GM Cellion's Dawn of Flame AP

Game Master Cellion

I think we should investigate--let's ask him a question but getting a detail about the Archipelago wrong, to see if he catches it. But I don't want to ignore this and move on. The odds of it being someone lost inside the sun with a mysterious companion seems *very low* but then again, we're here

Yeah this is what we in the business call "really damn weird," but if we don't investigate it it's probably gonna come back to bite us.

Hey everyone,

Still alive! I've been struggling with a major depressive phase coupled with some actually bad stuff going on IRL. I struggle with whether to come back or just drop out (semi-)gracefully, and I would like to continue if it's all right with y'all. I know it's been frustrating with how much trouble I've had lately.

Please continue to take care Mari! I'd be happy to have your character stay with us even if you can't be that active. I'd suggest though that we nominate someone or several someones among the players to bot you when needed.

Uzmat looks really cool! I don't suppose they're in search of gainful employment?

I mean, we can't really let them OUT without risking more damage, so imagine they're probably gonna have to hitchhike with us until we get to the Crucible.

Did we f*ck up by avoiding the fake wreck that seemed like an obvious trap? :P

post incoming, sorry it's been a heckuva week at work

Me too. And I still haven't done Belmarniss' shopping. :(

@Flint: Pinned has "You cannot take any action that requires the use of any of your limbs, but you can always attempt to free yourself, usually through an attack roll or Acrobatics check." Do you have an ability that lets you attack w/o limbs? I swear we talked about this before but I'm not finding the post.

(If an attack roll will work better, he will try that next round. His bonus for that is +18, though I think the pinned condition takes that down by 4)

I'm not familiar with all the tricks they might have but Get 'Em and Combat Tracker along with shooting isn't terrible, every bit of hp damage helps.

Also Mari has a trick for glitching out tech but I don't think it does anything to *creatures*

GM Cellion wrote:

@Flint: Pinned has "You cannot take any action that requires the use of any of your limbs, but you can always attempt to free yourself, usually through an attack roll or Acrobatics check." Do you have an ability that lets you attack w/o limbs? I swear we talked about this before but I'm not finding the post.

(If an attack roll will work better, he will try that next round. His bonus for that is +18, though I think the pinned condition takes that down by 4)

I did end up using your earlier first roll as an attack roll to grapple (+18-4). Unfortunately you have to beat KAC+8, and that's a hard target to hit.

Do we want to ask for his surrender? We're already in a prison so we have a place to put him, if he's willing to play ball.

Feel free to give it a try even if you've already acted this round, though I would like a social skill roll to go with it.

After Belmarniss’ encouragement, Flint is unlikely to negotiate for surrender, so if you want to Ordyt, you should speak up quickly…

The beginnings of a plan: since mass-releasing the prisoners will probably alert the citadel to our presence we can have our backup team (including Hazl now) prep the weapons and gear for the prisoners, but not hit the Enter key until we signal them. That way we can advance towards the Wishing Engine and when we start a firefight the backup team breaks everyone out--and then Khaim has to deal with two emergencies instead of just one.

Might be worth putting Uzmat there as well, to make sure they can hold out against the Legion counterattack

Rather than hack into the comms, hopefully one of our downed foes has a comm receiver. If not, then maybe not worth the risk.

I like Ordyt’s plan—we are the advanced strike team going after the wishing engine, and they lay low as long as possible, then engage the enemy on the main level as a distraction.

Doing this Battle-of-Naboo-style! I like it!

Go ahead and lay out exactly how you want to direct the teams in Gameplay. Keep in mind that you haven't yet located how to go up and down from this floor, so you may want to do that first.

Question for Flint OOC--is he deliberately being deceptive to Astino? Ordyt isn't going to contradict his captain in front of strangers, but his/my understanding from the Legion reports is that they've all but totally captured the Archipelago. There might still be a few holdout points but am I off in thinking that the Legion holds most of the bubbles?

EDIT: Found in back in December, message to Cmdr Gorchak.

The Archipelago has been seized, and Sunrise Station has been successfully demolished. The Dawn Gate has been successfully collapsed through the efforts of our operatives, isolating the Archipalego from the Pact Worlds as planned. Significant local resistance continues. The Psychic Resonance was not as effective as expected, primarily due to preparations by the local citizens. Ongoing engagement likely to be highly costly to both sides. Please request further direction from General Khaim.

Not deliberately deceptive. I didn’t remember the details of how bad it was. I seem to recall something about them only being able to maintain control for another few weeks.

@Flint Very good, just making sure I understood the thrust of the convo. Thanks!

@Cellion I think the NPCs acting as a distraction is out, and my understanding is that we're going to search for a way down to go sabotage the Wish Engine. Unless anyone objects, I think I'd like to have the NPCs hold the way up/down or a convenient chokepoint, and until we find that following like60-80ft back behind us as we go explore this floor.

Is that the full team of NPCs that will be following behind you? Or are you keeping anyone at the ship or in your A-team?

Also, where to next in gameplay?

Flint will defer to Ordyt on the planet-based tactics, but I think the three worn-out freed prisoners should fall back to the ship as a last line of defense. Uzmat and Hazl I would give the option for either team -- us (alpha) or beta.

Flint is keen for there to be a ship left to escape on when they get back, so he is happy for some of the relatively powerful allies to remain there and/or provide the distraction. Can we get a relative level or power capability of the notable NPC's like we did for the Anassanoi volunteers?

Hazl is very skilled and a surprisingly capable combatant (level 9 operative, essentially). Astino is about level 9 as well, but exhausted and drained by his experience, so he's in much worse fighting condition. The other two NPC prisoners are civilians.

Uzmat guarding Astino and the others seems like something they'd be keen on. I don't think that group could successfully pilot the Torrent in a fight though--although they could probably guard it against light attempts to seize the ship.

I think Ordyt has the right of it: they should probably hide on the ship and recover from their ordeal.

So which door we wanna kick in next?

I'm thinking that middle space is most likely to be a lift or other travel point, mades sense to me from a layout standpoint.

As a heads up for everyone, my spouse and I will be headed to Japan for vacation from the 18th to May 5th. I might be able to post during that time but it seems unlikely.

Whoa! Have fun!

Bit of a derp question but are the squares on this map 10 feet or 5? I'm trying to figure out how far I can get with a move action to try and get to the naari before she opens the cages.

10 feet.

Just as an FYI, since we haven't had activity from Sammad in over a month and Mari in over two months, I'll be looking to sideline them going forward. In order to keep with the epic scope of this raid however, I'd like to bake in at least some of their contribution as we continue to the finish line of the AP with our 3-man group.

I'm thinking we do one of the following:
- Passive Buffs Do something similar to what I did this fight, where we give the team a blanket +2 on attack rolls. We would also assuming Mari contributes some damage each round from a distance, without an attack roll.
- Play Multiple Characters We assign Sammad and Mari to each be botted by one of you, and bring in an NPC to be the third botted person. That way each of you control two characters.
- Mari and Sammad Join the B Team Mari and Sammad go support the other team and you decide to take on the additional challenge of 3-manning stuff designed for a bigger group.

Any preferences?
I know Ordyt is currently traveling so we'll decide what to do once he returns.

Has it been that long? I'm real sorry, work has just been inconsistent and...a Lot, lately. I'll try to post more frequently going forward.

Sammad I sent you a PM.

I have returned! Thank you all for your patience, looks like the beast fight was pretty cool!

If we're still deciding what to do with the party going forward, I lean ever-so-slightly towards controlling an extra character, though admittedly that's more work. My second choice would be a passive bonus, as long as we still have access to our companions' skills.

Welcome back Ordyt! Bel and Flint, opinions?

I spoke with Sammad and he explained that while he may be able to post every so often he wouldn't be able to keep our usual pace up due to other responsibilities, so he'll be stepping down for now (though hopefully that changes and he'll be able to rejoin us).

I personally like the flavor that unique personalities bring to each different character, but I understand we are far enough into this story that it would be difficult for players to come in at this late date and feel well-engaged in what (maybe?) is the final episode of this campaign.

My own personal "botting" skills aren't great for higher level Starfinder characters, since I haven't done too much Starfinder and that not at these levels, so if we don't get new people, maybe a background role / static bonus might be good.

Flint was thinking of dropping his Supernova on them and using the central elevator for cover, forcing them to move and adjust to get line of sight on the group. He was hoping Ordyt and/or Bel might have a grenade or two (or some other area of effect spell) so the foes can be targeted while they are clumped together. Unfortunately, his burst does half fire and half holy, so unlikely to wear them down too much--but it would hit all of them.

This is entirely my fault, so I'm content to accept all the damage, but: I somehow missed updating my KAC/EAC from the fancy new armor I bought back during our gear up sessions. It was right on the full stats, just not on the reference line.

Very sorry about that, Cellion, I believe everything's correct now.

Thanks, DM…Yes, it is the Jet Charge feat that seems to have some cool synergies with the Stellar Rush. Add haste to the mix and Flint can BECOME a projectile (up to 180’ charge).

Where is the switch to close that door as Ordyt asked?

oof! what a lousy set of healing rolls, I'm sorry Flint!

My attendance is going to be variable for a bit: my mom's sister, who's kind of been an important part of her life since she was eight, and thus an important part of our family by extension, passed away last night. :(

So...we doomed?

GOD DAMN I love desperate last stands and heroic sacrifices. Glad we didn't party wipe there though.

I do think we should take the 10min to rest--I'm also worried about the opfor jumping us, but ultimately I think risking more fights without resting is the worse gamble.

I also think it might be worth combining our assault teams, and having Team Uzmat ready to take off at a moment's notice since we're probably spreading ourselves too thin.

Are those med serums part of the party loot? I could use one, I've only got the basic ones.

I expect the three active PC's should each take one now so we can continue on...