[PbP Gameday VII] GM Mjolbeard's SFS 1-12 Ashes of Discovery (Inactive)

Game Master Mjolbeard89

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust...

Dot dot doot.

In strides a tall, four-armed kasatha, a small orb of utter blackness and a clear spindle aeon stone orbiting his elongated head like small moons. He wears a mask that covers his entire face, instead of just his mouth like most others of his race. He wears a variety of melee weapons and a pulsecaster pistol on his belt, and a standard issue backpack that doesn't even look half-full.

"Greetings, fellow Starfinders. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Chirrk Do'Tak, and I am, of course, a solarian." He makes an absent-minded motion towards the graviton orb circling his head. "I look forward to a less, shall we say, publicized mission this time. Don't get me wrong - Zo! is a tremendous personality, but I didn't like the cameras and spotlights always getting in the way!"

A shirrin with brown colouring clacks her mandibles in excitement. She wears well worn, practical clothes and armour, and carries a big knife, and a semi-automatic pistol holstered on her hip. A few healing serums poke out from her pockets, but the backpack over her shoulder looks practically empty. Curiously, she has long brown hair growing atop her head. Whether it is a genetic anomaly or a wig is unclear.

"A mission?" She enquires. Her massive, blue, compound eyes glitter. "Exciting!" she exclaims. Her antennae twitch and quiver in anticipation. "Curious!"

As her fellow Starfinders arrive she claps her hands in glee. "I am Zez'ka. I am very excited for this mission! But my last three missions were terribly horrifying and heart-wrenching! Sad! Suspenseful! SAD!" Her antenna droop in mourning. "I hope this one involves less death and tears. Hopeful!" Her antennae perk right back up. "Who are all of you? I desire to befriend you! Curious! Hopeful!"

She claps her hands as her antennae twitch and quiver towards each of you, starting with Chirrk. "Oh, many wonderful greetings, Chirrk! Happy!"

Frinke drops in wondering if he is in the right place. Frinke reporting for duty and waits for a reply. Not sure what table I'm at

You find yourselves on Absalom Station in the Lorespire Complex, where you are to receive your mission from Guidance

A cluster of sleek black computers rests against the far wall of the meeting room. The Starfinder Society emblem at the center of the server cluster shines and begins projecting a stream of holographic light. The light takes the form of a humanoid figure bereft of any definition, standing at the end of the meeting table closest to the servers.

“Greetings, I am Guidance. I have a new assignment for you. Please observe.”[b] The projection gestures a flicking hand to its side, and a stream of data detailing an outpost made of interconnected circular chambers scrolls beside it. [b]“One of the Pact Worlds’ most prestigious organizations recently discovered a dataset detailing the location of an outpost abandoned over two hundred years ago. The organization has requested that the Starfinder Society dispatch a team of agents to secure the site, along with any remaining equipment or data. Your team will travel to this outpost and retrieve as much information about it as possible. You should also salvage any relevant equipment, which the Society will take as part of its payment. If you have questions, now is the time to present them.”

"An abandoned outpost? Mysterious! Which organization did this outpost once belong to? Where is it located? Curious!" Her antennae quiver in excitement.

A large Naur ducks a little to enter the meeting room, barely keeping his horns from catching on the doorway. His snow white fur stands in stark contrast to his dark armor. He carries a pike nearly as tall as he is, and has a gear bag and rifle slung over his shoulder.

"Hello everyone, I am Asterion.", he introduces himself to the other members of the team, nodding to each in turn.

"Yes, where is it? I assume something which has been lost for so long is not here in the Pact Worlds." Excitement shows in his voice and face. Finally, a mission off of this station!

"Oh, many greetings, Asterion! I am thrilled to be meeting you and desire to befriend you!" She hurries over to Asterion, gives him a handshake, and strokes his face with her antennae. "Joy!"

An ysoki saunters into the briefing hall. Speck is covered with rather nondescript brown fur. In fact, it can be rather patchy at places, but he makes no real attempt to hide whatever is exposed beyond his second skin armor. Exposed across his forehead and down his right eye is a cybernetic implant but what exactly it does is not immediately clear. Another newer one is exposed at the back of his head. Interesting, across his neck hangs a wood-carved holy symbol of Weydan. As he enters, you notice him unconsciously touching the symbol, as if still getting used to something.

Seeing the gathering, he quickly shakes himself out of his reverie, putting back on a familiar cynical grin. "Good day to you all," he calls out in a with a faint of a smirk. "Name's Speck, Speck Zezener but no one calls me by my full name. So please don't start. Anyway, and why would this prestigious organisation suddenly be interested in a long-lost outpost?"

I've both ran and played this scenario.

"An abandoned outpost? Mysterious! Which organization did this outpost once belong to? Where is it located? Curious!" Her antennae quiver in excitement.

Guidance turns to face Zez'ka as they answer the shirren's question, “The outpost belongs to Veylen Enterprises. Veylen Enterprises is a sizable corporation that came into prominence during the post-Drift colonization rush. Originally a tool and equipment manufacturer, Veylen Enterprises became famous for making inexpensive modular building designs, which are still used today by many colonists. This outpost, located on a planet designated Colony-753, was a sample showpiece for prospective colonists to view."

"Indeed, Asterion Neleus,” they continue, turning to the nuar, "Colony-753 is not among the Pact Worlds, but is located in the Vast."

Turning next to Speck, Guidance provides details for why the Society was hired for this mission, “The exact reason for the site's abandonment remains unknown—and part of the reason you’re all needed to investigate the site. Records indicate the outpost confirmed its arrival and establishment with Veylen Enterprises, but since then there have been limited communications. No reports or responses have been received in over two hundred years.”

"Intriguing! Do we know what kind of planet Colony-753 is?" Zez'ka exclaims. "Curious!"

Guidance pulls up a hologram of the planet, which rotates peacefully as they describe its known characteristics. "Colony-753 is a Class M planet with Pact Standard gravity and large, rocky deserts. Initial reports from the colonists that established the outpost indicate that the atmosphere possessed a quality that made it disruptive to technology, causing technological devices to operate irregularly."

"Beyond the environment of the planet, it is unknown what threats may exist at the outpost. You should prepare for many possibilities, such as pirates, large predators, hostile native cultures, or supernatural events."

"How ominous!" Zez'ka exclaims. Her antennae quiver in anticipation. "Excited!"

I have no more questions.

Guidance looks back and forth among your group as many of you fall quiet, "If there are no further questions, then I will begin arranging your travel. For this mission, you have been authorized use of a Drake or a Pegasus class starship. Both starship frames can complete this assignment. Please consider the following advantages when making your decision: Drake frames have greater firepower, whereas Pegasus starships are equipped with advanced science labs and sensors. As always, to optimize the chances of completing the assignment, it is recommended that each Starfinder team choose a ship that covers any area of weakness. However, the final decision is based on your personal preference. Safe travels, Starfinders. And remember: Explore, Report, and Cooperate!" The holographic figure salutes you, then blinks out of existence.

We'll go ahead and begin moving things forward now. If you have any additional questions, feel free to post them, and I'll answer retroactively.
You should also decide among yourselves which ship you would like to take for this mission. If you have another ship available through a boon, that is also an option. This would also be a good time to pick your starship roles. This scenario does have the Starship tag, so there will be a starship combat!
Finally, now is the time to do any final purchases for your mission as well as to slot your boons. Please post purchases and boons in the Discussion thread for easier reference.

Zez'ka votes for the Pegasus, and wants to be the Science Officer. She could also be a gunner.

"Zez'ka is it?" he replies, struggling a little with the pronunciation. "Good to meet you."

No further questions
--
Pegasus gets my vote as well. Asterion is a decent pilot (+8), Engineer (+7) or gunner (+3).

Speck raises an eyebrow on hearing the conditions on the planet, and touches his cybernetics implants cautiously. "Hope these won't be a problem..."

Speck is fine with any ship. His appropriate roles in decreasing order are: science officer (+11), engineering officer (+10), gunner (+5), pilot (+8).

A second ysoki scampers into the room, slightly winded. Cournae is dressed in functional but voluminous robes, giving off an air of supernatural academia.

"Apologies for my lateness. I had another pressing engagement." Tapping a few buttons on the console, she replays Guidance's briefing at 1.5x speed. "200 years is hardly archaeology, but I'll take it!"

Fresh out of her last session, Cournae is here! I'm fine with either ship, but Cournae is really only suited for the role of engineer (+7).

Grumbling to himself while chewing one end of a cigar, a blond-haired dwarf stumbles into the room. His traveling clothes and armor are covered in patches of gray dust, and he smells faintly of ether.

"Ah! Sorry'm late," he says before he removes the cigar from his mouth. "I just disembarked from my last assignment. We're off to another archaeological site, right? Received a briefing on my robocab ride over from the hangar. Don't know why I could'na just waited there."

After about a week and a half of drift travel, you finally emerge into the Vast at the coordinates provided to you for Colony-753. As the destination planet appears on the starship’s main viewscreen, alarms suddenly blare. A slender form emerges from the distant void, slithering from out of the planet’s shadow. It moves directly toward the starship, as if drawn to it.

Begin Starship Combat!

Looks like either Asterion or Speck will be our Pilot, and they have the same Piloting bonus, so I'll use their score for your roll. Let me know if you want me to do something different moving forward.
Yellow Initiative: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28
Starfinder (green) Initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Starfinders move first!

Players' Turn
Engineer (if any)
Pilot movement and maneuvers
Science Officer (if any)
Captain (if any)

Cournae will take the role of engineer, since that's basically all she can do.

Cournae applies herself to the console in front of her, siphoning extra power from nonessential systems and boosting it into the sensors.

Engineering check to Divert (Sensors): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Seems we have lots of engineers, science officers and pilots, but no captain or gunners.

Mordin is a gunner by virtue of the Mystic Guidance System starship boon.

"What in the blazes is that?" Mordin says, his cigar nearly dropping out of his mouth as the giant space snake appears on screen.

Speck plays best as Science Officer (+11), but is quite versatile so will hop around from round to round as necessary. Might be good to firm things up in the discussion thread? Also, think we're find without captain.

life science: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14 Oops, failed this. Anyone else can do it? Multiple people can take science officer roles, especially since this is before combat.
Speck attempts to get a reading of the object but it is too bizarre for him."Woah, what is that? I've never seen anything like that before."

---

"Thanks for the power boost, Cournae! Let's see what the scanners can tell us about the attacking ship."
science officer, scan, ship bonus: 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 11 + 2 + 2 = 25

Asterion takes the ship around a wide arc before turn back to face the creature. "I'm going to try and keep that thing in front of us and at a distance until we know what it is and what it can do."

Evade: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 1 = 23

"Whatever it is, I'll be ready t'blast it," the dwarf says, hurriedly spooling up the targeting interface on his monitor.

Zez'ka's antennae quiver in anticipation. "Oh, my! How horrible! I hope we can scare it off before it devours us! Worried!" Seeing Mordin man the turret, Zez'ka hurries over to the secondary gunners console and prepares the forward, port, and starboard weapons for battle.

"Ready to engage, Captain! Confident!"

The creature begins to move toward your original position, but as you move to keep away from it, it turns smoothly in midst of its path toward you and makes a beeline toward your new position!

Onboard your ship, the activity of starship battle begins in earnest as Cournae diverts power to the ship's sensors. With the additional power at his disposal, Speck is easily able to scan the beast, and his sensors bring up the following readout:

BESMARAN WHELP
Equivalent: Medium starship aberration
Speed 10; Maneuverability good (+1 Piloting, turn 2)
AC 13; TL 11
HP 55; No shields
Attack (Forward) energy drain bite +3 (special); Breath Attack +8 (3d4)
Attack (Port) claws +3 (3d4)
Power Core: Besmaran whelp heart (150 PCU)

With the enemy drawing closer, Asterion carefully navigates to evade the whelp.

Despite his efforts, the whelp manages to strike out with one of its enercycle-sized clawed fins. The claws strike against your ship's starboard shields and seem to rend them, though they manage to hold.

Starfinder Gunners may post

Zez'ka takes aim with one of the side laser cannons and fires at the beast!

Attack: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 4 + 1 = 17
Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6

"Direct hit*! Proud!"

* I hope... Haha.

Frinke just sits and waits, since there is no gun for him to fire.

Wrong table Frinke :)

Mordin channels mystical energy into the targeting system and tries to get a bead on a vital portion of the space dragon.

Coilgun Turret, Duonode: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 1 = 15
Coilgun: 4d4 ⇒ (4, 2, 4, 4) = 14

Looking over Speck's scan results, Cournae grips her seat tightly as the Besmaran whelp's claw strikes the starboard shields.

"Distance! I think we need distance," she squeaks, only somewhat nervous. Applying herself to her tools, she manages to supercharge the engine exhaust, only barely managing to avoid overheating the delivery manifolds.

Round 2 Engineering Phase
Engineering check to Divert (Engines): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
I believe that's a success (barely), increasing the ship's speed to 12.

Both Zez'ka and Mordin take advantage of the whelp's proximity and drive shots into the creature's body.

20 points of damage! Crossed 1 critical threshold!

Crit effect: 1d100 ⇒ 53 Propulsion glitching: -2 to all pilot actions

As the blasts from Zez'ka and Mordin impact on the whelp, the beast attempts to turn out of the way, but the blasts catch one of its clawed fins, and the fin seems to go somewhat limp, hindering its maneuverability.

Round 1 Summary
Starfinders: 0hp damage, Port shields at 1/10
Besmaran Whelp: 20hp damage, propulsion glitching

The whelp, realizing that its fin is misaligned, flaps and stretches the appendage until it seems to work normally again. Successfully patched propulsion

Meanwhile, Cournae diverts power the Pegasus's engines. Perhaps now you can get some distance from the whelp and keep away from those claws.

Whelp (yellow) initiative: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
Starfinder (green) initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Enemy wins initiative. Starfinders move first!

As you rev up your engines to blast away from the creature, Speck's terminal flashes, and an icon indicating an incoming update appears above the readout about the creature.

INCOMING UPDATE....
UPDATE RECEIVED...
BESMARAN WHELP
Equivalent: Medium starship aberration
Speed 10; Maneuverability good (+1 Piloting, turn 2)
AC 15; TL 11
HP 55; No shields
Attack (Forward) energy drain bite +3 (special); Breath Attack +8 (3d4)
Attack (Port) claws +3 (3d4)
Power Core: Besmaran whelp heart (150 PCU)

Sorry, forgot that should be on there. This whelp appears to have a particularly thick hide!

Players' Turn
Captain (if any)
Pilot move and maneuver roll
Science Officer

Not that it would help the initiative these past two rounds, but don't we get another +1 from the ship for piloting?

Asterion lets out a "whoop", as the extra speed kicks in. "Hold on tight!" He blasts straight away from the beast before turning back around to face it.

Evade: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 8 + 1 = 25

Mordin grips the manual controls tightly as their ship dances with the space dragon, waiting for an opening.

The space-shark Besmaran Whelp propels itself smoothly forward and turns its ship-sized body back around to face you. It opens its jaws wide sending out a blast of crackling energy toward you!

Breath Weapon, second range increment: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (5) + 8 - 2 = 11

Thankfully, the attack misses its mark, leaving the beast open for a counterattack!

Players' Turn
Captain (if any)
Science Officer
Gunners

Since Cournae diverted power to the engines, Speck shall hop over to Engineering for this round to restore shields.

"Woah, that was a big hit to our shields. Cournae, you boosting the engines? Let me take care of the shields then."

engineering, divert to shields: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
Restore 7 to port shields.

"Let'er have it!" Mordin calls out to his fellow gunner.

"Roger, that!" Zez'ka exclaims. She activates the forward guns and fires the laser cannon!

Attack: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 4 + 1 = 25 (Whooo! Critical hit!)
Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7

"Oh, joyous! Another perfect shot! PROUD!"

Speck plays it safe and restores some power to the shields.

Meanwhile Mordin and Zez'ka continue to fire on the Besmaran whelp. The whelp evades Mordin's attack, but, in doing so, moves right into Zez'ka's line of fire. She finds a vulnerable spot on the whelp's belly and blasts the beast.

That's a critical hit AND you crossed another crit threshold!
Crit effect: 1d100 ⇒ 80 Heart is glitching (-2 to all engineering checks)
Crit effect: 1d100 ⇒ 20 Weapons array (-2 to one weapon system)
Weapon (1=bite, 2=breath, 3=starboard claw, 4=tail, 5=port claw): 1d5 ⇒ 4 Tail glitching

Round 2 Summary
Starfinders: 0hp damage, Port shields at 8/10
Besmaran Whelp: 27hp damage, heart glitching, tail weapon glitching

Starfinder (green) initiative: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 8 + 1 = 16
Whelp (yellow) initiative: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
Enemy wins initiative. Starfinders move first!

Round 3 Players' Turn
Captain (if any)
Engineer
Pilot move and maneuver roll
Science officer (if any)

Cournae tires to keep the extra engine power running, allowing the Starfinder ship to keep the danger-whale at a safe distance.

Engineering check to Divert (Engines): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

"You're going to spoil me with all this speed, Cournae!" Asterion continues his run, turn and evade tactics.

Evade: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 8 + 1 = 29

The whelp continues to chase down its prey, moving straight for your deadly forward arc, despite the danger. As it comes toward you, it once again opens its mouth wide and fires a beam of energy toward you.

Breath Weapon, second range increment: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 8 - 2 = 13 Miss, due to your evasion!

Once again, the attack fails to connect with your ship at all! This is just not looking good for this whelp's diet.

Round 3 Players' Turn
Captain (if any)
Science officer (if any)
Gunner(s)

"Nice flyin', nuar," Mordin says as the ship rolls around the space dragon's energy ray. He tries to guide the turret fire at a vulnerable spot on the beast.

"Cournae, you work to boost our speed. Let me see what I can do to slow it down!" Reconfiguring the computer system to target a living being instead, Speck sends pulses of electromagnetic blast to target the giant shark's nervous system that controls its flight.

target system, propulsion: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 11 + 2 = 18 Crit on 19 or 20. And next crit affects propulsion system