[SFS, Playtest] Dead Suns, Book 4: The Ruined Clouds (Inactive)

Game Master Nefreet

Hey, hold up! Zolvi says. Crouching down before the dropped beast, she holsters her rifle and carefully lines up her spined armblade against it. Then she begins carving.

John, you said those molds have a tendency to swarm? Just in case then, maybe some fresh meat that's not in armor and moving away might make a more appetizing treat. Or at least a distraction.

My thought here is to have Zolvi cut off a sizable chunk on the sharpwing, and carry it in a couple of her arms. . Is that feasible GM, do I need a check?

Totally reasonable! No check required. It's like how a buddy of mine always purchases a pig before venturing into the woods ^_^

You see a long, dark corridor with more doors, and no light. Place yourselves on the map wherever you decide to go.

Whoever is rolling Strength should stand directly in front of the door they're opening; one person on each adjacent side of them can Aid.

Sigmus reloads the accelerator rifle and goes about field stripping it to verify all the parts are functioning properly. He mutters under his breath in Kasathan about useless alien technology. When he is finished, he stands up from where is was crouching over his rifle

"so, who is going first?

Sheher is a bit confused by the question. She always goes first.

Per: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

The only thing Sheher perceives is the unnerving waving of the filaments in the breeze that the party creates by moving through the building.

After everyone arranges themselves as they wish to Sheher pushes open the west door to C3.

In case Sheher wants an Aid Another Pangea can move up.

It's cool. I just want everybody to be arranged as they wish before the frontliner opens the door.

- I think, you should aid to me... not vice versa, Sheher

Str: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

Heh! I'm even surprised how right she is.

Whoops I though the STR roll had already been made. Yeah Sheher's not the strongest. Updated slides and stepping aside

STR Aid: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Sheher is helping!

I thought I was opening the previous door and the previous dice rolls were on it.

To save time (and good dice rolls!) we can assume Varnais is primary "door opener", and whoever would be most likely to aid can be adjacent.

This spacious room is a wide swath of small, gray hillocks covering what might have once been a collection of desks and chairs. Two doors exit the room to the south. There is a doorway to a smaller room to the northwest, and a short hallway leads east past two other doors. An open doorway in the northwest leads into a communal kitchen.

Though this room is as covered in mold as the rest of the building, the smell here is somehow even worse. A foul, rotting odor wafts from what appears to be an open unpowered refrigeration unit. Rotting cabinets, some whose doors have long ago fallen off, hang on the walls, and parts of a small, round table peek out from under a mound of mold.

The kitchen is a riot of mildew and mushrooms. Anyone who enters this room without environmental protections needs roll a Fortitude save (I will assume you all have yours sealed).

Pangea moves up to help open the door, flexing his muscles. +2 Str
"Ladies, let the men help!"

Once inside, he will take out his broad-spectrum scanning kit, and use it to look around.
Perception w. kit: 1d20 + 17 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 17 + 4 = 35

He produces the serum. see spoiler
"Not the hard liquor I'd have liked to find, but..."

John nods to Pangea.

"I will add that to the list..."

He then moves on to the next area.

C5a/C5b?

You can if you want, but you could already see inside the windows from outside. Nothing of interest other than moldy office furniture.

C6 it is, then! :-)

Pangea moves up to help open the door, flexing his muscles. +2 Str

"Ladies, let the men help!"

How generous. Zolvi says as she brushes past Pangea to the door. I think we have it. Though if you’d like to give a hand with this... The Kazakhs slightly extends her lower pair of arms, clutching the dripping sharpening meat, towards the android as she nods to Varnais, then shoved at the next door.

Think Zolvi is actually the strongest here (+6 Str) so fine takin point on the door.

Str: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

"Thanks, but I don't eat..."
Pangea carries the slab for her.

Apologies, yesterday was the birthday of a recently deceased gaming buddy, then today was brunch with family, and this evening was GMing SFS. Busy day!

Moved Pangea next to Zolvi, carrying the steak sharpwing filet.

While one of these rooms is larger than the other, they are both furnished similarly, each with a desk and some chairs. Everything is covered in mold.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (12) + 17 = 29

Pangea moves in, lugging the slab of sharpwing filet along, and, dripping blood all over, spots a glove.
"Hey, cool!"
Pangea slips the glove on, and, placing the meat on the gloved-hand, says: "Glove... reduce!"
The slab of filet shrinks to a microscopic size and merges with the palm of the glove.
Pangea removes the glove and hands it to Zolvi:
"Here you guy, milady, just wear the glove, and when you snap your fingers I'll come running! Nah, joking! Snap them fingers of yours, and the meat'll pop out! But you still have to cook it."

John nods in approval, then gets ready for the next room to be opened...

Sigmus groans at the antics and stacks up on the next door with John

Zolvi accepts the globe from Pangea, then tests it out with a couple of snaps.

She smiles. Huh, neat trick. I mean a bit more useful if someone halved your hands, but yeah: this’ll do nicely.

With a final *snap* she shrinks the meat slab down, then readies to slam open the next door.

This room contains three tables, and while mold has crept up onto most of the them, one of the tables has a large untouched patch about two feet in diameter. A roughly square hunk of metal, plastic, and crystal sits in the center of the open space, its sides covered with alien symbols and bits of circuitry. The filaments of mold covering the walls seem to be moving ever so slightly, as if a faint draft were blowing, though the air is still. A door leads out to the west, and another leads to the south.

Pangea and Sigmus notice that the contraption on the table is a technomagical explosive hidden in plain sight! It has a proximity detonator and needs to be disabled if you want to explore further.

Mysticism OR Engineering to disable.

"I can give you a hand, if you want, Sigmus?"
if it is considered a trap, +22 (+18 otherwise) = auto Aid Another for +2

It is indeed a trap. Since it's a hybrid of Technology and Magic, I'll let anyone Aid with either Mysticism or Engineering.

does the device have an interface that I might be able to use my remote hack ok to disable from a distance and if so, how far away is it?

It's the giant "T" labeled on the map, and it has a magical power source that has endured the millennia, so I'll say "Yes!"

Botting... everybody?

Engineering: 1d20 + 18 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 18 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 41

With Pangea's keen eyes, Sigmus' mechanical wit, Varnais' magical knowhow, and John's programming expertise, the group disables the technomagical contraption. You also find the trigger: a motion detector.

This room still doesn't appear to have what you seek, so after you line up and break down the final door, you find to your surprise that there is nothing ominous waiting for you!

The walls, ceiling, and floor of this room are coated with a thick layer of mold, with thousands of pale white filaments poking out like tiny fingers. However, the two rectangular objects in the center of the room are free of mold. The crystalline devices are marked with sharp-edged designs, and each has a dark computer console built into one side.

I placed everyone inside the last room, but please feel free to position yourselves as you see fit.

Pangea points out some commonalities that most computers share (Aiding the next roll by +2).

"I think that button there is the Reset button. ... Or Enter. One of the two."

"Anyone have a spare battery that we could try to use to power-up the server?"

Pangea pulls out a couple batteries.
"I have these two. I'd rather keep the standard one for my laser gun, if you can use the ultra-capacity one - which is for my jetpack."

John nods, and tries to jury-rig a link-up to the server's drained power source.

Engineering: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (16) + 18 = 34.

Sigmus moves to one of the consoles, carefully avoiding as many filiments as possible, and attempts to activate the terminal.

computers: 1d20 + 18 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 18 + 2 = 30

John, mindful of the filaments, loads explosive rounds into his pistol...

Using your spare ultra-capacity battery you are confident that you can jury-rig a power source for a server; but this will only provide enough power for 1 minute of work per charge in the battery.

Which server do you reactivate?

That one looks good! Sheher says pointing at the one on the
1d2 ⇒ 1 Left!

As good as the other. Zolvi shrugs in agreement. Unless they put ‘Foundry’ on any of the banks...

Not technically inclined, she’ll circle around the servers while the others do their thing on the very slim chance they actually did put a space-Post-it-note or the like on one.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Sigmus retrieves his own high cap battery and hands it to John.

"the northern server has the server address we've been talking, but I want to know what is on this other one. It doesn't appear to be connected to an external network. There is probably something juicy on it.

activating the one without a server address

That one looks good! Sheher says pointing at the one on the

1d2 Left!

This made me literally laugh out loud, since there is no "right" or "left" ^_^

With two batteries in hand, and some technical skills, each server comes to life. At this point, after experiencing hours of comprehend languages, anyone with ranks in Culture (or Profession-Archaeologist) can easily translate numbers and simple Kishalee phrases. Skimming through the servers becomes a breeze!

After searching through Northern server's directory for 3 minutes you realize that the information regarding the security keycodes you need cannot be found on this server. 3 charges spent on Sigmus' battery

John's Engineering check is not only sufficient to jury-rig the power source, but also to disable a shock grid countermeasure that would have drained the battery entirely, if it had been triggered. However, the files on the southern server lie behind a firewall.

I need two Computers checks. Let me know if your roll is to Aid, or if your roll is primary.

Pangea moves in and tries to help out.
+17 computer, so should give 2 x Aid Another +2

John attempts to bring down the firewall.

Computers: 1d20 + 18 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 18 + 2 = 37.
Computers: 1d20 + 18 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 18 + 2 = 30.

The servers hum and begin to warm up the room. Whatever ancient cooling mechanism kept the computers from overheating has long since failed, but John expertly hacks the network in search of what you need!

You find an admin keycode that can disable any of the Foundry’s digital locks, but you also find something even more promising: a security entrance on the side of the Foundry that you previously were unaware of!

Once you've retrieved your batteries and move to leave, the filaments on the walls begin to ripple as if caught in a strong breeze. Without warning, they quickly coalesce into piles of active mold!

ROUND 1
BOLD MAY ACT!!
------------------------------
Sigmus (-29 Stamina)
Grey ()
Sheher (-80 Stamina)
Pangea ()
John (-64 Stamina; -4 Hit Points)
Varnais ()
Green ()
Zolvi (-21 Hit Points)
???

A few things about this fight:

• While swarms do not normally block movement, the author (Jason Keeley) thought you’d need an Acrobatics check as normal. I will run it as he intended, but being a mindless entity driven by hunger, “kiting” is certainly possible.
• Jason similarly thought that a swarm was malleable and shapeable, but Starfinder swarms occupy a square or cube unless otherwise noted. I will run this encounter as he intended, including being able to “stretch” a swarm into a line of 4 squares.
• Spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a successful caster level check (DC = 20 + spell level).
• As far as I can tell, swarms lost the “vulnerability to AoEs” they had in Pathfinder, but retained their immunity to single-target attacks. Your options for dealing with them include: AoE spells, grenades, scatter and blast weapons and the like.
• Swarms do provoke attacks of opportunity when moving into your space, but since they are immune to single-target attacks, that eliminates any AoOs I am aware of.
• One of the swarms is engrossed in the meat that Zolvi brought, but it might be tempted to reach for other opportunities, if presented.
• Because this can be a complex fight with the potential for many saving throws, I will be rolling your saves for this fight. If you have a special defense I missed, please feel free to correct me!

GOOD LUCK!

Before I die... what charges are left in my battery?

Whoops! Sheher is useless. The only thing I can think of is she bums some greandes off someone else to throw them.

Before I die... what charges are left in my battery?

You guys were quick! Each battery was only drained of 3 charges, representing 3 minutes of activity each. Unless you want to spend longer delving into the finer points of Istamak's security protocols, employee tenure, corporate filings and the like ^_^

Whoops! Sheher is useless. The only thing I can think of is she bums some greandes off someone else to throw them.

Now's your chance to see how fast you can get into hit point damage!

• I PMed you the Swarm stuff, GM
• A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from effects that affect all targets in an area, such as grenades, blast and explode weapons, and many evocation spells
Sheher and others: I have 2 x charger of 12 explosive darts and can lend my rifle.