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Not used to showing much emotion, the start of a grin starts to from from one corner of Qwyn's mouth. While he'd still prefer guns, he seems to be getting attuned to the Drake's targeting system and now targets the creature's heart which appears to be its 'engineering' system...
Phase: Helm
Role: Science Officer
Action: Target System
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Kaylee grins a bit at the controls, clearly still excited about putting the Drake through her paces. "I hope nobody is getting bored back there. This thing just doesn't have a chance against us!!"
Seeing how slow this creature is, Kaylee decides to go for something flashy, a flip-and-burn!
oh yea!
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Croaker doesn't even have to change the settings on his engineering console to divert auxiliary power to the weapons - it's not like any other ship system needs more energy right now!
The space monster pumps blood to its tail once more!
Qwyn creates a firing solution. Somebody (probably a skittermander) programmed the targeting interface with a song-meme response in the event anyone ever used this particular starship to target this particular part of anatomy!
Despite its best efforts , there is no escaping when Kaylee is at the helm! (won initiative)
Hurt and overwhelmed, the creature breaks off its attack, attempting to flee at high speed, making evasive maneuvers as it does!
Kaylee sadly realizes that a flip-and-burn, while impressive, would only put your gunners at a disadvantage given the space monster's positioning, instead increases the Drake's maneuverability and pulls a hard turn to port, bringing your ship up on its rear!
Kitkul raises her voice over the intercom, hoping to shake Master Filament to greater awareness, and seems to get the message through!
The fleeing creature still shoots at your ship with a tracking quill, but it harmlessly flies past you.
Akkedis tries to line up a shot, but the sudden change of dogfighting into a chase throws off his aim, the coilgun's rounds disappearing into the void.
Master Spli Filament tries to focus, and fires! Because Kaylee got your ship within the gyrolaser's first range increment, the laser strikes true even as the missile spirals off into deep space. (Coilgun: 9 Damage )
The impact from the laser strikes the creature, which convulses a few times before its electrical fields die out as its corpse begins drifting out into deep space - dead! As the creature stops twitching, the only source of light or activity beyond your view-screens is a planet with a greenish-colored atmosphere nearby. You are now out of combat!
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With the space borne threat neutralized, you are able to make your way towards the nearby planetoid. As Kaylee brings your ship into the upper atmosphere, a dangerous storm suddenly interferes with your ship's sensors and systems - the Drake's scientific equipment was decidedly not sensitive enough to have detected this anomaly in advance!
Science Officer: Make a Computers or Physical Science check to see what you can learn about the biome of this planet during your descent!
Pilot: Make a Piloting check to navigate your atmospheric entry in the midst of this storm!
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Croaker comes out from the Engineering room enters the cockpit and says to Kaylee:
"Damn girl you were on fire there! Good job. You too guys! Let us land this thing.".
Ysoki looks as the ship goes through the atmosphere and when the storm hits he jumps on the third pilot seat and tries to help as best as he can.
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Looking out the window, Akkedis can venture a guess that a) the size and velocity of the creature's carcass means that it remain in an eccentric orbit around this planet for the next several months, and b) due to the lack of, well, anything, outer space is an excellent environment for preserving things and slowing decay.
Despite Kaylee having some initial difficulty with the sudden turbulence, Kitkul's calming words and Akkedis's help on the auxiliary flight controls help guide your craft into the upper atmosphere.
Qwyn, aided by Filament, are able to perform a scan, confirming the long-range scanning details Guidance provided to you during your briefing about the planet's low gravity and toxic atmosphere.
Much of the continent you fly towards is open, rocky, and barren with active near-surface volcanic vents spewing toxic ash into the air. Making matters worse, your science team detects small planar rifts dotting the surface, spewing super-heated gases and plasma in various places. Your ship's computer calculates that this kind of energy can completely ignore shields and has the potential to degrade and destroy your hull if you fly too close...your destination is inside the worst of it!
However, these rifts seem to be more concentrated in the atmosphere rather than on the surface itself, suggesting that overland travel from a safe lading zone will be significantly less hazardous to your persons, armor, weapons, and other gear. The volcanic vents will make overland navigation difficult, but not impossible. With the help of Kitkul and Akkedis, Kaylee is able to find a suitable landing zone that is approximately a 4-5 hour walk from the coordinates Guidance gave you.
You have now landed on 753-MF. What will you do now?
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"I would suggest that we all make sure our environmentals on our suits are all charged, and to turn on your environmental before leaving the ship."
With that, Kitkul will do that, verify their environmental is fully charged and turn them on before it leaves the ship.
"I guess we better start navigating to the coordinates we have."
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Croaker breaths out air and repeats:
"Awesome job everyone. We should pack our belongings, load our weapons lets meet at the entrance in 10."
Ysoki gets up and walks to pack his belongings. He carries a laser rifle which he holds in his paws. His military uniform on with a medical patch on his left shoulder. He waits for the rest to leave the spaceship.
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Qwyn looks to Kitkul and Spike, saying, "Roger that," and leaves to prepare...
As he passes by Kaylee, he nods with a slight grin, "Nice flying..."
When he gets to his quarters, he dons his suit, loads his tactical pistol, and checks his comm unit. He then gathers the rest of the gear he'll need for this venture and heads to the embarkation point...
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After activating your environmental seals, protecting you from the atmospheric toxins, you disembark from the Drake. Despite the upper atmosphere having a greenish coloration, the region you traverse is lit with hellish hues of red and violet - a constant state of dim illumination. Except where mountains and rocky terrain obstructs your view, visibility is approximately one mile. To the east, in the direction of the strongest atmospheric disturbances that prevented you from landing, you can see a series of ravines and rocky outcroppings that contain karst topography - cave systems. To find safe passage there takes you just under two hours.
Dropping down into the caves, they seem pitch-dark at first...but once your eyes and sensors adjust, you can see that there is a reddish glow ahead of you - these ones more flame-oriented rather than hellish. Rounding a corner, you come across a settlement of natives! These beings are of a species unknown to you - their skin seems to be made of reddish-brown scales, and all bear sets of vestigal leathery wings. Their heads are slightly elongated with sharp fangs and horned crests, and their arms end in claw-like appendages. This settlement appears to have just under 40 structures consistent with a pre-flight culture. You notice a few of the natives have projectile weapons strapped to their wrists, but even after your sudden your arrival, none reach for armaments - a decidedly non-hostile response. You seem to have arrived while several of their elders were addressing a group of their young. You can see that the elders seem to have halos of solar energy floating near their heads.
After a moment of awkward silence, two precocious adolescents approach closer and begin trying to make sounds and hand motions...
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Seeing the beings appear reptilian, Akkedis moves forward and tries addressing them in Common in Vesk... In the off chance some linguistic legacy of the old outpost remains.
Trying to mimic some of the motions and words he understands, Akkedis tries to convey his name. "I am Akkedis, we are friends, what giant? Who are you?"
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Croaker glances through the meet people and hangs his rifle on his back then he looks at attempts of his crew to communicate with the people.
And he speaks out: "Agents! We need to cooperate on that. Qwyn you will be the space shark. Master Filament you will represent the ship. Kaylee, Kitkul, and Akkedis we will represent the Society Agents."
Ysoki quickly draws on the ground imitation of a space shark which might look similar to this:
><(((o>
Croaker points at the drawing and then at Qwyn, saying: "Swin around Qwyn, and make sounds, wave your hands, make it looks real. Oh, and hold those small sticks, not too strong they will be your ammunition."
After that medic draws on the sand an imitation of a spaceship:
^
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< >
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^^^
And he points at Master Filament: "Quick Master be a space ship, it is a critical for a success of that meeting. Hold those tiny pebbles they will be your ammunition."
Then Croaker draws 6 beings and makes an arrow point at the ship. He points at all crew members and at the ship.
"Now Qwyn attack the ship." With saying that Croaker cast Telekinetic Projectile to grab one of the small sticks and cast them toward Master Filament missing completely.
"Master attack back, and dodge those shots" Croaker cast another Telekinetic Projectile grabbing one of the small stones from Master Filament and tossing them at Qwyn. Croaker makes sounds as the bullets hit ground.
Croaker let Qwyn and Master Filament to present the fight in the space and after some time he speaks: "Ok Qwyn now die, and you Master Filament land flying through the storm here."
Ysoki augment the story with drawings, jumping around and trying to orchestrate the whole story.
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Kitkul doesn't realize exactly what they are saying until the rest of the group fills it in on the exchange. It does notice that the elders have some kind of solar halo though. Leaving Croaker, Qwyn and Master Filament to work on some kind of communication, Kitkul looks again at the solar halos, wondering if it is something similar to its own. Kitkul reached up to its mote and grasps the mote, a blue white mace forms in its hand, a slight photon glow showing around it. With that, it nonthreateningly walks toward the elders, and around 30' waay it cautiously bows and puts it mace on the ground, allowing the weapon to dissipate back into the mote.
With that it, attempts to contact the elders with halos, telepathically saying one word. "Solarian."
After that, it crouches on all 4 legs, awaiting to see what happens with its groups attempt to communicate with the youths, while still keeping an eye on the elders, to see if it's attempt to show that it is a solarian was helpful or hurtful.
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Qwyn looks at Croaker in dismay as playing the part of a space shark is out of his comfort range...
He mumbles, "I thought they were talking about a giant on the planet," as he gets down on the ground and does his best imitation of a space shark following the Ysoki's instructions...
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Master Filament nods ascent to his fellow ysoki before his planetary debut in improve theater. The elderly Starfinder attempts to stretch his neck to appear more elongated like a starship, while dropping his hands by his side to resemble the vessel's wing-like, rear stabilizers.
As Qwyn approaches toward him, the solarian activates his solar armor to mimic the Drake raising its shields. As the "space shark" approaches, Filament dodges with quick leaps and aerial flips.
With a final, controlled flip, he attempts to mimic the ship's descent, dropping his solar armor as he sticks the landing on the ground. He gives a respectful bow and nod, hoping that the natives were sufficiently impressed by his performance or--at the very least--tolerant of it.
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Led by Croaker, Qwyn, and Master Filament; you begin to pantomime the events that led you here, much to the obvious delight of the young among the natives. Kitkul's gesture, combined with Filament's show of stellar motes also seems to catch the eye of the community's elders/leaders. Further, a device in Kaylee's pack begins to chirp - a tetrad certified translator! With all of these working in your favor, you are able to communicate well enough to learn more about them!
~~~~~
These people call themselves Darak-oni, and seem to have physiological similarities to the dragonkin of Triaxus. Their people live all over this continent. The creature you fought is a being they call Mkhetsi - it thrives in the gaseous vents and fiery energies that emanate from the surface. It is known for hibernating several months at a time, stirring to violent activity for a few days whenever the planar discharges build up to create firestorms in the atmosphere, as they are now. Its very presence further enhances the destructive power of these energy fields, and the beast will sometimes launch itself so high in the air that they would lose sight of its body - but not its yellowish aura and electrical pulses. You conclude that due to the atmosphere of this world, the beast's electrical discharges were visible even while it was in space trying to eat your ship!
Just over five of their generations (~300 years) ago, people from the stars who looked very much like you, except they were all encased in dark armored plates that somewhat resembled the Darak-oni themselves arrived near their lands and created a military outpost, living across a dangerous chasm several hours' walk to the east of this very village. Most of these star-people kept to themselves, but a few visited with the Darak-Oni, originally to assess them as possible threats. After reaching a level of mutual respect, visitations continued, albeit slowly, and from a few of these armored star-people, the natives learned the way of The Cycle and Solarians.
But then, around 200 years ago, the Mkhesti first appeared on their world and made its lair in a ravine several days to the north. Not long afterward, the star-people stopped coming, leaving the natives entirely on their own. Any time a native village grew too large or made technology too complex, the Mkhesti would come and destroy (or eat!) their entire settlement! Because you drove it away (or if you admit to killing it), they tell you of a prophecy handed down nearly 200 years ago from one of their elders - that one day Hero-Gods would defeat the Mkhesti, and teach the Darak-oni how to reach the stars!
Bluff, Culture, Diplomacy, or Mysticism
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Master Filament asks the natives whether they think the beast was somehow connected to the military outpost and if the armored star-people relied on means that could be classified as magic.
He further inquires whether any of the natives, including possibly the elder who brought the prophecy, had ever ventured to the outpost and, if so, whether they would be willing to do so again.
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At first, you're all doing quite well in communicating with the natives, although apparently Master Filament makes a slight faux pas early on in the conversation. Thankfully, between Qwyn's earlier guidance and your gentle demeanor, you put them at ease, and are invited to partake in a meal with the village elders. Their food consists of roasted mushrooms and plant bulbs mixed with salt and silica strained from the atmosphere - nothing that would be safe for you to eat, however. If you explain that removing your helmets would be dangerous, they accept this - almost all of the armored star-people of the past told their ancestors similar things.
Because your team has impressed them, the natives give you even more information and warnings about what lies ahead:
The elders tell that the star-people used to maintain a small fortress made of "warm star metal" very close to the eastern chasm - it was the first place the Mkhesti came to when it initially appeared on their world, and yet the building was never assaulted and is still mysteriously intact to this day! Their leaders declared this place to be cursed and thus forbidden for the Darak-oni (but no such taboos are applied to outsiders like yourselves) to visit. The location they provide you with matches the coordinates Guidance gave you.
One of their own kind, from this very settlement, disobeyed their warnings and was found to have been making trips to that place, trying to learn how to fight the Mkhesti to fulfill the prophecy herself. When the elders tried to dissuade her from this course of action, she lashed out in anger, killing the leader of the elders, proclaiming that she was the "chosen one" and was greater than her peers and culture. In accordance with their ways, they banished her from their village and stripped her of name, now only known as The Exile. After she left the village and took up residence in the forbidden place, it began to shoot beams of fire at all those who came too close, especially on its southern and eastern edges.
If you indicate your intentions of going there, they tell you that the Exile uses magical powers that can control or break the minds of others, and that you should be careful! The Darak-oni maintain a scout-rotation near the eastern chasm, just to keep an eye out should the Exile make moves towards their settlement...but the current scout, Hilad, is nearly 3 days late in returning, and prior to your arrival, they had decided not to risk any more scouts while the Mkhesti's location was unknown.
Would you like to do anything before departing the native settlement?
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The elders will mention that, as her power grew, the Exile's eyes took a glowing red hue to them. Hilad is generally nondescript, but was known to have an almost triangular tear in his left wing. He's also not the most physically tough of their scouts, but has a knack for languages and deciphering found-technology.
To your eyes, the differences in the Darak-oni are subtle - females of the species have thinner appendages and more spikey growths, while males have have slightly more ridges/spikes to their scales and broader wingspan.
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Wishing it could sample some of the natives food, it will put a little back in a sample bag, for when they get back to the drake.
"Do you have a guess how long it will take to trek there? As we mentioned the air here might be dangerous for most of us if we breathe it. "
Looking towards its group, making sure everybody is ready, hoping everybody is keeping an eye on their suits environmentals.
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Kitkul - The elders don't have the same sort of reference points as you do, but you get the sense that your team is looking at approximately 3 hours of walking.
Filament - Looking for their missing scout and risking yourselves to defeat the Mkhesti as you did makes them feel like they are in your debt!
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With directions and well-wishes from the Darak-oni elders, you trek east from the village towards the chasms and the outpost. The first hour is relatively easy going. However, as you press onward, you arrive at the outskirts of the hellfire/planar storms/rifts.
These rifts lash out with fiery emanations that almost bring the surface of the rocky terrain to boil! The first hour of trekking through this terrain isn't difficult or dangerous - but your armors' environmental protections are straining to keep you at a safe temperature inside. As you get closer, however, waves of flame start cascading from the sky, including steaming-hot winds that whips loose debris all around!
Fortitude Saves - Representing your 2nd hour of travel through the storm:
Fortitude Saves - Representing your 3rd hour of travel through the storm:
After three hours of marching into even more fierce winds, flames, and heat, you reach an area where dilapidated circular buildings dot the landscape. The tumultuous storm rages all around, strong and fierce, without any sign of slowing down. A crumbling stone bridge crosses a broad gorge, offering a pathway directly into the heart of the turmoil. The only places with any cover from the storm are the low walls of the semi-circular ledge you currently huddle behind and the ground-levels of the three nearby oval- and circular-shaped buildings.
The bridge looks severely damaged and difficult to cross, while the tempest is at its greatest strength here, almost seeming to emanate from the area you are traveling to (in the direction of the blue callout on the bottom-right corner of the map). To your bemusement, the natives told you that this was both the area their scout would likely be near and also the easiest path across the chasms that surround the region.
To cross the bridge, a DC 10 Acrobatics check will let you move at full speed (this lets you move at full speed for 1 action, so to double move, you'd need a second Acrobatics roll). If you fail, please move your icon half of your speed and then stop .
At the end of any turn in which you are not adjacent to a wall at the starting area or inside of a structure, you must make a Fortitude save against the storm's effects. If you (voluntarily) move at half speed or less during your turn, you get a +2 on this saving throw.
If you want to try taking any actions to strengthen the bridge or help the checks of your team-mates in getting across, please post those first and I will let you know what modifiers you have acquired, if any.
Red objects on the map are thick mounds of loose debris and count as difficult terrain.
Dropping down from the oval-shaped building in the center to the level below it can be done using an Athletics or Acrobatics check.
We are now effectively in "Rounds" -
ROUND 1
Akkedis
Kaylee
Kitkul
Filament
Qwyn
Croaker
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Qwyn looks to the others. "I'm the most expendable; I'll go across first. If I make it across and it's safe on the other side, watch the route I take and try to mimic it..."
Qwyn dashes across the bridge quickly and adroitly, taking the safest path across for any of his less agile friends...
...to reach the connecting circular building...
...however, he can't avoid the steaming hot winds and takes some slight heat damage...
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"'Most expendable?: Master Filament repeats in dismay. "You are wrong, my son. You are no more expendable than the rest of us. Every element in your body was created within the interior of a star, a by-product of nuclear fusion--as was each within mine, within all the things you currently see around you.".
The elderly ysoki points at the nearby ruins, the bridge, and the life-forms nearby
"A fiery death would not destroy the elements of which you are made, only alter the way in which their electrons are currently configured." the wisened Starfinder explains. "Therefore, none of us is more expendable than the other.".
Realizing that Qwyn had gone, Master Filament follows.
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Kitkul sighs,"Reckless grubs..."
With that it pulls out its titanium cable, and hopefully allows the others of the group to tie themselves together. While it might make them have to move a bit slower, it will allow them to hopefully catch anybody who might fall over the ledge.
With that, Kitkul--knowing that it isn't the most graceful with four legs--goes out slowly on the bridge, with the full realization that it might take some damage from the storm.