Each of the crab things inhabited a suit of freebooter armor I. Among the jinsul bodies there were two static arc pistols, four batteries, two survival flare guns with one flare each, two sets of second skin armor, a pair of comm units, and two sets of leg blades.
Another pair of jinsul, each with a crab-like pet, approaches you from the north.
COMBAT ROUND ONE BEGINS!
Kai
Chk'tarsh
Jinsul (blue, red)
Azara
Crab-things (green, yellow)
Patterson
Speck
Hef
Kai considers the approaching jinsul.
Having spotted the Starfinders, the jinsul split up, each skittering towards a nearby agent!
One attempts to distract the ysoki by waiving the tall grass with a spare leg, while attempting to impale the Starfinder with another.
The other approaches from behind a plant, then strikes the kasatha!
A gash begins to open in the Starfinders' armor.
COMBAT ROUND ONE Cont'd
Kai
Chk'tarsh
Jinsul (blue, red)
Azara
Crab-things (green, yellow)
Patterson
Speck
Hef -9 SP
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"Aw, c'mon! We just killed some of these things!" Azara shouts as another patrol shows up.
"What cannot be avoided"
"Must be confronted"
"Must be burned in cosmic flame."
The calming mantra helps him focus as does the solar energy that begins to fill him.
He rushes to Speck's aid and slashes at the Jinsul with the bony looking glove on his right hand.
Azara's blade cuts deep into one of the jinsul .
The crab-things seem to react, each moving forward to try and protect the jinsul and bring down its attacker.
COMBAT ROUND ONE Cont'd/ROUND TWO BEGINS
Patterson
Speck
Hef -9 SP
Kai
Chk'tarsh
Jinsul (blue)
Jinsul (red) - 9 HP
Azara -13 SP
Crab-things (green, yellow)
Patterson incinerates one of the jinsul while Hef stabs at another, which readily moves out of the way.
COMBAT ROUND ONE Cont'd/ROUND TWO BEGINS
Speck
Hef -9 SP
Kai
Chk'tarsh
Jinsul (blue)
Jinsul (red) - 26 HP
Azara -13 SP
Crab-things (green, yellow)
Patterson
The shirren and ysoki each fire on the crab-like creatures, injuring their armored forms.
Kai uses trick attack in combat to shoot at things
The remaining jinsul continues striking at the kasatha.
The alien monster finds a vein and pierces it, but just slightly.
COMBAT ROUND TWO Cont'd
Azara -13 SP
Crab-things (green) -17 HP
Crab-thing (yellow) -4 HP
Patterson
Speck
Hef -21 SP
Kai
Chk'tarsh
Jinsul (blue)
Jinsul (red) - 26HP
The crab-things gang up on Azara.
COMBAT ROUND TWO Cont'd/ROUND THREE BEGINS
Patterson
Speck
Hef -21 SP
Kai
Chk'tarsh
Jinsul (blue)
Azara -18 SP
Crab-things (green) -17 HP
Crab-thing (yellow) -4 HP
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Speck finally notices the commotion over with Hef, and realises the poor guy is fighting the jinsul all by himself. Figuring that the exploding Azara should take care of the crabs, he turns to help Hef instead. With a few series of quick taps across his forehead and arms, he sends 3 magical bolts flying at the jinsul.
[dice: vs blue: magic missiles]3d4+3[/dice]
Incoming transmission from First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo: "Our salvagers managed to extract enemy strike coordinates from some of our felled starships orbiting Agillae-5. It appears the jinsuls’ plan to topple our long-range scanning towers on Bastiar-8’s fourth moon, which feed us all our information about their fleet movements in that system. We need stalwart warriors to stop the attackers so our data can keep coming in."
You watch on the monitors as both the Starfinder fleet shifts to Agillae-2 and the Jinsul fleet begins to converge on Bastiar-8.
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Speck finally notices the commotion over with Hef, and realises the poor guy is fighting the jinsul all by himself. Figuring that the exploding Azara should take care of the crabs, he turns to help Hef instead. With a few series of quick taps across his forehead and arms, he sends 3 magical bolts flying at the jinsul.
[dice: vs blue: magic missiles]3d4+3
The kasatha causes the jinsul to feel lethargic. The ysoki pelts it with bolts of force.
The human blasts one of the crab-like creatures , nearly killing it.
Kai uses trick attack in combat to shoot at things, that look like crabs.
But the pilot misses.
The shirren slices the other crustacean-like creature in half.
The remaining jinsul (blue) continues striking at the kasatha.
Though approaching exhaustion, the fearsome jinsul fights on, slicing into kasathan skin.
COMBAT ROUND THREE Cont'd
Kai
Chk'tarsh
Jinsul (blue) -10 HP
Azara -18 SP
Crab-things (green) -23 HP
Crab-thing (yellow) -24 HP
Patterson
Speck
Hef -24 SP | -6 HP
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It is very likely overkill, given how the fight is going, but Azara tires of dealing with these jinsuls and their pet crabs and wants to make sure everyone can help Hef out as quickly as possible.
His stored photonic energy reaches a peak once again and he takes a step back to make sure Chk'Tarlsh doesn't get caught int he blast then releases his energy in a wave.
The solarion boils the remaining crab-thing in its armored shell.
COMBAT ROUND THREE Cont'd/ROUND FOUR BEGINS
Patterson
Speck
Hef -24 SP | -6 HP
Kai
Chk'tarsh
Jinsul (blue) -10 HP
Azara -18 SP
Crab-things (green) -24+ HP
Crab-thing (yellow) -24 HP
Chk'tarlsh skirts around the left side of the shrub, leaving a path clear for Patterson and the others to the right. Reaching the jinsul, he slashes at the creature with his long sword.
The shirren's blade brings a quick end to the last jinsul in the patrol.
With each of their reconnaissance tasks complete and the latest jinsul patrol having been overcome, the Starfinders are able to acquire enough information about the jinsul operations to report back to Zigvigix, and find an avenue by which to escape the planet without incident.
The shirren faction leader begins using the intelligence into an attack plan the Starfinders can use in a location similar to Agillae-2.
Completing the formulation quickly, Zigvigix has the remain aboard ship as it advances toward Bastiar-8. Upon arrival you find that the Starfinders have managed to set up a scanning tower atop one of Bastiar-8's moons.
After landing on the moon, you pass through the tower's force fields and enter within it, only to find that the few agents within the location, whose skills lie in construction rather than combat, in a near panic. The news they convey is grim. The jinsul fleet has arrived in orbit around the planet!
Beyond the humming force fields that surround the scanning tower, the moon’s otherwise barren surface morphs into a roiling mass of approaching jinsuls. In preparation, Zigvigix assumes control of one of the turrets atop the scanning tower.
Zigvigix’s voice projects through the loudspeakers throughout the building. “Wow, that sure is a bunch of angry jinsuls! Remember Starfinders, we need this tower standing if we’re going to transmit any data to our fleet from behind enemy lines. Don’t worry, every soldier defending a structure is worth ten attacking it, and every Starfinder has to be worth at least hundred jinsuls, so I guess that makes us about even? Get to your defensive posts and—“ their final order gets drowned out by the roar of the jinsul horde slamming into the force fields and turret artillery weapon firing into the rushing throng.
It is evident that you and Zigvigix have wound up trapped as the last line of defense of the Starfinder scanning tower as a mob of jinsuls descends upon it. The tower’s outer defenses hold back the brunt of the horde and Ziggy provides artillery support from an elevated turret.
However, the task of thinning the jinsul forces and beating back the ones that slip past the defenses until such time that the army disperses has fallen upon you!
The Starfinders have a brief moment to survey the defensive positions before the jinsul strike.
During the survey, Azara, Chk'tarlsh, Hef, and Speck each notice that one of the rooms contains an access point from the outside, which would allowing jinsuls swarming over the tower to infiltrate--emerging from the northwestern corner.
Only Hef notes that a similar breach exists in one of the other rooms .
The horde is an abstract foe beyond the building’s walls with a set number of Hit Points. Each turn on initiative count 0, Ziggy fires their weapon and deals 30 damage to the horde. The PCs must position themselves throughout the complex to help stave off the horde using the tower’s other defenses. The PCs can choose where they begin this encounter as well as take a moment to look around each room. Each defense can only be used once per round, and requires a standard action to activate. All tower doors automatically open when approached unless locked from area H7, and the whole structure has normal light.
H1. Terrain Cannon
Here a PC can load chunks of stone into the purple vault on the southeast wall, which launches them outside with deadly force. Loading the cannon requires a successful Athletics check (DC 17) and deals 5d12 damage to the horde.
H2. Barrier Pulse
A PC who sits in the contraption in the room’s eastern track can overcharge the force field and expel the excess energy in a lethal blast of electricity. Using this device requires a successful Computers check (DC 17), and it deals 7d8 damage to the horde.
H3. Computer Terminal
A PC who uses this computer can attempt a Computers check (DC 20) to add one die to the damage inflicted by all other tower defenses activated that round. A jinsul in this room can increase the DC to use all the tower defenses to a DC 20 for one round with a standard action.
H4. Stone Supply
This room contains stones that supply ammunition for the cannon in area H1. Any jinsul in this room can disrupt the automated supply as a standard action, rendering the terrain cannon inoperable for one round. A Medium or smaller creature can squeeze through the narrow passage to H1.
H5. Atmosphere Control
This room maintains the tower’s atmosphere, including the supercooled gases that power the freezing spray controlled by the reactor in area H6. A jinsul in this room can sabotage the machine with a standard action, rendering the spray inoperable for one round.
H6. Freezing Spray
The reactor in the northwest corner of this room can be set to envelope the entire area surrounding the tower in dangerously cold mist. A PC can use this device against the jinsuls with an Engineering check (DC 17), dealing 9d6 damage to the horde.
H7. Security Mainframe
The screen along the southern wall of this room provides manual control over the tower’s internal security protocols. A PC who uses the screen can see the occupants of every room in the tower via security cameras, remotely close any door such that the door requires a full action to open (or a move action with a successful Athletics check (DC 17) using a move action, and make ranged attacks against jinsuls inside any single room using their ranged attack bonus to fire a laser rifle set into the room’s ceiling (2d8 F). A jinsul in this room can use it the same way.
H8. Power Core
This room holds the central power cell that fuels the tower’s outer force fields, its surface visible as a flat green plane. A jinsul in this room can interfere with the power supply as a standard action, rendering the barrier pulse in area H2 inoperable for one round.
H9. Perimeter Breach
This room contains an access point from the outside, allowing jinsuls swarming over the tower to infiltrate. Jinsuls can emerge from the northwestern corner. The breach is too large to readily patch.
H10. Tunnel Entrance
The holes in the ground here bypass the outer force fields, allowing jinsuls to climb inside from underground. Jinsuls can emerge here from the southern and western crevasses. The breaches are too large to readily patch.
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Patterson looks up from his comm unit as he reaches the end of the facility description. "We need a plan. At least one of us at the breach and the tunnel entrance--Azara, you and Hef take one, and Chk'tarlsh and I take the other? That leaves Kai and Speck on offense--the freezing spray and the barrier pulse? How does that sound?"
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"I agree with Speck. One person at each breach, at least to begin with. They can be reinforced later, if necessary but we want to destroy as many of the enemy as quickly as possible so there aren't as many to get in," Azara chimes in.
"I can take one of the breaches. I definitely think someone should manage the computer terminal though. Boosting the damage to everything else seems a particularly efficient use of resources. If we do that we'll have enough people for one person to man each of the defenses, too," he continues.
Assuming everyone agrees, he heads toward the breach at the tunnels.
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Hef nods, "Hmmm... two good options. I think at the start we should go with Speck's idea, take out as many as possible. But definitely plan to move around if necessary." He turns to Patterson and Chk'tarlsh, "You were both great on the ship guns, could one of you cover the mainframe and watch the cameras as well as use the guns there? Then you can help Azara and I in the breach rooms just as well as if you were there. Plus with someone watching all the rooms, if we missed a third breach point you can notify everyone."
for
If it hits, he gets +1 to AC vs that target from the blocking property of the spear.
"I'll take the mainframe, hey? Give a shout if you need me, and I'll let you know if I see any of them getting in some other way."
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"Both very good sstrategiesh," Chk'tarlsh says, mandibles clacking. "I wash goinhk to ssuggesst shomeone man the ssecurity mainframe, ash well," he adds, nodding at Hef.
The shirren nods and heads toward the terrain cannon (H1) without further comment, always eager to do whatever he can to help his team.
"I can take my share of knocksh - I can fill any gapsh that may come up," he offers over the comms, before setting to loading the chunks of stone into the vault.
Kai attempts to set the reactor to release freezing gas on the horde.
However, the controls are not what he is used to.
Ziggy fires the turret even as jinsul begin to enter the complex.
One emerges before Azara. A second appears before Hef and is instantly slain.
ROUND TWO
First Seeker Elsebo pings each of your comm units with vital news. [b]"Starfinder agents have compiled reports detailing jinsul ground troop formations from a base camp on Agillae-2. Our strategists have devised a way to safely air-drop agents behind enemy lines in order to disrupt the jinsul infantry’s leadership. Given the high concentration of jinsul battalions on Bastiar-6, that seems the ideal place to strike.
The fleets begin to close in and shift once more, each compensating and reacting to the active battles below. The Starfinder Fleet rushes over to aid Callion-2 as the Jinsul Fleet continues to push back into Bastiar-6.