PLAY-BY-POST GAMEDAY VII: SFS 1-99 The Scoured Stars Invasion (subtier 1-2) (Inactive)

Game Master FiddlersGreen

"The library is as good of a place to check out as any. Lets make our way there before we cause too much trouble here. Arrrghhhh." - The large vesk wanders away from the defensive droid checking behind him to ensure that his party is coming with him.

The robots begin to deploy weapons when Z'han reaches for his grenade, but stand down when Rahdokama intervenes. They allow you to depart in peace as you back away from the military installation.

You move on to the immense city library. The doors are open and you are able to enter without any trouble. With the exception of the ever-present alien music around the city, this enormous building remains completely silent. Digital and physical records from the planet’s past fill shelves and data archives stretching for the equivalent of city blocks.

Are you poke around, you can each make Computers, Culture, Engineering, Life Science, Medicine, or Physical Science checks.

Also let me know whether any of you have chronicles for 1-13 On the Trail of History or 1-17 Reclaiming the Time-Lost Tear on your character.

Rahdokama shuffles around awkwardly around the digital library, not really sure where to apply himself. It is obvious that he has no tech-smarts about him. He makes himself useful by standing guard and watching out for anything incoming.

Trying to get a grasp into the ancient race's mind, Alejandro looks for clues that might show similarities to cultures that he knows more about.

Culture: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Sadly, it just seems too alien for his mind to comprehend.

Engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Computers: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Physical Science: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

The Android strides confidently into the library structure, quickly looking around. Finding a functional terminal, Astrator begins to search the computer cache for recent access or other signs of life. Digging deeper, he begins to seek out some information from the local datasphere.

Computer: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

"Starfinders. I believe I have found something of use..."

Life science: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Keeping to himself, Zeth begins to look around for anything he might understand.

Astrator learns that the ancient culture that once inhabited this planet was very advanced both culturally and technologically, and referred to themselves as 'izalguun'. He also finds a log entry about visitors whose description suggests the visitors were 'explorers who sought stars' or something along those lines, though the translation is hard to parse due to grammatical differences in the translation. The entry doesn’t reveal what happened to them. The date of the log slightly precedes the scoured stars incident.

Alejandro pipes up, "well at least we know they came down here now. That's good! So if no one else has found anything, let's pop on over to the factory and see if there are any more breadcrumbs there."

Rahdokama makes sure that everyone is happy with the work they have done in the library - "Arrrgghhh. Make sure you got all the information we can before moving on team! Well done - i'm glad you'll all are more compitenet at this than I am. Where to next? The factory? Hopefully we can get some more answers there!"

You move on to the factory district and find that it is full of activity: industrial robots building and repairing other robots. You can easily see that the level of robotics is highly advanced, and everything looks fully automated. It is not however apparent how you may find clues here.

Astrator takes a few extra minutes to confirm that there is nothing else on the drives or in the library that would be helpful to their mission.

"I believe we have acquired all the pertinent information available at this location."

Alejandro searches around and after not finding a pack of hiding starfinders suggests, "any way to hack into the system here? Maybe access cameras or video or other data files?"

I am happy to hack, but I am not 100% familiar with the rules. It looks like a computer check against the DC of the computer

Computer, to hack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

”Hope fully we find something useful in that computer.”

"Agghhrrr. Have we considered the possibility we would need Aone's help with this factory - maybe he would know what happened here and what this place is. I know we left things on rough terms, but considering he is the only sentient thing left on this rock, maybe we could try again at convincing him to help us?" - the Vesk scratches his head, knowing that his suggestion is a long shot.

First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo addresses the Society through communication devices across the Scoured Stars: ​“Starfinders, thanks to your efforts, we have gathered a large amount of data about the whereabouts of several groups of survivors from the first mission to the Scoured Stars. We have analyzed the data and now know enough to start locating and evacuating our friends and allies. We still need more intelligence on other groups of survivors, however, and we must continue to run reconnaissance missions at the same time.”​

Table GM’s- You are now set to start Part 2, but remember Part 1 missions that are still open still need to be accomplished.

First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo pings each of your comm devices. ​” Starfinders have recovered a signal beacon from a steamy swamp on Agillae-2. Our analysis of the data indicates there is a large group of survivors on another planet in the same system, and we will soon be ready to commence the evacuation mission.”​

Planet of the Dinosaurs location is now closed and Last Outpost is now open.

Starfinders are filled with confidence. All Starfinders receive a +1 Morale bonus to attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks until the end of the current mission.

Ok, looks like I do have to move this along.

As Rahdokama mentions Aone, the now-familiar hologram figure is projected behind him, startling him just a little as she speaks.

"Query. You called for my attention?"

Your comm device tune erupts, breaking the silence once again in quick succession as the dreaded group chats will. ”The results of your explorations are coming in fast. Our agents explored a starship graveyard on Agillae-5, where they found many more of our comrades kept comatose in stasis chambers. Our scientists are studying the strange technology so we can decide how to safely release them.”

Starship Graveyard location is now closed and The Cracked Mirror location is now open.

That's a nice boost. Completely negates my class special, but I'm not complaining as it gives the boost as a static bonus AND covers more stuff.

Alejandro turns to the hologram and smiles, "oh yes absolutely! Could you fill us in on the purpose of this facility? We are definitely interested in trying to help and would love to learn as much as we can about the history."

Diplomacy + Expertise + Bonus: 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 7 + (6) + 1 = 29

"Certainly. This is a manufacturing facility. If you are looking for information and history, perhaps the library will be more suitable."

Perhaps it might be good to consider why you are here.

The large vesk ponders for a moment, taking his time to scratch his chin...

I apologise, but I am honestly very lost. I have no idea what we are supposed to do on this planet, other than search for survivors or answers of what happened to them. This planet seems to be a dead end for the survivor search, or am I wrong?

You mentioned that we would 'find traces of ourfriends elsewhere'. What did you mean by that? It seems to be that we have been walking around in circles in your city. If you can please let us know if they are not here, we will move on and never bother you again. - Rahdokama basically begging the hologram for information...

"Query processed. The friends you seek are not here."

Hint: You're absolutely right that you are here to search for survivors or answers concerning what happened to them. When you first asked Aone about survivors of a war, she said only that there were none to be found here. However, your search of the library has indicated that certain explorers did come to this planet.

The green vesk bats his eyes, but nods at the hologram. He has a solemn look across his face. "Thank you friend. You're help here will be remembered - I hope we have not caused you too much trouble. Fair well..."

As he turns around, he ushers his friends to return back to the ship. He checks his equipment making sure everything is there, and reconfigures a direct ruite to the ship. As he walks, he makes small talk with his allies.

"Well, I guess this was a dead end. You all did well enough to collect that data from the library. I am sure that it will come in handy to the Starfinders. This has been an interesting rock, I'm glad we stayed out of trouble. Grrrrghhh! Great work team!" - as a smile echoes across his face, he glows an iridescent green.

As they get to the ship, Rahdokama double checks the new locations added into the computer. "It seems the rest of our allies have completed the other missions. Do we want to check out the other locations? Or should we join the rest of our comrades in the new areas? I suggest we press on and scour out this Last Outpost. What do you say captain?"

It seems our next options are Part 1 [Lifeless Space, The Third Kind], or the new Part 2 [Last Outpost, Cracked Mirror]. I say we press on to the next part...

”Scouting the Last Outpost sounds good. I feel like being here any longer is wasting our time. Unless someone else has something better!” Zeth checks over every detail of his gear as he waits.

First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo's voice rings out with more news of hope on each of your comm devices. ”Starfinders have penetrated the defenses of an ancient automated city on Callion-2. They discovered that a group of Starfinders visited the city a year ago, trying to find a way to help other Starfinders stuck on the desert planet of Callion-1. We’ll begin moving resources to Callion-1 immediately.”

City of the Ancients is now closed and Sands of Oblivion is now open.

Alejandro is happy to go along with the group's decision but suggests they keep following the breadcrumbs they found here to the desert planet of Callion-1.

Astrator has little to no opinion on this

"I have no intellectual preference for one course of action or another. I would recommend efficiency in travel to reduce downtime- however we accomplish that. Please let me know when my skills are required for the furthering of our mission:"

Alright, the desert planet was not an option before, but it is now. Let's go with Sands of Oblivion!

You decide that there is nothing more to be gained from exploring this planet and decide to move on to Callion-1 on the strength of the new information that had been acquired by the other Starfinders.

As you board your craft and chart a course to your new destination, Radaszam, leader of the Acquisitives faction, sends you a transmission.

“Recon teams who visited an ancient city gained information on Starfinders who may be stuck on the desert planet Callion-1. We sent a ship closer to the planet to scan it and turns out, the intel was good; there are Starfinders down there. It’s a tidally locked world where one side is a frigid tundra and the other a blazing hot wasteland. If that doesn’t sound bad enough, our weather scans show there’s a gigantic magnetic storm raging in the part of the planet where our friends are. Flying vehicles won’t be safe to fly anywhere near the storm, which is why you’ll be using two all-terrain vehicles to reach them! Send word to the Intrepid Explorer what weapons you wish to have installed on the vehicles, and you should be able to pick them up on your way to Callion-1.”

Refer to Starfinder Core Rulebook 229 for the details of the all-terrain transport, and for vehicle rules in general. Each vehicle has two turrets in addition to the standard features, and you can have the following types of weapons (supplied by the fleet’s armory) installed in the turrets (one per turret):
advanced shirre-neye rifle (2d10 P)
advanced X-gen gun (2d12 P)
tactical magnetar rifle (2d8 P)

Special rules for this part: When mounted, a vehicle's weapon is more stable to shoot, and the penalties for shooting while the vehicle is moving at a normal or full speed are reduced by 6. Each vehicle carries enough ammunition to reload each mounted weapon twice. You can also use their own weapons in any subtier, but you take the full penalty for attacking from a moving vehicle. Your vehicle will count as a tier 1 vehicle for all checks.

I'll proceed once you decide what weapons you want on each transport. Please also work out who will be in Transport A and Transport B, and who will be driving each vehicle.

”Agggrrrh! Receiving you loud and clear captain! Alright team - looks like we have to break up into groups of two! I can take charge of Vehicle A. It resembles like the vesk-buggies from Vesk-V! I can take help, or shoot that Tactical Megnetar Rifle! It’s a solid choice for a turret - low variance makes it more reliable in combat from my experience! Who’s with me?”

Rahdokhama is comfortable of taking drivers seat with Piloting +6 or Gunnery +9! Up to the other two members in my vehicle as to whichever they preferred...

Alejandro looks at the big ole weapons with wide eyes, "those look a bit big for me to handle, mounted or not. I think I'll be better suited navigating, running the comms or driving."

Piloting +6 and no clue what the Gunnery skill is, plus he is not proficient with any of those weapons so they would be inadvisable for him to use. He doesn't have to drive though if others are better at it.

The bluish android looks at his other starfinders. "I am content to use my personal weapon, though I may be of use at a mounted weapon. It would appear our ammunition is in short supply- so we should prioritize their use based on our probability of survival"

Astrator un-shoulders his rifle and begins his maintenance routine to strip and rebuild its component parts.

”I am fine wherever someone needs me.”Zeth adds in. ”Although using weapons that size would not be one of my specialties.”

Shaan comes staggering in, clutching his stomach and moaning in pain. "Oh my, the food on this planet! It's done me wrong! You wouldn't believe what I've been doing - it feels like it's been *days*!"

I am so so so sorry to have fallen so far behind. I hope it hasn't delayed the game. I'll do my best to get caught up on the current state of the game and jump back into the conversation. Thanks for your understanding.

Okay, my suggestion for the weapons is to put one of each the advanced shirre-neye rifle (2d10 P, Sniper Rifle) and the tactical magnetar rifle (2d8 P, Longarm) onto each All-Terrain transport. I like those two because the Advanced X-Gen gun (2d12 P, Heavy Weapon) tacks on an additional -2 penalty if you don't have strength of 12 or more. And with it being likely that we have at least a couple shooters without the proficiency (-4 penalty) at least we can minimize the penalties.

For those of you who are looking to just use your own weapons, note that you get a -3 penalty when the vehicle is moving and a -6 if the vehicle is moving at full speed. The mounted weapons have the advantage of negating all of that penalty so even if you aren't proficient, it's probably better to use the bigger guns at a flat -4 instead of your own at -3 or -6. Any thoughts? I'd love to get this moving along into actually doing something, the server outages have driven this game into the ground. :(

Also I am literally replaying this set of scenes in my head while imagining what this will look like in action. It gets decent at the 4 minute mark, lol.

Alejandro will take up a spot at a weapon if he isn't the best option to drive (pilot). It can't be that hard, right? Just point and shoot...

Rig, I've contacted a VL concerning your situation, will let you know what she says.

I'm seeing Alejandro and Rahdokhama as pilots so far. I'm going to assume Astrator and Zeth in Alejandro's vehicle and Shaan and Rig in Rahdokama's vehicle. If I do not hear otherwise, we will proceed with that arrangement in 12 hours from now. It will affect the next encounter rather significantly.

Your landing craft touches down in an area unaffected by the storm. From there, you begin your drive through the desert to where you believe you may find some of your missing comrades...

That is A-Ok with me. Astrator is an orders follower!

I am back to having internet now! Its super spotty, but I can get back to posting once a day

OK, it occurs to me that given the schedule I kinda need to move us on, so we'll proceed with the above vehicle arrangement.

Your drive through the desert is initially uneventful, and you are able to make decent progress through the desert towards the canyon where the lost Starfinders are potentially holing up. Just as you are about to think this will be an easy drive, however, you feel the earth beneath you begin to rumble... and moments later, an immense 40-foot-long creature that looks like an armored worm emerges from the sand behind your vehicles! The creature is large enough to easily crush a vehicle, so fleeing toward the destination at top speed is the best option!

We are in a vehicle chase. The drivers must either spend a move action to actively drive the vehicle, or else engage the autopilot (in which case I get to decide what the vehicle does, which will be to just drive as quickly as possible without engaging).

You can use the vehicle's mounted weapons without penalty - the advanced shirre-neye rifle (2d10 P, Sniper Rifle) and the tactical magnetar rifle (2d8 P, Longarm). Using your own weapoons will incur a -3 or -6 penalty depending on whether you are going at full speed (which the autopilot will do).

Reminder: The rules for vehicle chases are on pages 278 to 285 of the CRB. To keep things simple, I will give you initiative over the worm.

Starfinders, what are your actions for round 1?

"Aaarrrgggh! Let's see how much punishment thing thing can take! Let's do team - shoot your lasers! I will drive us steady!" - Rahdokama tries to hold the vehicle steady as they enter this chase.

Piloting Check: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18 -- will keep the vehicle steady so people only get -3 to attack...

His foot ready to mash the accelerator down and get them some distance, Alejandro looks into the rear view mirror at the other transport slowing down, what are they doing!

With a gasp of exasperation he tries to keep pace while yelling ”you heard him, shoot!”

piloting same speed as other vehicle: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

-4 to all piloting checks in this vehicle?

A loud shriek of audio feedback erupts from all communication devices across the Starfinder Society fleet and deployed teams. The feedback precedes an alert of a new threat: dozens of unknown starships are entering the Scoured Stars through the Drift!

Data screens across the fleet begin displaying a live feed of a chitinous, six-legged creature with a large mouth full of sharp teeth. Rings of glowing, unblinking eyes cover the upper and lower sides of the creature’s body, looking in every direction at once. The creature’s three-clawed forelimbs hold what looks like an alien plasma cannon, while its second set of limbs terminate in cybernetic augmentations resembling long sabers.

When the creature starts speaking, its words sound like a chaotic jumble of consonants, but soon the syllables turn into a sinister-sounding, digitalized voice speaking in the Common tongue: “We are jinsuls, and you are not welcome in our space. This is our ancestral home. You do not belong here. You will be removed.”

As soon as the ominous message ends, First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo speaks to the Society through the comm system: “According to our sensors, these creatures—jinsuls—are entering the Scoured Stars through a location near Bastiar-7. I need a group of volunteers, our best starship crews, to scout the area and keep these aggressors occupied. Meanwhile, I want everyone else to continue evacuating the survivors. Time is a luxury we don’t have, so make haste and be ready to be extracted at a moment’s notice!”

Table GM’s- You are now set to start Part 3, but remember Part 2 Evacuation Missions that are still open can still be accomplished. All Part 1 Recon Missions are now closed.

”Go faster before that thing catches us. People are in need. No time to play with this creature.”

"Are you mad, man? Kill this thing before it get's us! What if it's still on our tails by the time we have to come back? Argghhhh!"

You should still try to shoot it since we cannot go back on our actions, already. If this thing runs faster than we do, then we will be in a lot of trouble...

You can still shoot even if the vehicle is moving at full speed, it's just that there will be a penalty. But remember that the vehicle-mounted weapons do not incur a penalty at your subtier.

Alejandro and Rahdokhama, you still have your standard actions. The rest of your still have your full rounds of actions.

Unfortunately, Rig might need to drop from the game, so keep in mind that you are currently a 5-man team in 2 vehicles, and each vehicle has 2 mounted weapons. The worm is one zone behind you.

As he is driving, Rahdokama reaches down for his laser pistol, swiftly finds it and points behind him, hoping to hit the beast as he shoots randomly in it's direction.

Azimuth Laser Pistol: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Flame Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

I have read the rules for this, but I am still not 100% sure what I can do. I think I can fire my normal gun? I will use that as my standard action! Correct me if it's something that I cannot do.

Yep, you can fire your normal gun. What are the others doing?

Rahdokama fires a little laser beam at the giant worm. It barely notices. Not resistance, just that 1 damage isn't that much to it.

I've updated the map so you can see what's going on. The red and blue boxes indicate which car you're in and you can see which zone you are in.

Alejandro and Rahdokama put the pedal to the metal, but the combination of the difficult desert terrain and the ponderous vehicles makes it hard to accelerate. They manage to keep pace with the monster for now, but do not outpace it.

Both cars and the worm will advance one zone next turn.
Alejandro still has a standard action this turn. Everyone else still has their full actions.