"Gig, gimme a hand with this? Probably a major data transfer, and we're going to have to monitor the connection and minimize packet loss else the code will be worthless."
"Sure, Hack. No problem. Let's see what we can do. All I ask is that you let me sit in the comfy chair."
Osteth answers Dunklezahn calmly. "There are 10 more boards available on other moons, and it's only a matter of time before someone recreates the board on their own. The Degenerator is coming here, to this plane. The way you have described things, only you and the cultists know of its existence."
"I've calculated the odds of the supernova being a permanent solution, but a large enough convergence of interdimensional magic would also bring forth the device. A supernova this large will bring every curious species in the galaxy and beyond here. This place must vanish from all records."
"Gig, gimme a hand with this? Probably a major data transfer, and we're going to have to monitor the connection and minimize packet loss else the code will be worthless."
"Wait, didn't I already say that?" Hack-It asks. He then sees that Gig is already helping, and is even more confused. Finally he glances Janzi, his expression one of suspicion.
"Hazard pay'd be nice," Booker grunts. "But what soldier's ever gotten any?" He takes up a position at a nearby console and monitors the connection on Hack-It's mark.
"There is one other party that was on the cultists' trail..." the older soldier muses, standing by. "The Corpse Fleet. We we dunno how far they got."
Hack-it downloads what he thinks if all of the data. It looks right, but there's no way to tell.
With one copy downloaded, the original gets to work. Her holographic form dissolves into lines of code and the consoles surrounding the PCs begin to glow blue. Several monitors begin showing views of the interior bores of the other controller moons. Traces of the same blue light limn the circuitry along the walls and the army of maintenance bots. A moment later, the building shakes and all the monitors switch to perspectives from the planetoid’s surfaces pointing toward the skies. In each, different angles of a colossal tear in space forming can be spotted in the distance. The fiery red of the planar gate contrasts with the inky blackness of space in a display that is both beautiful and awe-inspiring.
Looking at the consoles, you see readings about the phenomena. The circular opening to the Stellar Degenerator’s demiplane has a diameter of half a million miles and is currently stable. The massive vessel within has a conical shape and is mostly built from some strange rock-like substance. The superweapon is over 100,000 feet long and has a mass of over 50,000 tons. It gives off a faint energy signature, not much more than a docked starship, and it has a small amount of its own gravity.
This is the Stellar Degenerator.
Warning lights suddenly begin blinking frantically across the central operations room! The moon rocks as large mechanical changes occur outside. The sounds of hydraulics become deafening. A quick look outside see massive anti space weapons emerging.
Hack-it quickly returns to the console. Gig looks over his shoulder. It doesn't seem possible! How‽
The automated defense systems have detected a fleet of starships entering the area! A glance at the readouts confirms the worst: an armada of Eoxian-style vessels ranging from speedy fighters to lumbering capital ships are only a few hours away. The Corpse Fleet is here! Everyone turns to look at Booker, whose off hand comment turned out to be prophetic.
Book VI: Empire of Bones
That which hath come before:
A deserted ship named the Acreon arrived at Absalom Station from hyperspace, towing behind it a mysterious asteroid dubbed the Drift Rock. You came to Absalom Station to join the Starfinder Society but soon found yourselves caught up in a gang war instigated by two factions—the Hardscrabble Collective, the scrappy mining clan that owns the Acreon; and Astral Extractions, the large corporation that hired the ship. With both factions vying to claim the ship and the asteroid, the Starfinder Society hired you to investigate the death of one of its members caught in the gangs’ crossfire. After exploring some of Absalom Station and dealing with the gangs, you were then "hired" by Gevalarsk Nor, Eox’s ambassador to Absalom Station, who was serving as a mediator between the factions. Your job was to explore the Acreon and the Drift Rock and learn what happened to the crew. You took a shuttle to the quarantined Acreon, but one of the warring factions sent a ship to attack you, giving you a taste of starship combat. You found no trace of the deserted mining ship’s crew, but did find the ship infested with alien monsters and opportunistic scavengers. You continued your explorations on the Drift Rock, which was honeycombed with tunnels and rooms, and learned the final fate of the Acreon’s crew, while also dealing with an extraterrestrial monster that inhabited the asteroid. You eventually learned that the asteroid is incredibly ancient and that it is a fragment of some larger alien structure or artifact, perhaps a weapon, though its exact nature remained an enigma. You also discovered the Sunrise Maiden, a ship lost in hyperspace 75 years ago, which you claimed for yourselves. But as soon as you left the Drift Rock in your new starship, you came under attack from a mysterious ship!
Now in possession of the Sunrise Maiden, you battled your way off the Drift Rock, eventually finding out that the exiled Corpse Fleet of Eox was behind the attack. Eager for more information about the Drift Rock’s origins, you traveled to Castrovel, home of some of the best universities in the Pact Worlds. In Qabarat, one of Castrovel’s most powerful lashunta city-states and the planet’s primary spaceport, you navigated the politics of academia at the esteemed University of Xenoarchaeology and Xenoanthropology. Eventually, you uncovered an obscure pre-Gap reference to an ancient, forgotten, elven temple-city on Castrovel called the Temple of the Twelve, which had supposedly found evidence of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization long ago. In search of the Temple of the Twelve, you embarked on an overland journey through the teeming jungles of Castrovel’s western continent, facing some of the planet’s dangerous flora and fauna, as well as members of the Cult of the Devourer, who were likewise interested in the Drift Rock’s secrets. Upon reaching the abandoned and overgrown elven temple-city, you contended with Castrovelian Devourer cultists who had taken over much of the crumbling ruins. After exploring the ruins, you learned that the elves had discovered an almost unimaginably immense megastructure called the Gate of Twelve Suns, which relates in some way to the Drift Rock and, potentially, to an ancient alien superweapon. Unfortunately, the Cult of the Devourer is now also looking for the Gate of Twelve Suns, and though you defeated the cult’s agents on Castrovel, those cultists were receiving their orders from a secret asteroid base in the Diaspora....
Tracking the Cult of the Devourer from Castrovel, you traveled to the scattered worldlets of the Diaspora to investigate the cult’s secret asteroid base. Upon locating the base, however, you discovered that the cult had abandoned it. You found no details about why the cult left the base or where they might have gone, but you did find evidence that the Corpse Fleet had also visited the base, along with indications that the Corpse Fleet may have stolen and deleted files from the base’s computer systems. What you did learn in the Field of the Lost takes you to the dead world of Eox, where you survived both the undead inhabitants of the planet and clandestine agents of the officially disavowed Corpse Fleet. Only then did you learn that the Devourer cult is aleady headed for a distant star system in search of clues to the location of an alien superweapon! To make matters worse, the Corpse Fleet is ahead of you on the trail....
Still on the heels of the Devourer cult, the heroes headed to a distant, uncharted star system, where they found the ruins of an ancient alien city floating in the atmosphere of a gas giant. Exploring the ruins, you encountered the degenerate descendants of a highly advanced species that once controlled the lost superweapon you're searching for. Through the legends and superstitions of these primitive folk, you pieced together clues to the superweapon’s hidden location and the key to unlocking its power—an impossibly huge megastructure that the Cult of the Devourer is intent on seizing! It required you to fight and kill some of the more extreme locals, called kish. Eventually though, you found yourselves in the Drift, rushing towards a weapon to destroy an entire system.
The trip through the Drift to the Gate of Twelve Suns is not without peril. Strange storms of quantum foam and clusters of planar debris litter the nearby space during the journey, though these are easily avoidable and pose no threat given the Sunrise Maiden and her crew. You pull out of the Drift into an extremely thin cloud of debris.
The heroes journeyed deeper into the Vast to find the Gate of Twelve Suns, an alien megastructure consisting of a dozen stars arranged in a perfect circle. However, members of the Cult of the Devourer preceded you, and you had to contend with the cultists for control of the alien technology found on the single planet orbiting each sun. Only by finally defeating these foul marauders and their leader, Null-9 were you able to keep the superweapon hidden here out of the wrong hands.
The battling took its toll, and when the party tried to help Osteth bring forth the weapon for destruction, it set into motion a chain reaction that will result in the supernova of the entire system, acting like a beacon for every curious traveler in known space. Osteth offered to sacrifice herself to keep it stable and to bring for the weapon so that the party could destroy it themselves.
The only problem? The Corpse Fleet arrived at the worst possible time.
Klaxons and flashing lights flood the room. Among the cacophony, Gig picks up an alert that there is a drop ship inbound close to your location, right where you left the Sunrise Maiden.
"Oh, that ain't good..." Booker groans, picking up his heavy cannon. "Gig, make sure the Maiden's tagged in the system as a friendly and let's MOVE!"
With that, Booker books it to the Maiden as quick as he can.
Holy mother of a bastard... Janzi mutters under his breath, grabbing whatever isn't nailed down and chasing after Booker. Let's
The party books it out of the control station. A quick look to the sky makes the heart pound. There's a flag ship of such immense size that it can easily been seen with the naked eye.
There's an immediate problem though, a Blackwind Sepulcher is careening towards the Sunrise Maiden!
The ship streaks past, dropping a full squad of marines before returning to orbit!
Round 1:
Booker: Go
Gig: Go
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
"Contact!" Booker does not hesitate to fire. Two laser blasts thunder into the marines.
Booker opens with a pair of hits on the lead marine. The only reaction it gives is from the impact. It neither grunts in pain nor winces.
Round 1:
Booker: Hit
Gig: Go
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Purple: 46 (+10 after confirmation of magic weapon.)
Corpsefolk warriors use their undead status to great effect, and they're mildly resistant to non-magical weapons. They attack with whatever training they've received. Typically they don't have quick reflexes, relying instead on their toughness.
Round 1:
Booker: Hit
Gig: Go
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Purple: 46 (+10 after confirmation of magic weapon.)
Corpsefolk! Janzi shouts breathlessly. Undead soldiers, magic weapons to hurt 'em! Gig, they're not quick, target that if you can!
"I'm on it, Janzi! I've got a clear shot right now!"
Gig wipes his hands on his suit, shakes them out, and then as if starting a keyboard solo, he casts Explosive Blast which propels a small explosive battery that detonates on impact to engulf the purple and white undead in fire!
"I think these pyrotechnics work better for a Thrull Magnar show than for any actual damage!"
One of them, already wounded, takes the full brunt of Gig's spell.
The two in front rush in and hurl flashbangs at the paty:
The other six close a bit. Five of them open fire with acid dart rifle.
MISS
MISS
MISS
for and
Round 1:
Booker: Hit
Gig: BOOM!
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Go
Hack-it: Go
Janzi: Go
Purple: 72
White: 13
Janzi avoids the worst of the flash grenade, taking a small step forward and drawing/flinging his own.
Janzi avoids the worst of the flashbangs. He responds with an incendiary grenade.
Not expecting a grenade attack, they walk right into it! [ooc]Incendiaries deal burn on failed saves. Mk II is
Round 1:
Booker: Hit
Gig: BOOM!
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Go
Hack-it: Go
Janzi: Grenade!
Purple: 78 (Burn 2)
White: 19 (Burn 2)
Dunklezahn averts his eyes for the first grenade, but accidentally looks full on into the second. His vision turns to a singular overwhelming white screen.
Round 1:
Booker: Hit 2 Saves Needed
Gig: BOOM!
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Close
Hack-it: Go 2 Saves Needed
Janzi: Grenade!
Purple: 78 (Burn 2) (Flashbang used)
White: 19 (Burn 2) (Flashbang used)
Hack-It and Hum manage to avoid the worst of the grenades.
"Spread out!" Hack-It shouts, rushing forward to avoid clustering up with the others. Hum follows, stopping in front of his handler. The mechanic punches a few commands in, and Hum's newly mounted rifle swivels before firing!
Hack-it avoids the flash, but his aim misses after he moves.
Round 2:
Booker: Go 2 Saves Needed
Gig: Go
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Purple: 78 (Burn 2) (Flashbang used)
White: 19 (Burn 2) (Flashbang used)
"Okay, we need to build up to some encore level pyrotechnics! This is what we used for the finale of Rites of Kalimazoki!"
Gig moves his hands in dramatic fashion as he pulls forth his arcane powers to cast another explosive blast. In his mind it is all happening to the most intense and dramatic keyboard solo you could imagine. He directs the explosion halfway between red and blue so that his explosion engulfs red, blue, and black.
SUCCESS
SUCCESS
Booker growls at Hack-It, but the ysoki's suggestion is a good one. He sidles over to a nearby tree while taking another crack at the injured marine.
Booker takes a chunk out of the marine, but he keeps coming! Gig opens up with some serious firepower.
PASS
FAIL
FAIL
Gig's spell takes two of the soldiers by surprise while the third dives out of the way!
The marines move in well practiced ways. One immediately closes with Booker trying to engage him in melee with it's LFD Pulse Gauntlet.
The other is right in front of the blinded Dunklezahn and tries to stab him: . The corpsefolk wasn't expecting such incredible armor.
The others rush towards cover, taking shots as they close. The Northern ones both call out, "Back ratman!" They then target Gig with dual acid dart rifles:
MISS
MISS
White calls to the two behind him, looking for back up in dealing with the vesk!
for
MISS
The next pair shout to team up on the lashunta as they take him on.
Yellow rushes up to take cover from Booker while the other stands way back and focuses his fire on Janzi:
for
for
Round 2:
Booker: Boom
Gig: BIG BOOM
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Go
Hack-it: Go
Janzi: Go
Purple: 104 (Burn 2) (Flashbang used)
White: 19 (Burn 2) (Flashbang used)
Red: 17
Blue: 35
Black: 35
Janzi tries to cover Dunk while the vesk fights the glare, moving forward and taking a shot at White.
With one of the marines in striking distance of Booker, Hack-It spies their powered weapon and turns his wrist so the console face is towards them. He runs a quick device scan, finds the electronic band the gauntlet is operating on, and sends a pulse of energy to overload it!
For good measure, Hum's rifle barrel swivels towards the same marine. It begins to vibrate as it charges up before firing a blast of sonic energy!
NICE!
Plus DC 18 Fort save or Staggered for 1 round.
OUT
Janzi's shot is accurate enough to wing the soldier's armor, scoring a minor wound.
Hack-it works his kung-fu on the solldier's gauntlet: and it shorts out with some sparks!
hum comes through with a shot to center mass, blowing a hole through his chest with sonic waves that even the great Thrull Magnar couldn't do!
Round 2:
Booker: Boom
Gig: BIG BOOM
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Go
Hack-it: BIG TIME
Janzi: Hit
Round 3:
Booker: Go, Take 7 ACID , then REF Save
Gig: Go
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
White: 27 (Flashbang used, no gauntlet in Round 3)
Red: 17
Blue: 35
Black: 35
Dunklezahn: Blind until Round 5
With a strange smile glowing across his face, Gig prepares another explosive blast. Moving his hands in dramatic fashion building up his orchestration of fire, he releases another explosion to engulf the same three, red, blue, and black.
"Huzzah!"
Dunklezahn swings wildly, but with absolute skill and training. Unfortunately the blade falls just a millimeter short as the corpse warrior dodges the swing.
Gig keeps up the artillery barrage!
FAIL
PASS
PASS
Round 3:
Booker: Go, Take 7 ACID , then REF Save
Gig: BIG BOOM
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
White: 27 (Flashbang used, no gauntlet in Round 3)
Red: 48
Blue: 50
Black: 50
Dunklezahn: Blind until Round 5
Booker swivels to gun down the corpsefolk engaged with Dunklezahn.
pass?
Booker, now with an open line, drills a pair of shots into the soldier standing with Dunklezahn. the wounds are severe, but the soldier keeps fighting. Thankfully the acid stops creeping into the seems of his armor.
The soldier facing Dunklezahn curses at the broken gauntlet and opts to use the butt of his weapon. It's less lethal, but the blinded Dunklezahn is still a straight forward target: , but his armor is FAR too tough.
Most of the rest close for cover, shooting as they go.
The northern most pair continue to focus on Gig:
for
MISS
Red cuts north to take a shot at Dunklezahn:
MISS
Black goes back to the tree and takes the same shot.
MISS
Orange from cover focuses his fire on Janzi:
for
for
Hitting him squarely twice.
Yellow, from way back stands in the open and takes two shots on Hack-It:
for
for
Also hitting, albeit barely.
Round 3:
Booker: Hit
Gig: BIG BOOM
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Go, Blind until Round 5
Hack-it: Go
Janzi: Go
Round 3:
Booker: Go
Gig: Go
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
White: 90 (Flashbang used, no gauntlet in Round 3)
Red: 48
Blue: 50
Black: 50
Dunklezahn: Blind until Round 5
Not looking to take a target away from Dunk, Hack-It turns his attention to the cluster of marines. He hustles up to the Vesk, pulling out a grenade as he does so. Calmly he lobs it in an overhand toss.
plus 1d6 burn (unless they make the save)
Hum's cannon swivels to one of the marines in the cluster, firing a quick blast.
"Will these things just die?!"
Gig Razorbyte feels the heat as he takes his own fire, but he turns that around and sends back more explosions directly into the heart of the enemy. Drawing his arcane powers, he casts another explosive blast directly in the middle of Green, Blue, Red, and White. All four of them are engulfed in flames!
Hack-it drops a grenade on the north pair:
PASS
BURN!
One catches fire!
Hum's canon misses by a hair!
Gig plays his triplet with a third explosion:
PASS
PASS
FAIL
PASS
Non of them go down, but the entire squad is riddled with burns and injuries.
Round 3:
Booker: Hit
Gig: BIG BOOM
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Go, Blind until Round 5
Hack-it: Grenade!
Janzi: Go
Round 4:
Booker: Go
Gig: BIG BOOM AGAIN
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Green: 22 (d6 Burn on Round 4)
White: 107 (Flashbang used, no gauntlet in Round 3)
Red: 73
Blue: 72
Black: 50
Dunklezahn: Blind until Round 5
Gig Razorbyte repeatedly draws his powers from the arcane realm. Moving his hands in somatic gestures, weaving his power he releases his fourth Explosive Blast to engulf Blue, Green, Red, and White.
"Let there be more fire!"
Booker smirks as Gig lays blast after blast on the undead. He focuses his own laser fire on one of the burning hulks.
Dunklezahn swings wildly on one swing, but cuts back an an unexpected angle. The angle is perfect for a decapitation!
Booker follows up with a miss, then a solid hit!
Round 3:
Booker: Hit
Gig: BIG BOOM
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Miss and kill
Hack-it: Grenade!
Janzi: Go
Round 4:
Booker: Hit
Gig: BIG BOOM AGAIN
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Green: 22 (d6 Burn on Round 4)
White: 107 (Flashbang used, no gauntlet in Round 3)
Red: 73
Blue: 99
Black: 50
Dunklezahn: Blind until Round 5
Janzi whips out another mk 2 incendiary, takes a step, and hucks it between Red and Blue.
I would very much like this lot to die...again.
Janzi keeps the pressure up. Between Gig's explosions and the grenades, the battlefield is deafening!
This one catches them both in napalm!
Eager to get out of grenade fire, the three burning corpsefolk bum rush in. Two go after Dunklezahn, and one after Hack-it:
But they all miss, seeing as they're on fire.
OUT
Two of them continue to burn!
From behind the same tree the two focus on using cover as they also focus their fire:
for
for
for
MISS
Finally the sniper in back takes on Gig
for
for
Round 4:
Booker: Hit
Gig: BIG BOOM AGAIN
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Go (Blind)
Hack-it: Go
Janzi: Go
Round 5:
Booker: Go
Gig: Go
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD (Vision Restored)
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Green: 22 (d6 Burn on Round 5)
Red: 76 (d6 Burn on Round 5)
Blue: 106
Black: 50
Dunklezahn: Blind until Round 5
"Dammit! Snipers are trying to take me out! I think it is time for me to pull out the big guns! They are not going to like this!"
Gig moves his hands in somatic gestures drawing upon an arcane spell that he has never tapped into before. He casts Corrosive Haze on Green.
Gig decides to add a bit of acid to the burning corpsefolk's problems. a haze of corrosive nanites appears about him:
Round 4:
Booker: Hit
Gig: BIG BOOM AGAIN
Corpse Marines: ATK
Dunklezahn: Go (Blind)
Hack-it: Go
Janzi: Go
Round 5:
Booker: Go
Gig: Haze
Corpse Marines: TBD
Dunklezahn: TBD (Vision Restored)
Hack-it: TBD
Janzi: TBD
Green: 36 (d6 Burn on Round 5)
Red: 76 (d6 Burn on Round 5)
Blue: 106
Black: 50
Dunklezahn: Blind until Round 5