[SFS] GM Mjolbeard's "Into the Unknown" Quest Series (Inactive)

Game Master Mjolbeard89

"Apart from the Drift engine being broken, any confirmation on the condition of the Endless Threnody?"

Arvin answers the question seriously, “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. Now then, Master Filament is correct. The ship may have lost Drift capability for the time being, but it still has its main engines from what we know, so you'd best be on your way. Best of luck, Starfinders!”

With that, you board the Loreseeker, depart from Absalom Station, and make your way toward the coordinates for the location of the Endless Threnody you obtained from Exegara's data pad.

You arrive at the location detailed in Exegara's files after a relatively brief 11 days of travel in the Drift, but find that Filament was correct. Your target appears to have limped off a little ways in the Drift, but it is not currently in sight. You will have to use the Loreseeker's scanners to locate the Endless Threnody, hopefully before they locate you.

Dusty, as the ship's Science Officer, will you please roll a Computers check, with an additional +2 bonus from the ship's systems?
Also, thank you to all of you for being proactive about setting up starship combat roles. For your display of initiative, I'm granting you a +2 circumstance bonus on your first Piloting roll...for Initiative!

Can the Captain attempt an Encourage or Demand action to assist with the Computers check? Since we are traveling, would another PC be able to man the Science station and either assist with the check or attempt a second one? (Not that I doubt Dusty's abilities, but it never hurts!)

Dusty pointedly scans the surrounding space for their quarry.

Computers: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 8 + 2 = 23

"The Endless Threnody has moved, unless we find it we will never know what happened to the list Starfinder! DUSTY, what do you see in the scanners?"

I'm going Encourage using Computer to aid Dusty:
Computers Skill: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

On the flight there, Flint spend his time getting familiar with the gunnery station. Over the course of the trip piles of food wrappers are discarded near the gunnery station, and what seems to be a residue of a long forgotten drink is near by. But the actual control panel looks shinny and new.

"Right Cap'n. Guns a ready!"

Tchisk stands ready to chart a course as soon as one is given.

During the time in transit, Tchisk would familiarize himself with each position's layout in case he needed to change positions.

Throughout the trip, Kaiole will make little quality of life improvements to the interior of the ship. Adding a set of cabinets here, removing some closed off areas there, little ship equivalents to 'home improvements'.

If anyone asks him why he bothers, he replies, "Gotta keep my dayjob skills sharp even when off on a Starfinder mission, y'know?"

Dusty sends a signal out into the Drift, searching for some sign of the Endless Threnody. Thankfully, Ningth reminds the halfling to divert power away from the life sensors, since the ship will be full of undead, and the redirected search for magical signatures pings back a reading. With a heading available for him to follow, Tchisk plots an intersecting trajectory and puts the Loreseeker's engines to work in moving toward the signature.

A few hours later, the Eoxian freighter comes into view. It is a massive vessel made of bone and steel. The front of the ship is a single enormous red lens, appearing as a sullen, bloody eye. The ship bristles with bone protrusions, as though it were some horned, skeletal beast. Some of the bones are charred and broken, indicating past battle damage. Laser cannons protrude from the front and sides of the freighter; but its rear weapon mounts are a twisted wreck. Gaps between the bones show the ship’s interior, but this is not from battle damage—this ship was never intended to accommodate living creatures.

PILOT, ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!

@Tchisk, you literally can't lose initiative this round due to my rolls for the Threnody. I'm going to move ahead with the piloting phase for the Threnody.

The undead captain shouts in his pilot's ear to get the ship turned around to face the enemy.
The pilot of the Endless Threnody attempts a rather daring maneuver for such a bulky ship in order to bring its forward weapons around. With the extra motivation from his captain, the pilot actually succeeds!

INITIATIVE
Bold may post!
Endless Threnody Piloting
Loreseeker Piloting
Captains may act during any phase
Science Officer, Engineering, Gunnery

"Excellent! This should be just a quick trip and then back to Absalom Station."

Not done starship combat before. Let me see if I have this right.

Tchisk quickly realizes he can't get back into the Threnody's aft arc right now, so he decides to go max speed directly at her while jinking to throw off any return fire.
Piloting: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29 Evade DC13?
I moved ship forward 10 hexes.

Not done starship combat before. Let me see if I have this right.

Tchisk quickly realizes he can't get back into the Threnody's aft arc right now, so he decides to go max speed directly at her while jinking to throw off any return fire.
[dice=Piloting]1d20+9 Evade DC13?
I moved ship forward 10 hexes.

This first check is just for initiative for the round. If you win (which I'm guessing you will with a natural 20), we'll move second, which allows us to put ourselves into a strategic position (such as the rear arc of the enemy ship, where the weapons are visibly damaged according to the GM's description). You'll also be able to use stunts, such as evasive maneuvers, during the piloting phase after the science officer and engineer act, but I'd recommend just getting behind the ship while keeping it in our forward arc so our gunners can attack it.

In other words, don't move our ship until after the enemy ship, assuming we won initiative.

"Good job Dusty! You live up to your reputation."

"There the Threnody is, shields up and lock on target!"

Depending on how the Threnody moves I'll ether likely going to wait to help out the gunner. Let's see what happens.

The Initiative phase was skipped due to the GM's very low roll.

I believe the engineering phase was skipped, so here's Kaiole's action this round

Engineering, Divert to engines DC13: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Kaiole successfully diverts power to the engines, giving Tchisk 2 additional speed this turn.

Tchisk, you can move an additional 2 hexes

The Initiative phase was skipped due to the GM's very low roll.

Aha, sorry, I missed that. If the enemy ship has already moved, then pilot away! I’ll post my science officer turn tomorrow when I have steadier internet.

Tchisk is correct. I rolled a 1 on my initiative, and with Tchisk's piloting skills and the +2 circumstance bonus I mentioned before, you guys literally could not lose initiative, so I went ahead and moved the Threnody.
@Kaiole - Sorry for skipping the engineering round! I forgot that comes first.

Done moving, including Dusty's help.

Unless we need them for other things, can we default to using the computer's two +1 bonuses on the gunners' checks? I feel like we need to bring this bad boy down fast, and as long as we can stay in the rear arc we'll be relatively safe.

Dusty rapidly begins clicking buttons and switches, zeroing in on the Threnody's remaining thrusters. "Locking on to their propulsion, let's cripple them once and for all."

Computers (target lock on thrusters): 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 2 = 16

"Ok, crew let's take her out hard and fast. This should be an easy shot for Flint. Take out their engines and find those StarFinders!"

Ningth will try aid Flint. He brings up a HUD and discreetly labels the enemy engines as priority targets, so that Flint can just worry about shooting the darn thing

Gunnery check to aid with just be a DC10.
Gunnery to aid Flint: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9 and fails.

Flit deftly adjusts the targeting computers and then fires the coil gun.

Gunnery with Computer Bonus: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 1 = 13
Coil Gun Damage: 4d4 ⇒ (1, 1, 4, 4) = 10

When Flint commences firing, Master Filament follows suit.

Gunnery with Other Computer Bonus: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4
light laser cannon damage: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5

It seemed that the second computer bonus was still free this round. For future rounds, I suggest that one bonus go to the Pilot and the second to the primary Gunner.

That works. I saw that it was not used so I took it anyway. But I good either way

I believe I failed to clarify, but you guys are the Red ship, and the Threnody is the Purple ship. We'll leave it as is for now , but we'll move forward with that knowledge on hand.

ROUND 1 SUMMARY

Engineering

Kaiole, seeing the enemy is at some distance from the Loreseeker, adds some extra thrust to the engines to help close the gap.

Meanwhile, the Threnody's engineer diverts power to its forward weapon, the massive, glowing red lens on the front of the ship.

Piloting

The undead pilot turns the ship about to face her enemy.

In return, Tchisk bum rushes the ship and throws in a bit of serpentine action to throw off the enemy's aim.

Science Officer

The science office aboard the Threnody tries to scan your ship, but the system just won't work for her.

Dusty has similarly poor luck with his own systems and fails to lock on to the enemy ship's thrusters.

Gunners

Flint unleashes a blast from the coilgun and blasts a hole in the forward section of the unshielded hull of the undead ship. Master Filament fires as well, but his shot goes wide of its mark.

The Threnody returns fire with its forward heavy laser cannon. The giant lens on the front of the ship glows red for a moment, and a wide beam of energy smashes through space and into the Loreseeker, tearing through its forward shields and punching into its hull. The damage is powerful enough to overload the power core, causing it to spark and glitch.

The power core is now glitching, putting a -2 on all Engineering actions except Hold it Together and Patch.

INITIATIVE
Pilot roll initiative
Engineer

After that rocking hint. "Not to be a back seat driver, but maybe we should try to stay out of their front arc. Looks like they have no shields so we can hit from any where."

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that shot did not yet cause critical damage. The ship's critical threshold is 11 and if we took 20 points of damage, then 10 was applied to the shields and 10 to our hull - just 1 point shy of critical damage. Of course, the next hull hit will definitely trigger critical damage...

"Woah!! Guys, think we can hit them back just as hard??"

Turning his attention back to the ship, Kaiole says, "C'mon, hold it together baby!!"

Engineering, Divert to Shields DC13, glitching -2: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 7 - 2 = 14
Seven shield points restored to fore.

Dusty rocks in his station from the force of the blow. "Yes, let's stay in their rear arc moving forward. Doesn't look like they can counterattack from there." He attempts to rebalance the shields, moving excess energy from the other three arcs to fully restore the forward arc.

Computers: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 7 + 2 = 24

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that shot did not yet cause critical damage. The ship's critical threshold is 11 and if we took 20 points of damage, then 10 was applied to the shields and 10 to our hull - just 1 point shy of critical damage. Of course, the next hull hit will definitely trigger critical damage...

The engineer actually diverted power to the weapons array, which turned all 1s the gunner rolled into 2s. That was enough to nudge them over to your crit threshold. I’ll try to be more clear about that moving forward.

Ahhh...gotcha. Totally makes sense, thanks!!

"Staying on their aft is the plan, but first we have to get to their rear arc." Tchisk tries to put action to words.

Piloting: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 2 + 1 = 20 with computer

Not sure when I will be back on this weekend so here is my shot

FLint swings the turret around and levels it at the necro ship.

Making my likely single post for the weekend too.

Master Filament fires the light laser cannon.

"Fire! We need to take out that one gun!"

Diplomacy to Encourage/aid Flint, DC 15: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12... and fail.

We will need to address your means of encouragement during the retrospective. Maybe put a story in the next sprint for motivational courses for Ningth

PCs win Initiative! Threnody moves first.

ENGINEER PHASE

Down in the engineering deck of the undead ship, the engineer once again shifts power to the weapons arrays.

Aboard the Loreseeker, Kaiole moves redistributes some of the energy powering the ship's defenses to restore the ship's forward shields.

HELM PHASE!

With their enemy clearly suffering from their opening assault, the Endless Threnody's pilot pushes the attack and advances, though not without taking some basic evasive maneuvers. The science officer once again attempts to scan the Starfinder ship, but once again fails to overcome the ship's defensive countermeasures.

With the forward shields in much better shape, Dusty redirects some of the shields to balance them out a bit more and ends up restoring the forward shields to full capacity.

INITIATIVE
Bold may post
Enless Threnody: -10 HP
Loreseeker: -11 HP (Shields F: 10 A: 9 S: 9 P: 9, Power Core Glitching)
Engineering phase
Endless Threnody Helm (Pilot, Science Officer
Loreseeker Helm (Pilot)
Gunnery phase

Tchisk sees what the Threnody's pilot is planning and smiles. "Time to find out how well this thing maneuvers." Tchisk maneuvers to bring the Loreseeker in very close to the Threnody and settles into its aft arc.

Flyby: to fire into Threnody's aft arc at close range from our front arc (or whichever the gunner likes best)
Piloting: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 9 + 2 + 1 = 29 with computer.
Probably obvious but I put turn markers where I turned. I wanted to make sure I have it right.

Flint strafes the Threnody as the ship flys past. Since there are no shields he just bombs along the top as they ships pass.

ROUND 1 SUMMARY

[ENGINEER PHASE[/ooc]

Down in the engineering deck of the undead ship, the engineer once again shifts power to the weapons arrays.

Aboard the Loreseeker, Kaiole moves redistributes some of the energy powering the ship's defenses to restore the ship's forward shields.

HELM PHASE!

With their enemy clearly suffering from their opening assault, the Endless Threnody's pilot pushes the attack and advances, though not without taking some basic evasive maneuvers. The science officer once again attempts to scan the Starfinder ship, but once again fails to overcome the ship's defensive countermeasures.

With the forward shields in much better shape, Dusty redirects some of the shields to balance them out a bit more and ends up restoring the forward shields to full capacity. Meanwhile, Tchisk brings the Loreseeker's full agility to bear as he buzzes the enemy ship, giving the gunners a great shot at the Threnody's rear arc.

GUNNERY

As the Starfinders fly over their enemy, Flint and Master Filament fire on the ship's unprotected rear arc. Flint misses his mark as he is distracted by the crackling of Ningth's voice coming over the comms. Filament, on the other hand, manages to find his mark, and blasts away a particularly nasty protrusion of bone emerging from the back of the Corpse Fleet vessel.

With the Starfinders tucked safely behind them, the gunners of the Endless Threnody are unable to fire on the Loreseeker.

INITIATIVE
Bold may post
Pilot roll Initiative
Engineering
Helm
Gunnery

Helm Phase: With the shields in better shape, Dusty focuses the computers on the Threnody's engines. "Let's see if we can cripple that undead monstrosity even more."

Computers (Target Engines): 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 7 + 2 = 23

Patch Power Core, DC13: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Kaiole attempts to patch up the power core but things don't quite click into place...

ENGINEERING

Kaiole works to patch the Loreseeker's glitching power core, but finds that his tools are a bit small for the job. He'll have to try again with a bit more effort.

The engineer of the Threnody, on the other hand, has no such worries, and they are able to boost the ship's engines to help get them away from the Starfinder ship as quick as possible.

Initiative
Pilot roll initiative
Bold may post
Engineering
Helm (Pilot, Science Officer)
Gunnery

Tchisk tries to maintain their advantageous position in the Threnody's aft arc.

Piloting: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 9 + 2 + 1 = 14 with Computer

HELM

With ominous silence, the Endless Threnody's pilot turns the ship in place. Once again, the Starfinders find themselves face to face with the dreadful forward weapon that gives the ship its terrible profile.

Yet Tchisk, the Starfinder pilot, is ready for the maneuver, and is able to move away from the horrible weapon and fly in a long arc all the way around to the rear of the undead ship once again.

INITIATIVE
Enless Threnody: -16 HP
Loreseeker: -11 HP, Shields 37 (F:10, A:9, S:9, P:9), Power Core Glitching
Bold may post
Engineering
Helm
Gunnery

Master Filament closes his eyes and concentrates on the location of the undead ship in relation to the objects of mass around it. Beliveing he has pinpointed a weakness in the wnemy vessel, heriires the light laser cannon.

"Let's try this one more time."

Ningth connects his console to the targeting computer online and feeds supplemental data into it for Flint, highlighting streams that look useful.

"F&KJGLKB!LON OBLITERATE THEM GUNNER!"

Gunnery to aid Flint: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12 - should be a success, giving flint a +2 to hit.

Ditched the phone for a computer, let's try this again:

Master Filament closes his eyes and concentrates on the location of the undead ship in relation to the objects of mass around it.

Believing he has pinpointed a weakness in the enemy vessel, he fires the light laser cannon.

Gunnery, (light laser cannon): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13 Damage (light laser): 2d4 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3

I am not sure if I have a pending Gunnery action or not. I know have posted early so let me know if I still need to make one for this round

Whoops! Looks like I was mistaking that as your gunnery action from the previous round.

GUNNERY

Captain Ningth shouts out an encouraging word to the sniping specialist, Flint. Not that the sharpshooting ysoki needed it, though, as his shot slams into the Endless Threnody. Master Filament's shot is similarly precise, if not as powerful, but their combined efforts cause some severe damage to the Corpse Fleet ship.

Critical effect: 1d100 ⇒ 8 Life support?! We don't need no stinking life support! Re-roll!
Critical effect: 1d100 ⇒ 15 Sensors

The mighty blast from the Loreseeker's gunners sends a surge or power through the undead ship's sensors, causing its science officer to throw their hands up in disgust and rage!

With the Starfinder ship behind them once again, the gunners of the Threnody wait for their moment to strike again.

INITIATIVE
Enless Threnody: -29 HP, Sensors Glitching
Loreseeker: -11 HP, Shields 37 (F:10, A:9, S:9, P:9), Power Core Glitching
Bold may post
Engineer
Pilot roll initiative
Helm
Gunnery

Kaiole attempts to patch the power core again.

Patch Power Core, DC13: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

"There we go, you beautiful ship!"

Thrusters don't fail me now.

Piloting: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 9 + 2 + 1 = 31 with computers

"Keep the focus on those engines."

Computers (target engines): 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 7 + 2 = 10