Buster and Kallus call on their contacts, and somehow, amazingly (and perhaps with questions better left unasked) are able to acquire a body of a human female of a similar age to Ceren.
Tyrone makes some alterations to the body in accordance with Buster's "alterations" to the apartment, while D-474 takes care of filing the proper medical paperwork. Brob works on some of the records, but realizes that a "record deal" isn't quite the same thing and changes gears.
Several of you start working on contacts for your new elderly "bounty hunter talent scout" persona that you're building, with Darkrunner-42 putting the finishing touches on the records!
You are able to accomplish this in good time, and then it's off to meet your contact to give her the new identification papers and receive the data Historia-7 wanted you to acquire.
Open to all citizens, Jatembe Park occupies a wide portion of the Eye of Absalom Station. Filled with lush trees and open grass fields, the park offers some natural terrain to the otherwise metalclad station. Ceren’s meeting point is one such forested portion of the park, specifically a spot often ignored by citizens due to the winding path required to reach it.
As you approach the bridge, you see Ceren and Jubair waiting for you on it...but emerging from the trees on the other side are three people dressed in corporate-hitman-esqe attire with weapons held at their sides. They see you all approaching the bridge as well, and raise their weapons!
Ceren notices the incoming conflict immediately and drops prone, dragging Jubair with her (their squares are in Gray - treat as difficult terrain).
As soon as Darkrunner sees the unwelcome intruders he immediately realizes he needs to get himself between them and Ceren. At once he holds his laser pistol and datapad, punching in some quick codes to have it send some distracting loud squeaks and lights towards the trees at the side of the path.
Computers for trick attack vs blue (DC20+target CR):1d20 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 10 + 4 = 26If successful, blue is flat footed
Hoping the distraction bought him an opening he immediately fires at the head thug.
Brob unslings his rifle and begins to sing as he takes his shot at blue
"Sometimes I feel
Like I'm not a performer
Sometimes I feel
Like I just cause lives to end
In the station I live in
The Station of Abslom
Too bad you came here
It's time to die"
Barathu Soldier 1 | SP 8/8 HP 5/13 | RP 2/4 | EAC 15; KAC 17 | Fort +3; Ref +1; Will +4 | Init: +5| Perc: +1, SM: +1
Tyrone will float up to the side of the bridge and throw a starknife at the blue thug Returning Starknife:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23Damage:1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 and gives himself resistance to fire 2 which will regenerate in Turns:1d4 ⇒ 2
Seeing that they're starting to focus their attention on buster, Darkrunner again tries to fly up under their radar, now closer to the boy. He tries another distraction, programming his datapad to illuminate the water under the bridge and throw additional squeaks in that direction to hopefully throw them off.
Computers for trick attack vs blue (DC20+target CR):1d20 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 10 + 4 = 34 If successful, blue is flat footed
SFS #119796-701, M Human Bounty Hunter Mystic (Overlord) 3 | HP 22/22| SP 21/21 | RP 3/3| EAC: 14 KAC: 15 | Fort: +2| Ref: +2| Will: +5 | Init: +1 |Spells DC 13+ 1st: 4/4| Cultures +6, Intimidate +8, Mystic +8, Perception +8, Pro (Bounty Hunter) +8, Sense Motive +8, Survival +9
Kallus is almost surprised by the attack from these goons but then he quickly regains his faculties and sets to end them. As he moves to protect their charges, his pistol clears its sheath and he opens fire on the goon next to the one that dropped.
Laser to the Red Face!:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 111d4 ⇒ 4
Buster's shot goes wide! Putting Brob on hold as well, only because we're in the final days of OutPost plus I don't think he'll be able to drop either thug by himself at this juncture.
The red thug takes a guarded step back and takes careful aim at the prone ysoki wielding the big cannon!
ROUND 2
D-474 & SP07 (Held - can act at any time)
Brob (Held - can act at any time)
Tyrone
Kallus
ROUND 3
Darkrunner Blue Thug (Dead)
Yellow Thug
Buster (7 nonlethal damage)
Red Thug (4 damage)
Darkrunner figures the thugs are getting used to his distractions being attempts at throwing their focus in other directions. So, he figures he can simply create a more focused distraction right in front of him. He punches some commands into his datapad so that it emits a non-linear strobing light pattern that he hopes is somewhat hypnotic. Just behind the datapad he's holding his laser pistol...
Computers for trick attack vs yellow (DC20+target CR):1d20 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 10 + 4 = 20If successful, yellow is flat footed
Once he has the thug's attention he suddenly reveals the laser pistol and fires!
"I wander the streets
With my boon companions
I walk through through fake woods
To stick to our plan
I do some good deeds
And some that are less so
'You've nothing to worry'
Now that is a lie"
Brob advances and snaps off a quick shot at one of the assailants!
Because Brob shot at...R or Y:1d2 ⇒ 1 (since he didn't specify), Tyrone's perfectly-thrown starknife impacts what used to be the red corporate thug's brain cavity with a sickening crunch akin to a Vesk crushing a large fruit with a chin-spike, killing the man!
SFS #119796-701, M Human Bounty Hunter Mystic (Overlord) 3 | HP 22/22| SP 21/21 | RP 3/3| EAC: 14 KAC: 15 | Fort: +2| Ref: +2| Will: +5 | Init: +1 |Spells DC 13+ 1st: 4/4| Cultures +6, Intimidate +8, Mystic +8, Perception +8, Pro (Bounty Hunter) +8, Sense Motive +8, Survival +9
Kallus continues his forward movement, gesturing with his hand towards one of the downed goons weapons and flinging it at the one with the yellow ribbon tied to his coat. Unfortunately, it goes flying over his head and into the bushes...
ROUND 3
D-474 & SP07 (Held - can act at any time)
Buster (7 nonlethal damage) Red Thug (Dead)
Brob
Tyrone
Kallus
ROUND 4
Darkrunner (1 nonlethal damage) Blue Thug (Dead)
Yellow Thug
CN Male Ysoki Soldier 3 |SP 21/21 HP 23/23|RP 4/5 |EAC 18 KAC 21|Fort +3, Reflex +3, Will +3| Init +6 |Per+0 Speed 25
It looks like Buster is still in the game?
Buster gets up from the ground with Ysoki alacrity (I guess they don't have as far to go when they're on the ground) and scrambles towards the thug, pulling out his assault hammer.
"It's time for some routine dentistry! Open wide!"
The visual distraction seemed to work before, so he restarts the strobing pattern, pointed at the thug. He gets a better handle on his laser pistol this time.
Computers for trick attack vs yellow (DC20+target CR):1d20 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 10 + 4 = 20if successful, yellow is flat-footedbut I doubt target has a CR 0... azimuth laser pistol attack (weapon focus, into melee) vs yellow:1d20 + 4 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 + 1 - 4 = 21critical! azimuth laser pistol flame damage:1d4 ⇒ 2 azimuth laser pistol critical burn damage:1d4 ⇒ 4 Trick attack damage:1d4 ⇒ 2
Darkruner's laser blast catches the flat-footed thug right in the chest and also sets the man's dark suit on fire!
AFAIK, in Starfinder the rule is to always round down unless otherwise noted...so wouldn't a CR 1/2 thug effectively has a CR of 0 for purposes of calculating DCs?
Darkruner's laser blast catches the flat-footed thug right in the chest and also sets the man's dark suit on fire!
AFAIK, in Starfinder the rule is to always round down unless otherwise noted...so wouldn't a CR 1/2 thug effectively has a CR of 0 for purposes of calculating DCs?
Oh! Maybe so ;) I just assumed they'd be higher. If not, I guess all the damage might apply - yay
Just as the yellow thug (cowardly, indeed!) began to panic at being caught on fire, and his feet were turning to run, the pistol-boomerang from the Armiger comes flying out of the bush and smacks him in the back of the head, sending him to the ground!
You are out of combat!
Each thug had on flight suit stationwear armor, carried a pulsecaster pistol, a tactical baton, and a credstick pre-loaded with 100 credits each. One of the credsticks also has a blurry image file that looks vaguely like Ceren with simple instructions: "Partial image of the suspect, though unlikely given her age. Kill her, her family, and any witnesses, then bring any potential data storage devices back to Bluerise where you will receive the rest of your payment."
Jubair is full of nervous excitement at the shootout that happened all around him, but Ceren is unperturbed by the gangers’ appearance, confident that your expert work at falsifying her death should throw off future investigations into her whereabouts. From here, you provide Ceren with her new identity and papers, and she gives you a hard copy of the data from Bluerise tower. The wizened hacker and Jubair depart to their new home.
Not long afterward, Historia-7 contacts you over an encrypted comm frequency, informing you that Guidance would like to debrief you all back at the Lorespire Complex. She also makes a brief quip about having to fix only “some of your work”(a true compliment from the Dataphiles leader) and recommends that "threatening old women may not have the highest degree of efficiency, when seeking information," before abruptly signing off.
On your way back to the Lorespire Complex, a courier robot brings you a box containing a standard datajack and 200 credits, the insignia of the Dataphiles on the receipt. Also enclosed is a slightly antique (but very well-maintained) frostbite-class zero rifle accompanied by a note from Jubair explaining that he found it in one of Ceren's "bug-out bags" but they wanted you to have it for all of your help.
Once all four faction leaders report to Guidance, the Society intelligence summons your team back to the Lorespire Complex. The intelligence once again presents itself in a holographic form—this time taking on the appearance of a wizened male korasha lashunta—to congratulate you on your successful missions. It goes on to state that in the aftermath of the Scoured Stars incident, the Society needs skilled agents more than ever, and that it sees potential in each of you as you start your new careers as fully fledged Starfinder field agents.
~~~~~
Your Primary Success Conditions: To satisfy the mission requests of three of the faction heads. (Success!)
Your Secondary Success Conditions: To satisfy the mission requests of all four faction heads or to convince Ceren to aid the Dataphiles. (A bit of a close call with the Dataphiles mission, but still - success!)
~~~~~
So long as the PCs have completed the primary success condition, each PC receives the Faction’s Friend boon on their Chronicle sheet. If a PC accepted Guidance’s subdermal implant, they also receives the Marked Field Agent boon on their Chronicle sheet. Finally, if a PC purchased a copy of Strawberry Machine Cake’s newest album for 50 credits, they also receives the Star Sugar Heartlove!!! boon on their Chronicle sheet.
~~~~~
With that, you have completed your Commencement! I hope you all had fun during this scenario! I had a blast running this scenario for all of you!
I will get this scenario reported and chronicle sheets posted by the end of the day today! Thank you again for playing!
SFS #119796-701, M Human Bounty Hunter Mystic (Overlord) 3 | HP 22/22| SP 21/21 | RP 3/3| EAC: 14 KAC: 15 | Fort: +2| Ref: +2| Will: +5 | Init: +1 |Spells DC 13+ 1st: 4/4| Cultures +6, Intimidate +8, Mystic +8, Perception +8, Pro (Bounty Hunter) +8, Sense Motive +8, Survival +9
Awesome! Thanks for running it. I had a question though about items gained during the mission, i.e. money and the armor. I know that in PFS you have to give it up at the end and then pay for it in between if you want to keep it. Is that the same with SFS?
It is pretty much the same, yes - during the scenario you can use it freely. Since in The Commencement you can tackle these four missions in any order you like, they have treasure notes for each one. For example, in the future if you're playing a sniper character and do the Dataphiles mission first, you might get a neat toy to borrow for the other three tasks).
