[SFS 1-01] GM Cellion's The Commencement B (Inactive)

Game Master Cellion

Having downed one opponent, Twik dashes to the other side of the bridge in a stop start zig zag fashion before opening fire on Red.

Trick Attack (Bluff) vs 20+CR: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19
If the Trick Attack succeeds, the attack roll is vs flatfooted KAC and the bonus damage is applied
Trick Attack - Pistol vs KAC: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
TA Damage (Piercing): 1d6 ⇒ 5
TA Bonus Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2

Ella looks down to see Twik finishing off the Red thug. She turns back to Blue and fires her laser at him.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Crit Damage: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + (3) = 7

Solenopsi stabs at the red-garbed gangster with her stinger as he scrambles over the bridge. She then turns toward the blue-garbed gangster and fires her rifle.

Natural Unarmed Attack of Opportunity, Fatigue: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (18) + 4 - 1 = 21
P: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Pulsecaster Rifle vs. Blue, Fatigue: 1d20 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (16) + 2 - 1 = 17
E, NL: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Haastaskin moves the remaining distance across the bridge to the very end where she can see both the Red and Blue thugs.

"You have lost and now you find the cost of your stupidity. Beg your ancestors and gods for forgiveness when you greet them!" she announces defiantly as her Light Reaction Cannon joins in the chorus of firepower directed at the Blue thug.

Attack on Blue Thug: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Damage on Blue Thug: 1d10 ⇒ 5

Kalkan also shoots at the blue thug. "End this farce. " He raises the gun and squints.

Blue: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
dmg@EAC: 1d8 ⇒ 2

He is distracted by the barrage of fire from the other agents, sending his own laser into the trees.

Solenopsi's stinger catches the red goon as he runs for the safety of the river. Rather than the sweet cold embrace of the water, he finds himself impaled and swiftly collapses.

The party wastes no time or mercy on the remaining goon. A hail of fire from Arnold, Twik, Ella, Solenopsi and Haastaskin sends the goon's body staggering back as holes appear in his chest, throat, and gut. He slumps to the ground, very very dead. (27 damage is more than twice the dude's max HP!)

Ceren covers Jubair's eyes so he doesn't have to witness the carnage. "My dear. Oh. I don't think I've seen worse since I hacked that black page of that organ market on Verces."

Out of combat.

Arnold shakes his head.

"Well, if they had listened to us, this violence would not have been necessary... Come on; we should get out of here!"

Ever curious, Twik searches the bodies for evidence of who they were (and to see if they have anything useful)

Kalkan looks at the bodies sadly, offering a prayer. "We should call the authorities after we hide Ceren. Let them know we found some bodies. "

"We should dispose of the corpses, yes," Solenopsi 'agrees' with Kalkan. "They should not be left to rot here. The Vat Gardens would be a more economical use of their material."

"To bury these bodies here would be as if we spread waste over this park. Lets let the authorities know where to find this trash so that it can be removed...and whatever family they might have had know their fates."

She turns to Ceren and Jubair saying "The worse of this is probably over. We will take you to where your new lives can begin. A place where more pretty plants can be raised in peace."

Ella turns to Ceren. "I believe it's time to come with us and start your new life. Talent like yours should be secured in the event it's needed again."

Jubair helps Ceren up. She nods at Haastaskin and Ella's suggestions. "Absolutely. I think it's high time I started over, dropped off their dragnet... and maybe also brushed up on my 'talent'." She grins wryly "A little bit of action and I feel like I could get right back into the saddle!" Her grin broadens "At least on the infosphere. Any more running away from goons in public parks and my knees are going to give up!"

Jubair pipes up with "I'll handle the plant raising" he looks shyly at Haastaskin "Uhh, thanks, Ms Vesk."

Twik searches through the bodies of the three thugs and finds pulsecaster pistols (3), tactical batons (3), and credsticks on each of them (total of 300 credits). Their comms seem to have already been scrubbed clean of any data, possibly remotely, and they don't carry any incriminating identifying items on them (though they do have a few personal effects).

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Regardless of how you deal with the bodies in the interim, when you finally contact Historia-7, she takes over the cleanup with efficient professionalism. She also invites you to bring Ceren and Jubair to her offices at the Lorespire Complex.

Back at the Lorespire Complex, Historia-7 meets you all again, showing the faintest glimmer of interest in the old woman that was behind the hacking. After asking a few questions regarding Ceren's new identity and the thugs that attacked her, she coldly says "Thank you for your service recruits. Based on what you describe you have conducted yourselves as exemplary agents, both in terms of securing important resources for the Dataphiles, and in cleaning up loose ends that could have caused us trouble in the future. Good. You have my approval. Now I'd like to speak for a moment with Miss Ceren here." It's clear from her abrupt turn to look at Ceren that you're dismissed.

As you file out of the room, Historia-7 stares the old woman down intensely. You all overhear "I have a proposition for you that I think you'll appreciate..." before the doors slide closed.

Outside of the Archives, you find a drone waiting for you with a package from the Dataphiles, containing a datajack, a frostbite-class zero rifle, and 200 credits. A small card included is printed with "Efficiently done. Please make use of these on your future missions."

One last mission: Wayfinders! I'll post a little later tonight with its start.

Kalkan smiles at the Dataphiles leader, still uncomfortable in her presence. What a ruthless and cold leader. Hopefully the album relaxes her.

Ella nods to Historia-7, satisfied that the data will be archived. Everything in its place and everything accounted for. She smiles at the thought of the hacker's skills being put to good use. Skills should be used and exercised.

As they return to the corridor, Ella activates her audio processors again to listen to the Strawberry Machine Cake album.

With only a single faction lead remaining, you set off towards the space dock in search of a shuttle. As some of you are familiar with, the Wayfinders are a highly mobile faction, preferring to keep to space and distant planets rather than being anchored in one location for long. As a result, the headquarters for the faction is the Master of Stars, a massive starship that is currently part of the Armada orbiting Absalom Station. The Master of Stars is currently undergoing extensive repairs, but you know that the leader of the faction, Fitch, is present there overseeing them.

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The station’s Armada can be seen from the shuttle’s view screen as it takes off, gleaming figures standing out against the emptiness of space. The Master of Stars immediately stands out from the rest, as layers and layers of scaffolding obscure its hull. Tiny lights flicker among the metal beams as distant figures weld plates and heat shields to the ship’s exterior. The shuttle smoothly glides closer until it reaches the starship’s docking bay, slipping through the magic field that keeps the hold pressurized with breathable atmosphere. As the shuttle doors open, a small drone flies in and pops up a holoscreen, displaying a harried-looking ratfolk.

"Finally, fresh meat!" the ysoki exclaims over the screen, sounding pleased. "Alright recruits! Name’s Fitch — pleasantries over, time to get to work. I had some trouble earlier with the lights flickering on the ship, and now E-deck-" A sudden jet of steam narrowly misses the ratfolk's ears in the video. Fitch swings out with an arm and there's an alarming clank of metal on metal before the steam jet abruptly stops. "Ya see, both the lights and computers have suddenly gone out on E-Deck. No idea what’s causing it, but you work this job long enough and—" Fitch’s attention flicks to something offscreen, and she shouts "Spizzik! The welding torch is not a toy! You wanna go in the toddler’s pen with the other kids?"[/b] She snorts dismissively before continuing, "Sorry, some of these pea brains would cut off their own heads if I let them. Anyway, it could be that any one of my lunkheads here screwed up the wiring, but it looks like too big a failure for something so simple. Be a good test for you lot to find what's causing the problem. And in the off chance someone's sabotaging the ship, you muscleheads could take care of it! If it’s nothing serious, great, just get the power back on if you can. If there’s something suspicious, use your comm units to report in to me. I’ll give you the access codes, so — Selicha! If you touch that panel I will staple you to the hull!"

The vid-drone retreats into the ship proper, leaving you at the docking bay. Each of your comm units beeps as you get Fitch's contact data along with schematic maps for the Master of Stars. Those of you who take a look at the data see that basic access codes for the computers on E-deck are also included.

Arnold nods.

"Ah, ship maintenance; something that I can definitely help with..."

Note to self: Don't let the Starfinders babysit my future children. Kalkan chuckles a little at the ysoki's antics, but nods. "Is there any chance you were hacked? Or are you sure this is a hardware issue? "

"I would disbelieve that we will find another creature like the one we defeated earlier. This is probably just something technical. But still we may have targets to acquire."

"Oooooh...corporate espionage. My specialty!"

"We should find a maintenance diagnostic port on the level. That should be able to tell us about the security and systems situation on that deck."

"I am ready to head to the aberrant systems when the rest of you are," Solenopsi broadcasts to her companions.

"Is there any chance you were hacked? Or are you sure this is a hardware issue? "

"Unless some thrill seeker snuck aboard to get herself a hard data connection, not likely! E deck's on its own little isolated data island down there, no wireless, nada! Makes figuring out what's wrong a pain in the rear, but lets you-" Fitch cuts herself off as she ducks a flying object and projects a stream of insults at someone off screen. "Whatever. You just find what's causing it and get back to me. I've got bigger bugs to fry. OI! WATCH WHERE YOU TOSS YER-" she cuts off.

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A short trip into the Master of Stars brings you to a service elevator that still has access to E-deck. The elevator is cramped and dim, and it rattles as it descends towards the barely-powered deck level. When the doors slide open the weak elevator light partially illuminates a long, dark hallway. A faint antiseptic smell hangs in the air as a distant clanking echoes through the hallway.

Kalkan hits the light on his comm unit. "Well, that helps a little bit... " He looks around, his blind senses tingling. Ooh... creepy.

Later, he looks into the computer systems.

Engineering: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Ella has no trouble seeing in the dark, but frowns at the lack of power to the systems on E-deck. When Kalkan begins to work on them, she offers advice to how to get the security systems back up. "Try to see if the power flow is too low for critical systems. If it's not, we can override protocols and siphon power into the main interlace feeds."

Engineering, aid: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Solenopsi strides down the dark hall, multifaceted eyes scanning the shadows for signs of damage. Once they reach the security terminal, she pushes her thoughts into the nearby minds, "It seems like the damage must be deeper inside."

Kalkan and Ella working together easily pry open the terminal's frontal panel and redo the patch wiring to trigger a system reset. As Kalkan clicks the last cable in, the terminal screens flicker to life. Most of the screens slowly reset to show various darkened rooms through E-deck, though some of the screens show dimly illuminated corridors and storage rooms. It seems that emergency power is now being distributed through some areas of E-deck.

In addition to the active security footage, the control terminal flashes with red warning messages about system malfunctions. A quick read through the error messages reveals that they identify the system faults as originating in sector E-601-BA74.

Ella takes only a couple of moments working on the terminal to bring up a map of the local area and identify sector E-601-BA74. The sector of note appears to be a trio of adjoining rooms that once functioned as a janitorial lounge, but that had been reused for storage purposes. E-601-BA74 seems to be only a few minutes walk away from the security office.

Looking the sector up on the security cameras reveals that the area currently has emergency power, though the footage appears foggy, as if you're looking through a thick layer of steam. Just barely, you can make out the outlines of two small humanoid creatures in the room. You can't quite make out what they are, though they appear to be moving back and forth at quite an energetic pace.

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I've revealed the final map on Slides, guessing as to the order you might approach the chamber once you're ready to head there. Feel free to change it. Note that while I've revealed the entire map (since you have a map of its contents) the area itself is full of dense steam (acts as fog cloud, obscuring vision beyond 5ft).

Does the steam block infrared vision (ie heat based) as well? That's what Twik uses to see in the dark.

Rules-wise, fog cloud effects block all vision, including darkvision. Flavor-wise, you can imagine the very hot steam providing a mostly uniform infrared signal beyond 5ft.

Kalkan cocks his head at the sight of the two small ones. "Hmmm... goblins. That makes sense. " He pulls out his long rifle and looks around. "Well, are you ready for action? "

Upon arrival at the room, Kalkan confidently steps into the room. He speaks up, loudly. "Alright, goblins! Step out with your hands up! "

"Perhaps this is not just a malfunction? Fitch did mention the possibility of saboteurs." Ella nods to Kalkan. "Goblins would make sense. Troublemakers."

She follows Kalkan into the room, her laser pistol drawn.

Perhaps before we enter we can see if we can do something about fog? Twik prefers to be able to see what he shooting at :)

That would generally be a good idea but it seems we're not going to have the time.

Haastaskin puts her helmet on and fully activates her armor while she moves inside the room to the left, following along the wall. With her trusty doshko in hand, she watches carefully as she moves forward,
"You can hardly see anything in here, check your targets before you fire. we don't want to be shooting each other. It would be good if someone could get rid of all this fog."

Solenopsi moves cautiously down into the first chamber, tasting the air with her antennae as she moves.

Perception (Blindsense 30 ft - Scent): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Promotional Re-roll: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

Steam fills the air of this chamber as a high pitched hissing sound from somewhere to the west rises and falls. While your armor keeps you comfortable, the steam fogs up visors and helmets in moments, thick beads of condensation forming on their surfaces.

From what Twik can tell from the doorway, there don't appear to be any visible or obvious environmental controls that could be used to clear the steam nearby. But there should be some... somewhere... maybe deeper into the complex of rooms.

While no goblins respond to Kalkan's straightforward call, you all hear a muffled rustling to the northern side of the chamber you just entered. It lasts a few moments and then turns silent again.

Solenopsi tastes the hot, steamy air and picks up the scent of some kind of creatures to the north. (Nice reroll by the way :>) From the taste, you think there are two young lashunta hiding directly towards your north and slightly to the west. They are sweating profusely, so the taste is easy to pick up.

The formian’s mandibles quiver with ancestral anticipation at the taste of lashunta. ”Lashunta,” Solenopsi pushes the thought into all the nearby minds. ”Not goblins. Come out, lashunta younglings.”

"Oh. That's good, goblins are quite irritating. " Kalkan slowly approaches the corner, until he can see the children. He puts away his gun as he goes. "Its ok, children. We are here to help. "

Kalkan heads to the north side of the room and finds the flushed faces of two small lashunta, definitely children. One of them stands in front of the other, arms outstretched to protect her smaller companion. Mentally, you all hear "Wh-who are you people? Ai and I don't need any help! My brother and I... we just got lost. But now that the lights are back on we'll get back by ourselves. Just don't tell anyone you found us here!" The voice sounds young and nervous. Kalkan notices her glance to the room to the west before looking back up at the shirren.

Arnold frowns.

"What were you doing here in the first place? Did you do something that caused the power to malfunction?"

Kalkan looks to the west as well. "What's over there, little one? Something exciting? Some camdy? " He takes a tentative step in that direction.

"You should not be here. This area is under maintenance and has several failing systems. Who are your caretakers? Why are you here unsupervised?"

Haastaskin quietly moves to the doorway on the west side of the room briefly pausing in an attempting to look into the room beyond.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

"This is what happens when your larva grow legs before they are ready to be productive in society," Solenopsi comments.

Kalkan thinks directly to Solenopsi. "Hehehe. You are not wrong, friend. I am glad my child will be in a cage for the first two years. " He looks around for the little runts, ensuring they don't run off.

To Arnold's question, the lashunta child up front blurts a quick mental "NO! No, we were just here and the lights went off! It was really scary!"

Seeing that maybe these adults aren't buying it, the lashunta child tries another tack with Ella's question. "Uh, our dad is working on the ship! We were just with the bug people that kept us in this pen while he was working." The younger of the two lashunta pipes up with "Vewwwy scawwy shhiwwen!" and the older one says "They put us with a bunch of bottles with grubs in them and wouldn't let us have any fun! So we went here instead! And uh. We uhh..." The older lashunta trails off.

"CUP FWWWEND!" The younger lashunta pipes up again with a loud mental exclamation, sending the older one into a panic. "We uh, definitely didn't find a weird cup that could move around on its own and make noises!"

When Kalkan and Haastaskin start heading to the west, the same lashunta child sends out an anxious "Uhhhh, wait! Ummm." As she wrestles with her internal thoughts on what to say (or admit to!), Haastaskin suddenly notices something odd about the doorway to the adjoining chamber. In the ceiling, a fire-extinguishing nozzle seems to be dribbling out foam. Additionally, the temperature sensors next to the nozzle are blinking red. To her eye, if anything with even a little more heat than the ambient steam were to enter the doorway, the fire extinguisher would activate and douse them! Someone with a bit of technical skill might be able to disable the sensors.

Sense Motive : 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 lol

Kalkan sighs. "Perhaps we should find some bottles for you to stay in as well. " He goes over to the extinguishers and works on them.

Engineering: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

He mutters to Haastaskin. "I think I've got this. Can you shoo the children out of here? "

Twik takes the children aside and begins to make friends with them - as only someone their own size can do!

Once they trust him a bit more, he tries to get them to open up to him about what they were doing down there and/or what they came across while there.

Diplomacy: 10 + 9 = 19

Solenopsi taps out a text on her comm unit to Fitch: Lashunta young found wandering in disabled portion of the ship. Please advise: restrain, return, or eat.

Sense Motive: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1 Yes! That is priceless!

Ella blinks for a moment. "I regret you were scared in the dark. You did the right thing by staying put. You could have gotten hurt if you had tried to move around too much in the dark. Now, we can help you get out of here if you wish. Or you may return on your own. This section is now illuminated. Please return and eat the nutritious grub meal with the others. "

She nods. "Understood. You did not find any such creature. If one does exist, that is."

Lol Ella!

Kalkan quickly readjusts the extinguisher sensors, increasing their heat threshold so they won't activate when any of his team members move through.

Twik and Ella try to form a rapport with the two lashunta children and the older one of the pair ends up looking uncertainly up at the two of them "I guess we'll go back. Just as long as you don't tell our dad, OK? Uhh, but not if we have to eat grub meals again. They're sooo gross. Can you promise they won't try to feed us those again?" She sticks her tongue out. To Twik, she elaborates "And we weren't doing anything, honest. We just found this cup that could move around on its own, while we were 'splorin. She's friendly! Though uh, she did jump around and break some stuff..."

When Kalkan continues to express interest in the western room, she continues with "And just in case, if you find cup friend in there, don't hurt her OK? She's nice! Just a bit..." Without elaborating further, the older of the two kids tugs the younger forward and they scurry out of the room (southwards).

Solenopsi gets a prompt message back on her comms from Fitch: Got it. Nothing a bit of spanking won't fix. Return them. Will send Grix down to pick them up.