badly should I have remained there.

This critter is nothing but bony spikes, armor plates, and unbridled anger. Why do I feel like I'm more than a little out of my league.

Some other hunters show up to help out, thank goodness. Sadly they are just as unsure how to approach this beast as I am.

After a minute of dodging, firing a series of weak shots when I can find an opening, and taking grazing attacks that still hit as hard as a solid Anjanath blow; the Old Man's veteran hunter shows up.

The Huntsman seems like he has fought this guy more than a few times and evades blows before shearing off spikes in a solid blow. The Huntsman takes a blow and reels back when the beast flies off as the binders slip free.

Zorah rears up, breaks the next wall, and we get off.

The capture failed, but at least we are all alive. What the heck was that strange beast anyways.

Oh well. Time to get some rest before chasing after him. I'm fairly sure my bruises have bruises now.

So, Chicken 2 : Greylurker 0?

The first time I noticed those critters up in the trees I got much more paranoid walking around Far Harbor.

I've decided to switch back to my first character for purely aesthetic reasons. You can read the little tangent below if you like. I'll still provide the same information about the fights since I crafted a bunch of bows for this former insect glaive wielder to use.

Rest up after the trashing the Tobi gave me and I wake up to a horn, time for a meeting.

Old Man decides that it is time to try and capture Zorah Magdaros. We know where it'll be heading through and it is an area that is easy to fortify for an attempted capture. A truly crazy idea really.

Homeboy warns him that before we can do that the neighborhood nuisance should be taken care of as it could trash the whole town while we are gone. Old Man looks at me and says that taking care of the Anjanath is my job. That big angry lizard that kicked the Big Lizard around like a plaything, yeah, that's right.

Meeting over, get to work.

Homeboy warns me to take precautions, bring plenty of supplies, and use everything I've learned. Sounds like the game is really taking off the training wheels now.

First I check my notes and see that it is weak to water. I use some leftover Jyuratodos parts to craft one and purchase arrow coatings that it can use.

I max out on potions, high potions, anitidotes, honey, and herbs. I check my armor decide to use my bone armor for the slight fire resist and upgrade it to improve my defense.

Time to go hunting.

Sunshine and I drop off at the first base camp and start searching from there. It takes a few minutes to find the tracks, which ended up closer to the other camp, and begin gathering scent for the scoutflies.

Off they go and a minute later I find the Anjanath killing off its lunch. I grab a few scatternuts sitting around, lure him under a hanging boulder and break the vines when he gets under it.

The boulder crashes down, dust flies everywhere, and the carcass of the Big Lizard is thrown at me as the Anjanath decides it needs an appetizer first.

An Anjanath is basically a T-Rex that can breath fire.

This beast dogs my every step and the only time I can get some good shots on it are when my Palico bothers him enough to distract him. Learning his tells is difficult since I spent so much time just making sure I was getting the heck away.

High potions and Vigorwasp Spray carries the first battle. I remained out of range of the fire breath sweep attack so I'm not sure how bad it is.

I chase him to the next area. Just as I catch up a darned Rathalos drops in and gets in a turf war with the Anjanath. I flick the Anjanath a few times as the Rathalos launches a fireball right into his side. The Anjanath runs like a beaten animal. I quickly follow him as I have no intention of getting eaten by an even bigger ornerier lizard.

The next area has a slightly raised area in the center, a hanging boulder to drop on him and a bunch of herbivores that are too dumb to run. I miss dropping the boulder on him, use all my arrow coatings without getting a status effect to actually occur, and chew up another few potions. Still alive and kicking though. I give chase once more as he runs off.

The next area is the side of a steep hill with paratoads around. Paratoads emit a paralyzing cloud when struck, which I'm able to utilize twice in the fight. Throwing that much damage down uninterrupted felt amazing. I get tail slapped and kicked a few times but my supply of high potions holds out. The Anjanath limps off and I give chase.

I flick it a few more times in the trip back to its nest. Cramped, tight quarters. Anjanath gets mad and starts to hold fire in its mouth, ready to spew. I get launched from a solid hit. I stand up, roll down the narrow corridor to escape another hit and drink a potion. A few more shots to the face before the flames from a full -throated straight fire blast envelope me.

I wake up back in camp. OK, lesson learned. NEVER stand in front of an Anjanath with a fire breath ready. I craft some new potions and grab a trap and tranq bombs from my stash.

I get back to the nest, it has recovered a bit from the fight so I beat up the Anjanath some more, taking caution to stay close and to her sides as much as I can.

It gets tired and stops to catch its breath, I throw down the shock trap under her, it takes and I throw the bombs to put her to sleep.

Victory!

Time to put on some burn cream and catch some rest. That is one mean beast.

After the training against a few old hunts I'm feeling pretty confident in myself and it seems Greenthumb has the perfect trial for me to test that newfound confidence.

He has a clever little gadget for me, a ghillie cloak, and the promise that more hunters can get one so long as I clear out a particular nuisance, a Tobi Kadachi. No other info for me on what to expect other than it is close to our new base in the forest.

Sunshine and I head out and it doesn't take more than a minute of walking to find some feathers and tracks. The scoutflies quickly pick up the trail and they lead me on a merry run through the forest. I pass a Big Lizard on my way and he doesn't care at all.

Eventually the trail leads me into a small nest. The Tobi jumps around from tree to tree and gets the drop on me. Darned thing sure is fast.

Tobi Kadachi - Quadrupedal lizard, large wide tail, lots of feathery scales that produces and stores static electricity very well, skin flaps like a flying squirrel.

I retreat to a better position as being surrounded by trees that it can climb and jump around do not work well for me. It follows me down a little bit to some ramps I used to reach this area and some fairly flat ground. Seems as good as anything I guess.

This critter might not have much reach but it has tons of speed and a lunging attack that can cover a small gap incredibly quick and a pounce that can cover a large one just as fast. Fighting this thing is an absolute nightmare. The only saving grace is that its large tail is also a weak point. Huzzah!

Every now and then it'll make some shaking motions and gather energy. After enough of those it eventually looks like it became fully charged up. It doesn't get any faster but everything it does hurts me more. Wonderful.

I must have aggravated it enough that it decides to find some other area to go to. I follow, hesitantly, and gather some healing items on the way. I catch up to it and shoot it a bit and it falls over, I line up a Dragon Piercer and get lukewarm results. It isn't that big so it doesn't have much to pierce through. It recovers shortly after the shot goes off. Won't be doing that again.

It climbs up a tree, gets charged up again. I must be back far enough to be out of reach.

It leaps, I wake up back in camp with Nightshade smacking me in the face. What the hell was that, an electric tail lash!?!?!

Good lord, I'm avoiding that thing for sure next time. I catch back up to it a minute later. It's still charged up, time to be careful.

The next 10 minutes go by rather quickly as I spend most of it terrified of getting hit with an electric tail. Thankfully it limps back to its nest, I get in front of it, drop a shock trap, and a few tranq bombs later it is knocked out and on a trip back to Astera.

That was fun and terrifying. First time I was knocked out in a fight and a critter proved to be truly dangerous offensively.

I think Gonz is referring to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, not the OGL.

Since this is from a 3rd Party Publisher I doubt it will ever become allowed within Organized Play.

It is from a (in my estimate at least) a well respected 3rd Party Publisher that usually features the contributions of many talented designers (or whatever title you like to go by) with some that contribute or work for Paizo.

If you get to play Pathfinder outside of PFS, check with the GM to see if they allow 3PP stuff, some don't allow it at all, for whatever reason.

Sunshine and I head back to the wastes to track down this scholar. Immediately something is a little off.

The scoutflies are going nuts after the scholar's tracks but also some weird bone spikes around the area. These spikes keep showing up near the scholar's trail.

Time to pick up the pace!

I run past the next few sets of tracks, its obvious I'm following the trail by the scoutflies illuminating them. I love those little guys.

Down a little waterfall, follow the creek, and up ahead is a large carcass of some sorts impaled by a half dozen spikes. I can barely see the traumatized scholar huddled near the carcass.

What the blazes is going on here?!?!

Sunshine and I wade through the bog to get to him and as luck would have it, the same sort of monster he was huddled near bursts from the water.

Water dwelling, loves getting caked in mud (Bless this game!), spits muck and water, seldom emerges from the water. Great.

Shots to the head don't seem overly effective, neither do shots to the tail, thanks to the mud. This mud is really getting the better of me, there must be some way to deal with this.

Eventually it leads me back up stream and I get to use the benefits of a Wiggli Litchi, this wonderful larva that gives you a stamina usage reduction buff. This helps me speed up my trickle of damage and I chase it back down stream after a long fight and another trip into the mud.

It finally ends 20 some minutes later. Considering I saw an investigation I could attempt to down a different critter in less than 15 minutes, I must still be doing something terribly wrong.

Back to the training ground and I give this "Dragon Piercer" a try. A few repeated hunts later and I got the hang of it. I sped up my Barroth kill by a whole 8 mins as this piercing shot was able to strip nearly all the mud from its body in a few shots.

(Little did I know I at this point I was still not using the bow to its full potential.)

Sebastian is correct. Zelda chickens are a terror to behold.

Woke up the next day and Sunshine is ready to get things moving. Scholars have a cart ready to go and my job is to escort them and Sunshine out into the Wastes and retrieve a chunk of magma that fell from Zorah Magdaros.

It starts off slow enough, new plants, animals, insects, some grazing herbivores, nothing unusual. Up a hill, down the other side and then, dead stop. Up ahead is a Rathian. I slowly sneak forward, grab some stones and shoot them around the area and lure her off enough so that the cart can get wheeled by the side path and out to the lower area.

That was close. Rathians look nasty enough that I don't even want to tangle with it for a short time let alone try to kill it.

We continue on but some large tracks make me worried something large and angry is nearby. The chunk of Zorah is just ahead so the scholars and Sunshine run off as fast as they can towards it. I approach, the scoutflies get rather interested in it as well, and then that big angry thing appears, a Barroth. If it wasn't for some nearby scatternuts and a good shot to the face with a slinger Sunshine probably would have gotten trampled.

Barroths have club tails, a thick forehead ridge used to ram, and a love of mud. When properly covered in mud they will shake some off to leave big mounds of sludge that are almost impossible to move through.

Arrows didn't seem like they were doing much to this guy since his whole darned head is armored and the rest of hid body is not exceptionally vulnerable.

After a bit he runs off and flops around in the mud to cover himself again. Great, now I need to break off that crap again. This struggle felt like it took an eternity, an excruciatingly boring eternity that only drug on for a half hour.

I must be doing something wrong.

I pay Bookworm a visit and he lets me know about some basic weaknesses of a Barroth. Wait, his scrawny arms are his weak spot. Now I'm disgusted with myself.

As soon as I'm done with Bookworm though they let me know that some scholar went missing in wastes and they want me to find him. Well, maybe I'll get a chance to use this lesson I learned.

(This is when I learned to read your little monster guide to figure out where the weak points are if it isn't obvious. At this point I was still doing charge up shots and didn't use Dragon Piercer.)

I would say it depends on your previous video gaming experiences. I've spent some time with unforgiving games in the past but not any of the other Monster Hunter games. I'm a veteran of games like Demons Souls and Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, and I've played more than a few games with the difficulty cranked up as high as it would go. I'm used to one-shot and two-shot kill moves, status effects and plenty of other stuff.

Many of the beginning hunts will throw you up against enemies that are easy to dodge, predict, and damage depending on the weapon you use. You need healing items but they throw them at you like crazy the whole game.

I'm not sure what you have played before CC, but if you don't mind learning as you go you should be successful. All go over a few things and how much I've had to mess with them since I've started and played up until you access high rank hunts.

Armor: I started with leather, crafted bone (decent quick upgrade), eventually found I liked the look of the Kulu Ya-Ku armor and made it and upgraded it extensively. Upgrading just boosts armor, not the skills attached. While the skills on it might not do me much good I found most of the others unappealing to look at. Kulu Ya-Ku armor is very low grade but I progressed up till the start of the High Rank hunts with it and beat the first High Rank Pukei-Pukei.

Weapons: Upgrade regularly, but the game tells you exactly what you need. Element stuff can be ignored if you stick to basic raw damage. An upgraded Bone Bow worked fine for me for a long time.

Healing Items: Extremely plentiful and cheap to make.

Conclusion:

Low Rank is about keeping a level head and learning. If you don't mind learning as you go, I'd give it a shot bud.

I had given it some thought before about the best way to combine the two. My best GM instinct told me not to. Using both in tandem you can get some very powerful and likely unintended options.

I wouldn't combine the two at all quite frankly.

A quick trip back to Astera to get some supplies and Sunshine and I head back out to take care of that agitated Pukei-pukei. I'm told to carry some extra Antidotes with me because he is likely to spit poison covered seeds at me or spread poison on the ground. Wonderful.

Puker is easy to find from the new base. Seems it trundled on by a little bit ago as some feathers are still sitting on the ground. A few footprints and a pile of feathers later and the scoutflies are leading the way.

The first fight takes place in a little flower covered clearing filled with scatternuts. Plenty of ammo for him but plenty of room for me to maneuver. Seems like a fair enough place for us to fight to me.

Puker isn't very quick unless he makes flying hops and is quite clumsy compared to Snatcher. Lining up shots isn't too difficult because his wings are easy targets to hit. Dodging spit balls is fairly simple too. The only wrinkle comes in when an Anjanath walks by and spooks Puker, sending him flying off. I run off since I one, don't feel like being Anja chow, and two, killing Puker is my goal. Anja doesn't bother chasing me more than 50 feet and I circle around to follow my scoutflies.

I catch up to Puker again in a wide open area with a pack of Little Lizards hiding in the trees, too scared to get on the ground. A little shooting, avoiding a poison spray and then curing the poison I got from the seed that smacked me in the butt, and Anja comes by again. Puker flees, I flee.

I chase Puker down and find him all the way in his nest back where we started. A quick fight and Puker gets carved up. High five Nightshade and we head back.

Time for a rest, some food, and a trip out to the wastes when the scholars get there stuff ready.

Now, back to the adventures.

Homeboy and Sunshine wanted to go and explore a bit to look for Zorah's trail, the Elder Dragon. We found a large chunk of still cooling rock with traces of magma on it as well as some critter that seems a little perturbed the rock is there in the first place. We are quite a long ways away from camp Homeboy says and that we should talk to the Resource Center about setting up a new base out here.

The Resource Center is run by a little group of people that handle everything from bounties to investigations. Seems thay always have something that needs done and they just love giving it to hunters. Setting up a second base in the Ancient Forest is something they've always needed done and it seems I was nominated for simply asking about it.

Sunshine, Homeboy, and I set out to explore the forest for a suitable location. It needs to be fairly secure and difficult to find so an angry critter doesn't trash it by walking through. It also needs to be closer to the direction of that rock we found, so on the other side of the map is where it needs to be.

The forest is a wonderful place to explore, so many different types of mushrooms and plants and even bugs that all have some use. Finding critter tracks, mucus deposits, and claw marks also serves to increase the research we have on certain monsters. Rather overwhelming given all those options, but finding a base camp is our goal with this outing so I ignore actually hunting any large monsters. Given that a Big Lizard (Great Jagras) walked right on by me without a fuss, I'd say he doesn't give a hoot about me either.

Homeboy finds a suitable location just as I round a bend and see him and a nearby researcher. I help the researcher out with catching a bird nearby and then see what Homeboy found. I climb on up the vines nearby and come face to face with some critter examining a large pot. The critter, a Kalu Ya-Ku (Snatcher) was just as freaked out as I was and he bolted. Sunshine tells me that we should take out that monster before we set up base or else it'll be back before long and destroy it.

Time to go to work.

I chase him out of the tree we are in and out into a clearing. It tries to pounce, some quick slashes, and even snatches rocks from the ground to use as a weapon. His head is almost always wide open and his scrawny little claws make easy targets as well. He runs off after chucking his rock at me and I give chase.

Another quick fight or two and it limps off to a nest. I catch up to it as it snatches an egg and begins to eat it. Stationary target, a bunch of quick shots to the face and he goes down. Well, that was a bizarre fight, but the base should be available to set up now.

This campaign seems made to use the Dragonrider Base Class. I'd probably ask about it since the campaign seems fairly non-standard.

Barring that, I'd probably go for a Ranger and hold off on the companion until it becomes viable and then gestalt into whatever is needed to fill in any big gaps.

EDIT:

Druid would still fit theme and provide lots of other stuff.

Rylar, not sure who the GM is, but if he wants to do a heavy flying campaign, I'd highly recommend Companions of the Firmament. Seems like you might get some use out of it.

The handler and I took a flight out to that small camp we found the map at when we originally landed here. From there it was a quick little walk to the last place those buggers, Jagras I'm told, ambushed us.

They aren't very strong, but they're fast and work well together. It doesn't take much to bring one down though. A few sidesteps and full drawn arrows solve the pest problem. Carve them up, time to report back and grab some grub. Then I'll see whats next as that wasn't very satisfying.

Next up, Kestodons. Not much of an issue either. They have boney heads that love ramming into people but really only the males are any threat at all. The notice said that they have been getting more ornery as of late, thanks to the Elder Dragon messing things up no doubt, and the ones nearest town need culled.

Same drop point as last time and they did me the favor of being right up front. Slower than Jagras, but they take more shots to bring down. I make sure to carve up the first herd (leave nothing to waste) before heading to the second. The second herd is slightly bigger, which caused some issues with getting surrounded but nothing some herbs and Nightshades first aid can't handle.

Just as I'm about to bring the last one down though a much bigger critter busts out of a tunnel and through some vines. The darned thing swallows a kestodon whole, huge bloated belly and decides to get aggressive with me! The nerve, I didn't steal your food, don't get upset with me!

A scuffle on a hill overlooking a beach against a bloated Giant Jagras. Well, a few dozen shots to the gut and head makes him lose his lunch and run off. You aren't getting away that easy. This time he has some help from little Jagras, but they do little more than get in the way as I continue to pepper his face and tail with arrows. He starts to limp off and I give chase once more.

The nest is hidden rather well but he leaves a path a cart could follow. Some flash flies provide an easy way to temporary blind him and the other Jagras and it doesn't take much to take it down. The little Jagras scatter, I carve up the corpse as Nightshade gathers some other materials. Time to head back.

Let's see what tomorrow holds.

Astera sure is something. Nice enough looking place and stocked with everything a group of hunters, scholars, and researchers could need.

The new guy, whom I guess isn't so new actually, was born over here (new name, homeboy). This has been his home the whole time, so he gives me and the handler a tour around the place as we look for Nightshade.

Supply stockpile, everything you need to stock up for the next hunt.

Research area, a giant pile of books really, to discuss the various wildlife we encounter with the book worms. He was also very clear that the giant pile of disorderly books is already ordered quite nicely and doesn't need cleaned up.

Workshop, great place to turn those gathered materials into armor and weapons. In a pinch you could always buy a weapon from them.

We then took a walk to the Canteen. Nightshade was there! She looked so worried and then she saw my cheery little handler and tackled her with a hug. Reunited at last!

After the heart-warming reunion I turn to homeboy but I'm cutoff by the horn. Seems they want a meeting.

Long boring story short, pest control. By the sounds of it these are those wonderful little vermin that accosted us as we made out way here through the wild.

Homeboy directs me to my quarters, I put on some armor (I'm never leaving my room without this again) and grab a sturdy bow.

Time to get to work.

We reached the New World.

The plan was to follow an Elder Dragon on the Elder Crossing, not that it all means much to me. I got the call that we were close to our destination and went down to the mess to get some food and meet the team. If I knew I was going to be thrown off the deck and onto the back of the Elder Dragon we were following or I would have worn more than normal clothes, my slinger, and a darned toothpick of a knife.

Well, my handler and I landed on its volcanic back, barely avoided being turned into a smear by the boat we were tossed from, and scaled its back. Thankfully we were close enough to shore that some ornery wingdrakes were flying around. We latched onto one and it flew to land where we were unceremoniously dropped onto soil. I've never been so happy to fly through a few dozen tree branches.

My handler was quick to run off to a camp a short ways ahead where she found a map with a rough layout of the land. We spotted the planned rendezvous point and attempted to make out way there. Hopefully Nightshade made it there alright, I didn't see her after I was thrown clear of the ship.

We headed out into a clearing and boy did the scoutflies go crazy. Interesting plants abound as well as some docile critters. A brief look around though reveals that we need to head through some side trails because of some large obstacles blocking the most direct path to the rendezvous location. Just our luck.

That trail happened to be infested with a half dozen or so small predators, but I don't even have a proper weapon. We hid in some bushes and they eventually lost track of us. We pushed on through some vines and down a cliff. The scoutflies went crazy over some monster tracks and scrapings, so I set myself to collect some samples. Well, little did we know that the critter that made them was still right around the corner.

It looked like a larger version of the previous predators. It jumped and pinned my handler and if it weren't for a new arrival, I doubt she would have made it out alive. The beast eventually threw him off its back, but it cleared a way through some debris for us to run.

I chased after my handler and the new guy as the beast chased them. The beast closed in when another larger and scarier predator burst out and began slinging the beast about. I barely squeezed pass them as the two clashed and made it to relative safety.

The new guy informs us that we are a short ways from home. Thank the Sapphire Star.

Somewhere in that town is a bow with my name on it.

I've put a little bit of time into the game, but I've not made too much progress, at least I don't think I have. Combat is challenging but not quite as bad as some games I've played. So far I haven't touched any online team capabilities but I was sorely tempted for one fight.

I've started up two new characters, mainly for the fun of trying out new weapon types in parallel.

The bow wielding huntress Sindrea and her partner Nightshade and

I'll share the experiences of my new characters starting tomorrow, likely starting with Sindrea.

I'd also like to hear from anyone else there experiences with the game.

Sounds like I need to start a new thread then.

I sent my Xbox One out to get repaired a day or two ago so I can hopefully get back in Fallout 4. I've been itching to play it again and do settlement building that I'll suffer through the story.

It is.

Truenaming as part of Strange Magic by Interjection Games.

I've had a chance to read through this a time or two now and I have to say that all three classes in here are very cool.

The Troubadour might take a little bit of note keeping* and the Sage a little bit of planning, but the Prodigy is not for the inexperienced.

This is not a bad thing though; I actually like the existence of classes that require a bit experience to pull off.

I'm not too sad about the Vigilante. It was a character that was set up as tactical combat support and have some good RP stuff. Well, the group isn't exactly tactical in combat and RP doesn't occur very often. He was almost useless.

Well, I had to start the Scholar out at level 10 and quickly leveled to 11.
Let me try and recall all that I can without my sheet.

Tradition - Canny Huntsman

Equipment - I think I put something else into equipment for a future feat but I don't remember right yet.

Sniper Sphere - Focusing Reload, Thread the Needle
Scout Sphere - Find Gap, Identify Rhythm, Uncanny Dodge
Alchemy - Salve, Improved Bottled Lightning, Improved Acid Flask, Improved Tanglefoot Bag

I blew a few feats into Extra Combat Talent to pick all that.

Knacks - Academic Knowledge, Expert Healer, Martial Study, Trick Arrow, Cunning Socialite, Cunning Attacker

Another feat into extra Knack, can't give that up with so many wonderful options.

Materials - Howling Herbology, Circle of Salt, Silver, Gold, Ammonium Nitrate

I figured a DC amping material with some dispels and holy damage rounded out some usefulness the party definitely lacked. I just picked up Ammonium Nitrate so powerful CC is also going to be awesome.

Feats: Extra Knack, Toughness, Fast Learner, Extra Combat Talent...

Don't remember exactly and it wasn't in that order obviously.

I went Human and traded out the bonus skill point and feat for Skill Focus feats and a scaling bonus on Craft (alchemy).

I have pumped healing as hard as I can and picked up the relatively cheap magic item to further supplement it. With Expert Healer and the benefits level 11 gives me, I can turn a healing kit into a miraculous tool.

My offense is mainly focused on identifying something (swift), communicate weakness (move), throw basic flashbang (standard).

Following turns my actions could vary greatly but I try to shoot something with a trick arrow flashbang that burns focus to augment with a material (standard). This forces a Thread the Needle save and a Flashbang save. The DC is very high since I prioritized Intelligence over everything else. A move action later and I have focus back with Focusing Reload. With my swift I can continue identifying targets for future move actions or heal people.

My weaknesses are my saves and to a small degree my AC. Identify Rhythm helps a bunch as well as Uncanny Dodge and I plan to grab a few buckler focused feats to use it while I use my bow. Circle of Salt is going to be my save booster, at least when it comes from spells and supernatural sources. A constant source of SR should also help, though nothing has tried to pierce it yet.

There are lots of other ways I could have taken this but it works very well. Perhaps even too well, I've told the other players that if they feel this character is over-contributing, I'll tweak him down some.

It sounds like ADA gets you killed as much as she saves you.

The last box I received from Paizo had a nice little card with that image on it. I decided to put it up on the fridge and the wife loves it.

I do so enjoy reading the continued adventures of Greylurker. Keep it up bud!

Been awhile since I chimed in here but I'm a fan of the changes. The reasons given were exactly what went through my head when I saw the changes that were made. Makes sense.

I also love the Scholar I created for an ongoing campaign. My Vigilante become completely aggravating to play and my GM told me it was cool to make a new character.

The GM might be slightly regretting letting me do this however, the Scholar is a very strong class and I definitely tried to maximize my effectiveness.

If you want the random encounters to be memorable, I'd make them challenging or it will likely just be a waste of time. Easy random encounters might be cool every now and then to let the players revel in their power, but it will likely distract from the other aspects of the game.

Terrain challenges makes me think of Skill Challenges... where is that at... HERE!

If they make the checks, perhaps they find some hidden loot cache, monster nest, bandit hideout. If they don't do so well, they get ambushed, suffer injuries/disease/poison, or perhaps something else.

As far as portals go, there are lots of options here, especially story elements.

Returning to areas: Just make sure every now and then they see something that is beyond their abilities to handle at the time. Extremely high CR monster, vault with a mechanism they cannot disengage without a 'key'.

What I would do: Very infrequent random encounters with the majority being extremely difficult encounters. Fleeing is an option.

Skill Challenges for discovering secrets and hidden caches. Not all of them accessible when they find it.

Portals that serve as expedient means of travelling, but the PCs find vaults over there journey that hint at much greater potential when utilized and fueled with rare materials.

I'd probably include lots of nearly insane bandits, unscrupulous mercenary forces, and just enough pockets of civilization to make you remember that there are sane people on the planet as well.

Did anyone mention this line from the Darkness Defender archetype?

"If the darkness defender uses the dedication
ability from the Berserker sphere, these penalties stack."

Off they set to investigate, or more like browse the infosphere. They quickly found that Astral Extractions and the Hardscrabble Collective were dead ends. They did dig up some info on Duravor Kreel that helped explain why he might have been targeted.

They also dug up basic information on the two gangs but deduced that they would need to interrogate someone to get more information. They decided to head to Level 21 first to try and get some allies against the Kings.

Ricket used his underworld knowledge to locate a fence down in Level 21 and Max used his charming personality to win him over. (I think my dice are broken in the opposite way the players dice are broken. Oh well) The fence let them know that most people around here don't have a problem with the Crew and if they want to talk to someone to let Mama know down at the bodega. Meeting Mama was a pleasant encounter that earned them a meeting the next day.

*Fast Forward to next day, they didn't have anything else they wanted to do, not even return the Stone, they didn't think about it*

They head to the bodega and Jabaxa meets them in the back room along with a few guards and Mama guarding the door. Jabaxa can't lend them any bodies but does give them the lowdown on the Kings. Needless to say, the differences in criminal activities and the hired hit on Kreel pushes the players to seek out the Kings at the Fusion Queen.

The party decides to head right over, late morning at a nightclub, not a lot of people around. The party is greeted at the door and told they need to relinquish their weapons to get inside.

*Maxalio once again breaks out a high Diplomacy roll, the encounter went something like this*

-Party approaches door-
Guard 1: Hold on a sec, before you get in I need to get your guns and other weapons.
Guard 2: *Eyes Max intently*
Elaina, Ricket, 40&2: (at once) I'm not giving you my gun.
*Guard 1, Ricket, and 40&2 all slowly reach for guns*
Maxalio: *Pulling an autographed photo out* Perhaps you've heard of me? I'm Maxalio Darrish, I'm sort of a big deal.
Guard 2: That's why I thought you looked familiar. *turning to Guard 2* Hey man, it's good. We can trust him. He's good people. *Takes photo* Sweet!
All: *Hands move away from guns, tension evaporates*
Party: *Heads Inside*

//How to mess with this AP\\
I got the Cantina flip mat a little bit before we played this and I figured it would be a disgrace not to use it.

Obviously some alteration is needed, I told the party to think of how they wanted to approach this while I mentally rearranged things.
Reference
\\--------------------------//

The guard at the door notes their firearms but figures they were let through for a reason. He does mention that the DJ should have some music going in a minute.

The party heads to the nearby bar and asks the bartender to see Ferani. The tender says that he wasn't told to expect anyone asking for her and they mention it was just set up. *One blown diplomacy roll later* The bartender says that he will head to the back. *To let the boss know she has some unexpected heavily armed company* Before he leaves Elaina says to make sure to say that Duravor is here to see her.
*Bartender calmly walks through the door at the back of the bar and they can hear him start running as soon as he gets through the door.*
Figuring they might have said something wrong, most of the party vaults the bar and takes up a defensive position. The people at the bar stop the door guard from seeing them but when two guards enter the dance floor on the far side with guns drawn he turns to the party and draws his gun.

DJ starts up the music...

*Combat starts*
The poor door guard gets killed in a hail of laser and small arms fire and collapses dead before even getting to fire. People flee the club or take cover. The guards on the fire side of the room exchange fire with the team but the range and lack of cover forces them to try a different strategy.

The party heads to the back hallway and runs into a guard coming around that way. One guard stays near the far door and fires at the party but nothing exciting happens. The door in the back is overwhelmed by the party and Max's doshko cuts him down. 40&2 and Max head through the back halls while Ricket and Elaina cut across the club floor.

The guard by the far door begins to retreat but runs into a perturbed Hatchbuster which forces him back into the fray. The guard gets chopped up by Max who was waiting in a side room for him.

Hatchbuster and 40&2 exchange fire but Hatchbuster misses and 40 hits for a high amount of damage. Hatchbuster retreats around the corner and pulls out his hammer. Ferani takes cover around the stage door and fires at Ricket. (minimum damage again) Max heads to the corner and spies Hatchbuster around the corner and steps back.

Hatchbuster moves forward and hits Max for 9 damage (Holy crap, real damage). Max counters for 14 damage, killing Hatchbuster. *sigh*

Ferani is quickly overwhelmed, tries to flee and is killed by Max's axe. (Max is by far the MVP this session.)

The party gets the information they need, finds all the stuff to loot and fences it to the Crew.

-We ended here-

Be assured, any comments made regarding the health and well-being of the PCs is made with humor.

The SFS scenario (a modified #1-02) was run with three PCs thinking that a fourth would be joining us. I ran with the 4 player adjustment and just slightly tuned HP values to account for 3. worked pretty well I think.

The fourth player hasn't shown up so we added a fourth character and tweaked skills to accommodate. Now, for the beginnings of Incident at Absalom Station.

*The Cast*
40&2 - Android Exocortex Mechanic - "Forty" and his AI "Two" are the newest renewal of this android body. He has quite a bit to learn though as he has only been around for 2 years. Extremely blunt and frequently points out the foolishness of many things.

Ricket - Ysoki Sharpshooter Soldier - Not much is known about Ricket other than that he REALLY wants to be off Akiton. More than happy to stuff all sorts of firearms and explosives in his cheek pouches. Easier than carrying them.

Elaina - Lashunta Mystic - She really wants to join the Xenodruids, has a taste for fine booze, and likes overloading people's brains rather than shoot them.

Maxalio - Lashunta Solarion - Orphaned and raised to be a child star, Maxalio never really learned to control his Limited Telepathy. He eventually found his talent at Solarion teachings be he seeks to reignite his fame and hands out his photograph often, assuming people remember him. Scary with a Doshko

-Here we go, and boy was this fun-
The group chatted for a little bit as the Okimoro made its approach to Docking Bay 94, mainly with finding out why Max was wanting to join the Starfinders. A few minutes later the shuttle lands and the pilot and co-pilot let the passengers know that they will be a minute as they check the little bit of cargo they have.

The passengers disembark and easily spot their contact, Duravor Kreel, in the mass of people milling around. They also spot two groups of armed individuals making their way to cover. Just as Elaina waves over to Kreel and shouts out for him, a flurry of laser fire fills the air between the two armed groups (and thanks to one obscenely high Perception check I let them know which side the killing shot came from).

*Combat Starts*
Everyone made the Perception check so a surprise round was sort of pointless.

First round, one of the 21ers fires at the party while the rest exchange fire with the opposing crew. The party moves to cover, Elaina heads towards the nearby King, Ricket aims at his assailant, and the other 2 begin their assault on the closest 21er.

[Great, a fight was picked against both crews, thankfully everyone has cover]

A few rounds later, the closest 21er and King are both dead. The rest are wounded except for the King furthest away. The party took a total of 2 damage. (My dice are really cold it seems)

Enemies exchange fire some more, eventually the furthest 21er is killed by their rival King. The last 21er meets his end by Max's Doshko while the second to last King tries to get away but is shot dead. The final King manages to get away.

*Combat Ends*

Elaina, Ricket, and Max rush over to Kreel and find that he is most definitely dead. 40&2 begins looting one of the thugs. Then they here sirens.

Station security arrives and a sergeant orders the officers to check the area for any stragglers. He then approaches the party, standing around the corpse of Kreel with their hands in the air.

The sergeant rubs his temples with one hand and mutters to himself. He then tells the group to put their hands down because if they had started this they would have ran off by now. The party then tries to explain what happened but the sergeant notices 40 off to the side, looting the dead guys like nothing is wrong. The sergeant yells at him to get over here with the rest of them. 40 shrugs like nothing is wrong and heads back to the group, slightly richer thanks to the credits and gun he grabbed.

The sergeant figures they are new in town, they have that look about them and requests a brief statement before letting them go and offers the aid of the medical staff when they arrive in a minute. Only slightly damaged, they decline the offer and he tells them to copy any information off their friends computer that they need. 40 handles that task deftly and they set off to the Lorespire Complex.

*News snippets about events going on around the station, most prominently the Acreon*

They arrive at the Lorespire Complex and stand around dumbfounded for a minute. "Why did we come here exactly?" They quickly remember their reason as well as the contact in Kreel's computer data. They chat with a receptionist for a second before she tells them where they need to go to meet with Chiskisk. Up a few floors to Chiskisk's office and they see the shirren pacing back and forth in his office.

They see the party arrive and welcomes them, apologizes for the events at Docking Bay 94 and sets them off to investigate the matter.

-I'll end it here and get this more caught up later-

For those of you keeping track, no, the party hasn't turned in the Charlatan's Stone yet. Forgetful bunch.

-...and I'm back-

Without knowing where this guy is and without any assailants to question, they decide to investigate things in Maro and hope to do better than the last team.

(High Profession Roll later) Ricket remembers a contact of his that might have a clue so they go to visit Raszt, a Vesk that runs a store nearby. Raszt has been watching the money move around and clues Ricket in to a large amount that has been moved around Tasch, a normally quiet town.

The party borrows a vehicle from Raszt, who said he would give them their creds back so long as he got it back in one piece, and head to Tasch. The party locates the tavern bustling with activity and gently question a patron, get a free drink, and receive a polite request to talk from the oddity in the room, an Abadar-Corp member, Philt, and his bodyguards.

The party let the extremely blunt 40 negotiate, which turned out very well when the Abadaran realized that their goals were very closely aligned, but did not interfere with one another. The party mentioned they lacked the requisite firearms to take the target back alive, so they worked out a deal. They would receive a small loan to be repaid as soon as they returned to Maro with no interest so long as Talbot was brought back alive. If they failed to return him alive, they would owe twice as much. A tough bargain, but they accepted and bought some non-lethal small arms commonly used around town for various purposes. Finding directions to the mine Talbot was at proved to be as easy as asking someone since they hadn't revealed their goals to the residents.

A short drive to the mine and the party took the search nice and slow. Searched through all the different rooms and spotted the laser trap right before it would have detected them. 40 disabled the sensor and they crept slowly ahead. (Some terrible perception rolls later by the miners) The party had snuck up on the miners and tried to talk with them but to no avail.

*Combat starts*
Talbot exits his room and makes his way towards the cart, the miners charge ahead clubs swinging. Talbot and one of the miners gets hit. The cart begins making its way out of the mine, narrowly missing the party. The miners start clubbing the intruders while Talbot shoots one. Elaina and 40 stay and fight the miners, which goes poorly for the party members, while Ricket chases Talbot. Talbot is eventually subdued and unceremoniously dumped on the ground near the entrance. 40 is knocked unconscious while Elaina almost meets the same end before Ricket shoots the miner in the back.
*Combat ends*

After 40 is revived, and Talbot rounded up, the party searches the rest of the base for credits to help pay back the loan, any little bit helps. Satisfied with their looting and disassembly of the laser trap gun, they exit the mine to find Philt and his guards waiting for them. Abadar-Corp takes Talbot into custody and the party takes the Charlatan's Stone.

Philt lets them know that he was pleased by their interaction and may just be able to help out the people of Tasch. He wishes the Starfinders well on their return to Absalom Station (they said they were Starfinders earlier) and he departs in a shuttle. The party returns to Maro, sells the junk they don't need and wires Philt the credits while still making out with a decent amount of credits.

They board the shuttle along with a new arrival, Maxalio, and head to Absalom Station.

-I'll stop this here and get it caught up later.-