[SFS, Campaign Mode] GM Blake's Against the Aeon Throne

Game Master Blake's Tiger

"Power, obviously, at least temporarily," Hasshachir replies over the coms. "Some tools and supplies were vented out into space when the forcefield fell and depressurized, it looks like. It will take me some time to recollect them."

Despite Antenor's fears, no assault arrives and things seem to calm down. Perhaps one of Hasshachir's suppliers cheated him with a faulty relay for the power generator or maybe a careless accident breached the integrity of the power relay and it was only a matter of time before it exploded. Whatever the cause, there appears to be no further fallout. You calm your nerves and return to the rejuvenation pods to rest, perhaps taking turns to watch for interlopers or perhaps trusting your luck or your fate.

The next day passes uneventfully. Hasshachir complains about the delays due to the lost supplies over the com unit once or twice, but otherwise you entertain yourselves or practice your skills.

The day after that, however, Lors chooses to sleep in longer than the rest of you. As you are eating breakfast, you hear a frantic banging coming from across the hall. Rushing back to the room, you find Lors struggling within her rejuvenation pod, pressing against the glass lit with two of her powerful arms and banging on the glass with the other pair. You immediately try to open the lid through the usual sensor, but nothing happens. The shobhad is slowly turning a shade of blue as she struggles.

"Oh, pronk," mutters Rril as he realizes that Lors is once again apparently trapped. He frantically attempts to re-activate the pod sensor to get the lid to open.
Computers: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

"Hold tight for a few minutes, Lors. Captain Suolwind'll have you out of there in a jiff," he shouts towards the pod, trying to sound reassuring and in control. "Hopefully, this will go more quickly than last time."

Holy ~@#$" Antenor does anything and everything he can: Does it run on Computers?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

"Why are all these computers malfunctioning!?" Steve looks shocked as he tries to disable the rejuvenation pod.

Engineering +13; Computers +12: 1d20 ⇒ 3

Steve gets to work trying to fix the locking mechanism on the rejuvenation pod. Rril tries what he can on the access pad, but nothing he tries helps the situation. The problem is mechanical and not a software glitch. Antenor hacks deeper into the computer system and learns that while the lids are not controlled by a computer beyond the simple function of the access pad, the robotic arm and medical functions of the pods do run on a sophisticated computer. He could now control one of the arms to try to pry the lid off of Lors' pod.

Meanwhile, Lors continues to bang on the lid and try to force it open, and Steve works. While the goblin is under the pod with his tools, he finds a burned-out module that was hastily spliced into the pod's wiring and must have overloaded the locking mechanism (much like my previous drier). He's fairly certain that his module isn't supposed to be there anyhow.

Antenor has control of the robotic arm and no further Computer checks are required to control the arm.
Force Open the Lid: Strength Check (your own, Aid Another, or the robotic arm's Strength Bonus of +8). Each attempt takes 1 round. Steve's current work will take him 6 rounds before results are revealed.
Also, Rril could try to hack a second pod's arm with Computers (DC 22) or take over Antenor's and have Antenor try to hack a second pod's robotic arm.

Not to be outdone by Antenor's hacking skills, Rril attempts to hack a second pod's arm. "Alright, controls, just listen to Rril and let my girl, Lors, go, okay? What do you say?"

Computers: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

Unable to gain control of the arm, he scowls and shakes his head, "If you were always going to say 'no', you didn't have to be so rude about it!"

CLEAR!" Antenor tries to use the robotic arm to get the contraption open: STR: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Rril finds it difficult to hack into the pod's controls, possibly due to his crewmate's life being on the line. Fortunately, Antenor already has control of one of the mechanical arms and expertly applies leverage to the lid. The would-be-coffin opens with a loud pop as the air rushes into the vacuum created within Lors' pod.

Steve might be bothered by his thunder being stolen, but he does have that trespassing piece of hardware to reveal.

Lors rolls over the side and falls onto the floor sucking in deep breaths.

"@!#$%& What a scare!" Antenor quickly tries to triage Lors Medicine: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Lors will take some time to recover, but Antenor can see no reason why she should not be back in action within the day. One of the functioning rejuvenation pods would speed that process.

While you debate what to do with Lors and what to do with the broken rejuvenation pod, Hasshachir arrives. "What happened here? This is terrible! Is everyone OK?" He looks you over cursorily and then begins to look at the malfunctioning rejuvenation pod. "Oh. I think I see what the problem is, but it is going to take me some time to fix, and I could use some supplies. Why don't you leave Lors here with me while you fetch this list of resistors, capacitors, a C3-RD57 circuit board, and some 7 gauge wiring." He holds out a prefilled credstick and transmits the shopping list to your comm units.

"Oh, uh, sure," Rril stutters out as he sees the list fill his viewscreen. Turning to Antenor and Haro, he says quietly, "I hope one of you know what these things are. Otherwise, I'm afraid that we might have to ask Steve."

"Welllll." Engineering: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (12) + 0 = 12 "Probably not. I can shop though, and I don't need to know what I'm buying does. Come let's do this. We have to get the pod up and running, but there's a lot after that."

"Where can we get all of those?" Steve asks as half of that list is likely stuck in his teeth from his own repairs trying to save Lors life. Not that he thanked Steve for it or anything.

You head out to the Outpost to shop the bazars for Hasshachir's surprisingly lengthy and arcane list of components and materials. It takes you several hours to find everything on the list, but what else do you have to do while you wait? With everything secured for delivery to Hasshachir's private space dock, you head back.

The wrikreechee's abode is quiet as you enter. Passing down the hallway, you find the rejuvenation room's doors open. Glancing in you see Lors slumped over the side of the rejuvenation pod and a large pool of blood at the base of the pod. Hasshachir stands beside her body. He looks up as you enter and speaks through his voice modulator, "Thank goodness you are back! The assassins! They just ran off and must be somewhere in the complex. Split up and look for them!" The electronic translation of his voice lacks the emotional context, but you can see from the expression of his antennae and mouthparts that he is frightened.

"!@#$%@#%^$E^&#!" Antenor grabs his gun in one hand, and a grenade in the other and looks down the hall Map updated. I'm assuming they're not in this vicinity.

"It's always something," mumbles Rril as he draws his own pistol and watches Artenor rush off. He starts to follow, then pauses for a moment and turns to the wrikreechee.

"Can you take care of Lors?" he asks with a slight shake in his voice. "That is, assuming she's not already--" The man hesitates, hoping he doesn't have to finish the question.

Yes. Map is current. It looked like the map moved instead of Antenor. Fixed it.

"Dead?" Hasshachir finishes. "I'll do what I can. You go find the attackers!"

Steve mounts atop Oonopidae, "Remind me to pick up a motion tracker one of these days." He crawls along the wall and ceiling in the opposing direction. "Follow the laser blasts when we find them!"

Oops, sorry about that! Antenor nods, "Let's do this." He then looks.... Which direction?

Antenor heads north to look for sign of the assassins' path in the hall. Steve heads south to the repair bay where the assassins might have plenty of places to hide or possibly an escape onto the surface of the planetoid. Hasshachir steps toward Rril and asks, "Could you help me reposition Lors?"

Something primal in Rril's mind yells at him, and the man looks towards the wrikreechee before he moves into the room. He sees the debilitated explorer's chitinous form shimmer and shudder as Hasshachir transforms into a powerfully build, green-scaled reptoid. That is just enough warning for him to twist out of the way of the reptoid's sharp claws swiping toward his right flank! "Frak!" he hisses.

Steve and Antenor are momentarily unaware, but because I rolled terrible, Rril can easily shout for help as a free action.

Combat! Round 1. Bold may act.

Steve
Antenor
Reptoid
Rril

"What the Frelling hell‽" Antenor whips back to the room and sees the reptoid. He doesn't have time to process, so he simply shouts, "GET IT!" Move + Get'em

Steve curses, "So, are there still assassins?" He turns around drawing his hatchet as he closes back in on the room. Move and Draw weapon.

The reptoid lunges for Rril's face, which the outlaw instinctively moves to protect his eyes and blocks the lunge. He feels his gut burn as the assassin's true attack rakes across his abdomen. "Human intestines are so squishy!" the reptoid hisses with glee.

Combat! Round 1/2. Bold may act.

Reptoid
Rril (4/24 SP | full HP)
--2--
Steve
Antenor

"You didn't need to insult my intestines..." Rril replies through gritted teeth. "And let's keep them where you found them!"

The man carefully moves backwards, drawing his pistol.[ooc]Guarded Step, Quickdraw[ooc]

With it in hand, he fires.

Trick Attack, Bluff w/Spy Spec v red: 1d20 + 12 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 12 + 4 = 18
Ranged (semi-auto pistol, tactical): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
Damage (P): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Add Damage if Trick Successful: 1d8 ⇒ 8

"Come on! that's gross. This is all @~#%!#%^$" He encourages the team as he takes a shot of his own. Get'em and ATK: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 1 = 20 for Elec: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Steve rushes in chopping at the outlaws hand with his hatchet. "Gwaaaaarghh!"

Handaxe: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Damage: 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

"I should have waited until you were spread further out," the reptoid grumbles as he raises his arm to fend off Steve's axe bow. "But you're all so stubborn, refusing to die. At least I got one of y--Ah!" His monologue is cut short by Antenor's grazing shot with his arc pistol. So distracted by the others' assaults, he fails to see Rril draw his pistol. Unfortunately--perhaps disturbed by Lors' fate--he pulls the trigger too soon.

The reptoid lunges towards Rril but then turns and slashes his claws at Steve's face. His claws leave bloody gutters across the goblin's green scalp and then holds on tight to his ear. "I'm going to pull your head off!"

Combat! Round 2/3. Bold may act.

Reptoid (-2 hp) (grappling Steve)
Rril (4/24 SP | full HP)
--3--
Steve (7/28 SP | full HP) (grappled)
Antenor

"Well, I'm not sure that would stop, Steve, but you're welcome to try..." Rril tries to quip even as he tries to back up for another shot.

Trick Attack, Bluff w/Spy Spec v red: 1d20 + 12 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 12 + 4 = 22
Ranged (semi-auto pistol, tactical): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Damage (P): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Add Damage if Trick Successful: 1d8 ⇒ 5

"I've heard that one before bub. I don't think so!" Antenor continues to urge his teammates on as he takes a shot of his own [ooc]Get'em + Shoot[/dice] ATK: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 6 + 1 = 21 for DMG: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Rril catches the reptoid unaware with his shot, provoking a hiss from the assassin. The repoid grimaces as antenor zaps him again with electricity.

Combat! Round 2/3. Bold may act.

Reptoid (-18 hp) (grappling Steve)
Rril (4/24 SP | full HP)
--3--
Steve (7/28 SP | full HP) (grappled)
Antenor

Steve hacks and hacks the the man, catching little more than air itself.

Handaxe: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 - 4 = 11
Damage: 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Handaxe: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 - 4 = 4
Damage: 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

"Other end of the axe Steve!"

Steve looks down and realizes he is holding the axe backwards and grins.

Steve looks down and realizes he is holding the axe backwards and grins.

""STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVE!" Rril cries out angrily, before simply shaking his head then reaching down to hold in his guts.

Steve struggles to retaliate with the reptoid holding tightly onto his ear. The assassin reaches up and snatches Steve's other ear in its other clawed hand and yanks the upside-down space goblin downward and into a bear hug, pinning his arms. "Stop squirming and let me kill you!"

Combat! Round 3/4. Bold may act.

Reptoid (-18 hp) (grappling Steve)
Rril (4/24 SP | full HP)
--4--
Steve (1/28 SP | full HP) (grappled)
Antenor

"Bloody hell. DIE ALREADY!" Antenor continues to urge his teammates to Get'em while continuing to fire! ATK: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 6 + 1 = 24 for DMG: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Oops. I didn't change Steve's condition to Pinned in the tracker. -4 to most everything including checks to escape the pin and can't use arms or legs. Can still use mental and verbal actions or Acrobatics to escape.

"Sorry, if anyone is going to kill that little biter, it'll be me!" declares Rril as he fires another shot at the reptoid.

Trick Attack, Bluff w/Spy Spec v red: 1d20 + 12 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 12 + 4 = 33
Ranged (semi-auto pistol, tactical): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Damage (P): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Add Damage if Trick Successful: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Steve squirms as he is pinned down inside of Oonopidae as he tries to wiggle free.

Acrobatics to escape: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

As Steve squirms about the flaming pistol below Oonopidae's shell swings out and sends a gout of flames straight down into the assassin.

Flame Pistol- 20 foot line of fire

Flame Pistol: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Damage (Fire): 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Antenor zaps the reptoid. Rril takes the assassin completely off guard and shoots him in the right side of the chest. The reptoid growls while Steve struggles ineffectually in the powerful alien's grasp and then sprays fire all over the place except his target.

"I see you're the more dangerous foe," the reptoid growls and releases the space goblin. He suddenly lunges at Rril, catching the outlaw by surprise. However, he steps on a puddle of petrol dripping from Steve's gun and slips off course, slamming his claws into the crates against the wall. "Frack!"

Combat! Round 4/5. Bold may act.

Reptoid (-30 hp) (grappling Steve)
Rril (4/24 SP | full HP)
--4--
Steve (1/28 SP | full HP)
Antenor

"Steve, don't you go down. We.... need you. I can't believ eI'm saying it, but we do. Come on!" He simultaneously encourages the party to drop the reptoid with a pot shot of his own, and to keep Steve in the fight. Get'em + Quick Inspiring Boost (10 SP back) + ATK

ATK: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 1 = 13 Sigh

"I see you're the more dangerous foe," the reptoid growls and releases the space goblin. He suddenly lunges at Rril, catching the outlaw by surprise. However, he steps on a puddle of petrol dripping from Steve's gun and slips off course, slamming his claws into the crates against the wall. "Frack!"

"I'm the more lots of things, if you're comparing me to these two." Rril notes, surprising even himself with his air of confidence.

He backs off and raises his pistol again at the reptoid.
Guarded Step
Trick Attack, Bluff w/Spy Spec v red: 1d20 + 12 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 12 + 4 = 17
Ranged (semi-auto pistol, tactical), Get'em: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 7 + 1 = 27
Damage (P): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Add Damage if Trick Successful: 1d8 ⇒ 6

He only half-heartedly tries to fool the scaled foe, but he focuses primarily on landing a good, solid shot.

"Ah!" the reptoid growls and staggers back a step as Rril puts another hole in his torso.

Combat! Round 4/5. Bold may act.

Reptoid (-37 hp; Get 'im!)
Rril (4/24 SP | full HP)
--4--
Steve (11/28 SP | full HP)
Antenor

Steve rolls back to his feet grabbing his hatchet from the ground as he growls, drawing out his pistol in the process. "You have pissed me off now."

"Grah!" the reptoid yells and breaks off at a run out past Antenor and down the hall to the left. (He is 50 feet left of the doorway in the hall off screen. Ignore the token.)

Combat! Round 5/6. Bold may act.

Reptoid (-37 hp; Get 'im!)
Rril (4/24 SP | full HP)
--5--
Steve (11/28 SP | full HP)
Antenor

"Rill, you too! Come on man! Do it for Lors!" Boost on Rril for 10 SP

Antenor takes another shot, hoping to finally bring it down:

ATK: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21 for DMG: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

"For Lors." Rril repeats, rushing ahead as he tries to keep his guts on the inside. Spotting the reptoid down the hallway, he manages to shout, "You've got no where to run!"

Hoping his words will give the reptoid pause, he fires a shot.

Trick Attack, Bluff w/Spy Spec v red: 1d20 + 12 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 12 + 4 = 21
Ranged (semi-auto pistol, tactical): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Damage (P): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Add Damage if Trick Successful: 1d8 ⇒ 8
Add Crit Damage (assuming no successful trick): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Antenor catches the fleeing assassin in the shoulder with his arc pistol, which makes the reptoid stumble but not fall. Rril moves into the hall and, with a loud crack of his pistol, plants a slug through the base of the reptoid's skull. The assassin drops like a sack of UPBs.

A rapid search of the assassin for clues uncovers a datapad (computers to hack).

Status

Antenor
Rril (14/24 SP | full HP)
Steve (11/28 SP | full HP)

"For Lors." Rril repeats, as the reptoid slumps to the ground.

He holsters his pistol and then takes a crack at the datapad.
Computers: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Computers: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24

Steve grabs the datapad and smacks it on the ground a couple of times. "Sometimes these old ones hang up and loop."