Kadlos' bluff check succeeds against the gray skinned woman, so she'll be flat-footed until the end of his next turn.
The gray woman falls prone as the whole are around her is covered in grease. The merc next to her (#2) manages to remain standing, barely.
Next the two mercs take shots at Rik and Oraeth.
for
for
But they both miss. Next up is Mobius!
Initiative Tracker:
Oraeth
Boss (Prone, Flat Footed)
Rik (4 Stamina Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1
Merc 2 (Standing in Grease)
Ready to Act -> Mobius
Merc 3
Tamerriv (4 Stamina Damage)
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Mobius draws his laser rifle and takes aim at Merc 3. "Let's hope you gave me the right information regarding this fellow."
vs EAC for
Mobius smiles triumphantly as he hits the mercenary square on the chest.
Mobius curses under his breath as his laser hits nothing but dirt. A minor miscalculation. Shouldn't happen again.
Sadly, that's a miss. Merc 3 dodges out of the way and returns fire.
for .
That shot connects for 2 stamina damage.
Next up are both Tamerriv and Oraeth.
Initiative Tracker:
Ready to Act -> Oraeth
Boss (Prone, Flat Footed)
Rik (4 Stamina Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1
Merc 2 (Standing in Grease)
Mobius (2 Stamina Damage)
Merc 3
Ready to Act -> Tamerriv (4 Stamina Damage)
Tamerriv connects with a resounding blow from her Solar Hammer, leaving Merc number 1 reeling but still up.
Next up is Oraeth.
Initiative Tracker:
Ready to Act -> Oraeth
Boss (Prone, Flat Footed)
Rik (4 Stamina Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1 (8 Damage)
Merc 2 (Standing in Grease)
Mobius (2 Stamina Damage)
Merc 3
Tamerriv (4 Stamina Damage)
Oraeth's shot goes wide, hitting a particularly large and elaborate tree off to the left of his target mercenary.
At this point, the gray skinned woman yells out in rage "Grease! That doesn't seem at all necessary!", she then tries to get up...
and has absolutely no problem with it. She then proceeds to slide past Tamarriv, attempting to bite the enormous insect as she does!
for
Her ichor drenched teeth sink deeply into Tamerriv's shoulder, she needs to make a Fort save.
At this point, Kadlos takes a shot at her with his Pulsecaster pistol, but perhaps due to his caution to avoid hitting Tamerriv he misses.
Rik, you're up next!
Initiative Tracker:
Oraeth
Boss
Ready to Act -> Rik (4 Stamina Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1 (8 Damage)
Merc 2 (Standing in Grease)
Mobius (2 Stamina Damage)
Merc 3
Tamerriv (10 Stamina Damage, Needs a Fort save vs bad things)
Ok, that passes the Fort save, so no more bad things for the big telepathic bug.
Merc 1 ducks low to avoid a feinting blow from Tamerriv, causing Rik's shot to miss. He then drops his pistol and pulls out an assault hammer and takes a swing at the Shirren!
for Bludgeoning.
Meanwhile, Merc 2 tries to move out of the grease spell:
.
He fails though, and falls prone instead, spending the remainder of his turn flailing around in the grease.
Next up is Mobius! (Tamerriv can also take an action if she wants, since Merc 3 is unlikely to do anything that's relevant to her.)
Initiative Tracker:
Oraeth
Boss
Rik (4 Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1 (8 Damage)
Merc 2 (Prone in Grease)
Ready to Act -> Mobius (2 Damage)
Merc 3
Ready to Act -> Tamerriv (17 Damage)
Ok, so Mobius tags the grey woman with a glancing shot, eliciting a disturbing growl in is direction.
Then Merc 3 takes a shot at him: for , but his shot misses.
After that, Tamerriv takes an enormous swing at Merc 1, taking him out entirely.
Next up is Oraeth!
Initiative Tracker:
Ready to act -> Oraeth
Boss (1 Damage)
Rik (4 Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1 (Dead)
Merc 2 (Prone in Grease)
Mobius (2 Damage)
Merc 3
Tamerriv (17 Damage)
Oreath's shot misses wildly. It's just not his day.
Next up is the gray skinned woman, who, enraged that Mobius dared to shoot at her, turns, takes aim with her laser pistol, and fires at him.
This will provoke an attack of opportunity from Tamerriv, which we will resolve as soon as she's able to post. In the meantime, for
Next up are Rik and Kadlos, along with Tamerriv's opportunity attack!
Initiative Tracker:
Oraeth
Boss (1 Damage)
Ready to act -> Rik (4 Damage)
Ready to act -> Kadlos
Merc 1 (Dead)
Merc 2 (Prone in Grease)
Mobius (4 Damage)
Merc 3
Attack of Opportunity -> Tamerriv (17 Damage)
Ok, Tamerriv misses with her opportunity attack, although it's a near thing. Rik hits the prone guard dead center, wounding him badly but not killing him.
Still waiting Kadlos.
Initiative Tracker:
Oraeth
Boss (1 Damage)
Rik (4 Damage)
Ready to act -> Kadlos
Merc 1 (Dead)
Merc 2 (8 Damage, Prone in Grease)
Mobius (4 Damage)
Merc 3
Tamerriv (17 Damage)
Kaldos shocks the gray skinned woman with a jolt of electricity She doesn't seem to enjoy it at all!
Next up, Merc 2, who's prone in the grease tries to stand up again: . He fails, falling face first on the ground again.
Next up is Mobius, and Tamerriv if she wishes to do something that doesn't interact terribly much with Merc 3.
Initiative Tracker:
Oraeth
Boss (3 Damage)
Rik (4 Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1 (Dead)
Merc 2 (8 Damage, Prone in Grease)
Ready to Act -> Mobius (4 Damage)
Merc 3
Ready to Act -> Tamerriv (17 Damage)
Umm, I'm pretty sure you were doing it right before. The SRD says:
When you enter photon mode, you gain 1 photon attunement point and become photon-attuned.
And then:
At the start of each subsequent turn of combat, you must choose to either stay in your current stellar mode or to become unattuned. If you choose to stay in your mode, you gain another attunement point for that mode.
So I'm pretty sure you should be fully attuned now.
Anyway, Mobius lines up a good shot with his laser rifle, tagging the boss for 3 points of damage.
In response, Merc 3 takes a shot at Mobius: for That's a crit, so . Ouch.
Next, Tamerriv's desperate attack connects with the gray skinned woman! She's pretty seriously wounded now.
Oraeth is up next!
Initiative Tracker:
Ready to act -> Oraeth
Boss (14 Damage)
Rik (4 Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1 (Dead)
Merc 2 (8 Damage, Prone in Grease)
Mobius (12 Damage)
Merc 3
Tamerriv (17 Damage)
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Greetings. It has been greater than 24 hours since the last action was taken in this combat. The CharBotr 3000 will be engaged if no further progress has been made by 9am Eastern time tomorrow.
Ok, to keep things moving along I'll bot Oraeth.
As the gray skinned woman reels from Mobius' laser blast Oraeth keeps his eye out for an opening:
He fails to find a good one, but takes a shot anyway out of frustration: , hitting for
The boss turns and returns fire at him, prompting another Opportunity Attack from Tamerriv.
But that's a miss. We'll now resolve Tamerriv's OA as well as Rik and after them Kadlos' pre-arranged move.
Initiative Tracker:
Oraeth
Boss (16 Damage)
Ready to Act -> Rik (4 Damage)
Kadlos
Merc 1 (Dead)
Merc 2 (8 Damage, Prone in Grease)
Mobius (12 Damage)
Merc 3
Ready to Act (OA) -> Tamerriv (17 Damage)
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Seeing an opportunity as the boss lady fires at Oraeth, Tamerriv strikes out!
Tamerriv desperately tries again to put the boss down before she has a chance to strike back herself.
She moves to a spot just outside the grease, within 10 ft of both remaining Mercs.
Her Photon attunement pulses with power.
As soon as they hear Tamerriv's voice in their minds the two remaining mercs drop their weapons and put up their hands. Shortly after the fight concludes the authorities show up and take the mercs into custody. It's likely they'll be out of lock up shortly, but for now they aren't your problem. Before they arrive, you're able to find a datapad on the boss (who turns out to be a Ghoul named Exegara).
A quick examination of the datapad reveals Exegara's personal log. She was a member of the Corpse Fleet and traveled aboard a vessel called the Endless Threnody that picked up the distress call of a Starfinder vessel. The Corpse Fleet ship traveled to the Starfinder vessel’s crash site on a desert planet and acquired several treasures, including the Starfinder insignias. Before the Endless Threnody could get into the Drift, it was surprised and crippled by a pirate ship identified as the Lawblight. The Endless Threnody now floats in the Drift, unable to leave, and Exegara was dispatched to acquire repair materials.
The datapad contains the coordinates of the Endless Threnody within the drift, but lacks any information about the actual location of the planet the Starfinder ship went down on. Hopefully you can retrieve that from the Threnody itself.
While the authorities are taking care of the mercs you are thanked profusely by the Ysoki proprietors of the Vat Gardens, who provide you each with a bulb of Anti-Toxin in thanks.
Venture-Captain Arvin is pleased with the way you followed up on this lead so quickly. He asks you to follow this mystery further by finding the Endless Threnody. He also encourages you to keep the Starfinder insignias for now, and explains their basic function—hinting that you might need the insignias in the future.
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"I wonder..."
Rik stops for a moment, dramatically.
"I wonder if some of you might want to have a rest. Because, you know, you might want to be healed and rested when we enter the ship full of ghouls or undead or whatever. Are ghouls undead? I don't know, never met one. Once I met a guy who liked to sleep in a casket, but he was no undead. At least not that I have knowledge of. So what, are you guys for a beer and a relaxing dinner? I wouldn't mind going to..."
Goes on and on and on.
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Kadlos holsters his pulsecaster, somewhat disappointed with his showing the unavoidable battle. At least he kept himself out of the fray, but definitely in need of stocking up on ways to support his fellow party members.
He makes some notes on his comm device after the party dissects the datapad, then closes it down and turns to the Ysoki family. "They proved no small trouble, but I am glad that we could preserve your property from further damage. You have the Starfinder Society to thank - we'll be sure to pass along your gratitude to our Venture Captain."
Kadlos then pats Rik on the shoulder and says, "I agree with you all - no reason to let these Corpse Fleet villains make a fool of our society. Also, a drink and dinner would do me well, though I'll want to grab a few items before we report for duty."
On the way back to the Lorespire , Kadlos stops at a dispensary and picks up two ampoules of serum of healing to help with any further combats they find themselves in.
You've been asked to meet the venture captain in one of the arms of the station, where he's supposed to show you to your new ship:
Venture-Captain Arvin stands next to the entry ramp of a sleek-looking starship. He waves his hands over the side of the starship affectionately. “This is the Loreseeker, a Pegasus-class ship that’s one of the fastest and lightest in the Society’s fleet.
"We know that a lost Starfinder vessel, the Unbounded Wayfarer, was discovered by undead creatures from a starship called the Endless Threnody. We’ve pulled some strings with our more reputable Eoxian contacts to get more information, but they’ve disavowed knowledge of the Endless Threnody entirely; this likely confirms our suspicions that the Endless Threnody is connected with the Corpse Fleet, a group of Eoxian separatists who refuse to work alongside the living."
"We have the location of the Endless Threnody in the Drift, courtesy of that ghoul you tracked down. Its Drift engine is incapacitated, so it’s unable to escape the Drift. Take the Loreseeker into the Drift, cripple the Eoxian ship—as a Corpse Fleet vessel, they won’t be open to negotiations—and recover the location of the lost Starfinder vessel."
"Any Questions?"
Also, Corpse Fleet vessels are frequently airless vessels festooned with bone spikes and powered by magic as well as technology.
Yes, sir. Do we have any intelligence on the nature and capabilities of the Endless Threnody? I'm assuming a frontal assault will end badly. Is there any recommended way of landing a boarding party unnoticed?
"We only know that its Drift engine is damaged, so it’s unable to leave the Drift. The fact that its agent was prevented from acquiring replacement parts means its Drift engine is probably still offline. But you should assume that its armaments and other systems are operational. As a freighter, it’s unlikely to be bristling with weapons, but be careful."
"Some of my comrades are severely injured. Can they be healed somehow?"
"Judging from the coordinates you recovered, the outbound trip will take quite some time, so you should have plenty of time to recover from your recent heroics."
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Another unavoidable conflict, it seems, Kadlos sighs to himself. Shaking his head, he steps up to inspect the hull of the Loreseeker, while sharing absently, "We should all prepare for hard vacuum if we have to board their ship to directly retrieve the coordinates from their computers. The undead have no need of air - saves us from having to target their life support systems, I suppose."
He turns away from the ship and to Arvin. "After retrieving, the coordinates, we'll return here, correct? Or do you want us to begin an immediate investigation?"
After Arvin's response, Kadlos goes on board and drops his things in the crew quarters before proceeding to the bridge and familiarizing himself with the control panels there.
He turns away from the ship and to Arvin. "After retrieving, the coordinates, we'll return here, correct? Or do you want us to begin an immediate investigation?"
"You can make contact with Starfinder HQ via the ship's communications array once you've retrieved the coordinates, then we can figure out what to do next."
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Oraeth frowns and nods, "So we'll want to take out their weapons to allow boarding and probably engines to prevent them following us back to the desert planet once we have its location. Their drift engine is out, but they will still be capable of conventional travel and maneuvering. They must be near enough to the planet to return if they realize that is where we will be heading."
"Is the ship equipped with space suits or will we need to provide our own? Any idea what size crew a freighter like this typically carries?" The lashunta nods at Kadlos and his antennae glow softly with the gesture, " Hacking it from their ship sounds like the most reasonable approach. Breach just far enough to gain access and one of us can hack the datafiles while the rest of us hold the position. In and out as fast as possible."
The venture captain looks around, and points out "Everyone in the room is wearing armor that can serve as a space suit, so I'm pretty sure you'll be fine. As for the crew, it's difficult to say when you're talking about a ship run by the undead. They could have anything from a skeleton crew to a lich crew. I jest, of course. It's probably a limited crew, this isn't a troop carrier, after all."
Assuming there are no more questions, you depart on your new ship (the Loreseeker, a Pegasus class starship) shortly after the meeting.
It takes 13 days to reach the coordinates you were given, but when you arrive the Endless Threnody does not appear to be there. Apparently it was able to link away.
Whoever's manning the Science Officer's station should make a Computers check (with a +2 bonus from the Loreseeker's sensors) to see if you can find where it's gone.