In order to retrieve valuable resources necessary to repair the Wayfinders' flagship, the PCs follow-up on another team's investigative mission to a long-abandoned Starfinder Society lodge on a world in the Vast. Finding the lodge submerged and already partially flooded, the PCs quickly realize they are far from alone in the depths of the distant world's ocean.
Scenario Tags: Faction (Wayfinders)
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"What, they have to send seasoned Starfinders out to get spare parts, these days? There isn't ShipZone on Absalom Station?"
The question comes from a decent sized Vesk with green scales with blue highlights.
He leans indolently against a wall, not seeming to mind the rather large laser and doshko strapped to his back and pinned between himself and the wall.
His Hellknight armor bears the sigil of the Order of the Pike proudly in the center of his chest.
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Anything that helps the Starfinders is a reason to go. After he looks around cautiously, As long as there are no traps, please let there be no traps! I really don't like traps!
The statement comes from a Albino Ysoki with pink eyes. You see two rifles on his back and two pistols on his hip. Directly next to him is standing a Drone bigger than him with a doshko on its back.
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There are heavy footfalls as Oda approaches. Her armour clanks slightly as she walks. Finally she enters the room and you see that there is a vivid scar across her windpipe. She draws her datapad out and begins to tap away on it. A message pops up into your pads.
I am Oda Umox. I received a missive to report here. Where are we going?
Her message sent she sits heavily on a seat and reclines slightly. She radiates an air of confidence in her own abilities and seems to not see anything in this room as a threat.
You have been summoned in a meeting room in the Lorespire Complex, by the Wayfinders’ leader, Fitch.
The meeting room is well furnished and stocked with various refreshments, but Fitch—the meeting’s initiator—is nowhere to be seen. After several seconds of silence following the last arrival entering the meeting room, a large holoscreen descends from the ceiling of the northern wall. Fitch’s small, albino ysoki face appears in clear resolution. She whispers quietly to the assembled group.
I have a very important mission for you. You should be aware that the Master of Stars, the best ship in the Starfinder Society’s fleet, is undergoing extensive renovations. Well, we’ve hit a bit of a roadblock. We need some clophirium to complete the next repair, but supplies have been quite scarce in the Pact Worlds for the last forty years. Luckily, we searched our archives and found a planet in the Vast with substantial reserves: Arniselle.
Fitch’s transmitted image picks up a datapad but accidentally knocks a screwdriver off the desk while doing so. She flinches as the tool clatters to the ground, then continues whispering in an even lower tone. NO! I’m sorry about that. They’re finally all asleep, you see... Now, back to the mission. We established a lodge on Arniselle about a century ago. It was abandoned when the First Seeker at the time decided to refocus Society resources closer to the Pact Worlds and abandoned several outposts in the Vast. Unfortunately, our scans show that Arniselle has undergone substantial seismic activity during the intervening years, and now the whole lodge is underwater. We assigned a special team to go investigate; they’re all kalos, call themselves the Manta Corps. Maybe you’ve met them. Anyway, a ship dropped them off, but the Manta Corps never reported back for their pickup. Suddenly, a loud shriek erupts from the holoscreen, followed by quick pitter-patter footsteps. Fitch drops the whisper and turns away from the screen.
Fitch turns back to face the screen. Anyway, the current First Seeker agrees with me about the importance of this mission and has authorized me to mount a second expedition. We must finish repairing the Master of Stars, and to do that we need Arniselle’s clophirium. This could be dangerous, so I’ve selected you, some of our most experienced agents.
Go to Arniselle and investigate the submerged lodge. See what it will take to re-establish our presence there. And try to find out what happened to the Manta Corps. Best case scenario, they’re just down there working, but it’s not like them not to report in.
I’m sending you information on the planet now. Oh, and remember! There could easily be intelligent life on this world. The lodge wasn’t staffed long enough to really explore the oceans. If you meet any new species, ! It’s not only our mission as Wayfinders, but locals might help us with getting that clophirium as quickly as possible. Any questions?
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"Sounds excitin'. Except the whole bein' underwater part. And I gotta imagine the Kalo team was a sight better at swimmin' than us."
A lanky human with an Akitonian accent and a set of obvious cybereyes grins.
"Pleasure. Pan's the name. Fitch, we have any information about wildlife on the planet at all? Also, anything you can do for us, equipment-wise? I'm guessing the plasma bolter here isn't gonna do all that well underwater."
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The Ysoki takes in the mission details then responds, "Hey there everyone, you can refer to me as JYD. Fitch, I have several questions regarding this mission."
"First, what is Clophirium and why is it so important for the repairs. What does it look like? How much of it do we need? Do we have scanning information on what to search for and most importantly, is it dangerous?"
"Secondly, if you sent an Elite Underwater Specialty Team such as the Manta Corps, I have met them, what do you expect us to accomplish? I assume the Clophirium is priority but if the Manta Corps require rescue, do we attempt if they are in peril or just report back if captured? Personally, I cannot see the Manta Corps being taken out. If the Lodge submerged due to ongoing seismic activity, sounds likely to be a suicide mission but I am in."
"If this is an underwater mission, are we going to be provided the necessary equipment as Pan inquired? An underwater vehicle and underwater weapons? I don't do well in water."
JYD starts nervously pulling on a whisker.
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A brown-haired halfling with dressed in explorer's gear, including a well-worn starfinder backpack, walks into the room. He smiles and waves. "Hello there, everybody. How's it going? I'm Ashtif Cloudskipper. Looking forward to working with you all."
A few strides behind him, a brenneri walks into the room. The brenneri is dressed in a suit, with a short cape hanging from his shoulders, and a badge of some kind on his lapel. They are comical - the small halfling standing next to a medium-sized otter-person.
Ashtif points over his shoulder. "This is Junior Ambassador Calvon. He'll be coming with us, if we need some extra diplomatic assistance."
Ashtif and Calvon sit down and listen to the briefing. Calvon fidgets with a datapad as he listens to the talk.
The halfling nods at the various questions. A couple of times he looks like he's about to ask something, but then it is covered by someone else, so he listens for the answers.
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"Ah, you know what they say...if the Kalos can't get the job done, send in a Vesk. Actually, they say that about any races and Vesk," Chorizal chimes in from where he's leaning.
"You guys worry too much. Your armor has air reserves, right? You've got guns and blades. That's all you need," he continues.
"Although, I am interested in hearing about what kind of...recompense might be involved here. I mean, we are invaluable in repairing the Society's best ship. Surely that's worth something."
Fitch answers through the vid-com.
You all have armor, don’t you? That will let you breathe underwater just fine. Hopefully, you’re all decent swimmers. As for the equipment, you’ll also want to be sure to bring some piercing weapons; those work pretty well underwater.
As for the Clophirium, it's an old form of fuel, used at the early start of the discovery of the Drift Travel, but it's the only thing that will bring to life the Master of Stars' engines and quite difficult to find nowadays. While it’s a major strategic asset for the Society, the symbolic impact of the Master of Stars is even greater. Getting this ship back in action is my highest priority right now.
As the Venture Captain was ready to continue, the vid get black just before you hear her says "Not this button!".
After of moment of silent, the vid comes back to life and Fitch continues as if nothing happened.
Starfinder lodges are built to withstand almost anything. It might be flooded, but the structure should still be intact. The Society built a lot of lodges during that time, using a standardized design to be cost-effective and resilient. That means every lodge, including the one on Arniselle, has airlock systems, even if the atmosphere is normally breathable. If we’re lucky it could still be dry inside. There’s usually one airlock to enter the building, an airlock to go between levels, and an airlock to get into the records room.
Who knows what kind of shape anything is in if the lodge flooded. The Society pulled out of there quick and left a lot of equipment behind. Staff were on Absalom Station when the orders came through, and they couldn’t even get dispensation to return for personal effects.
She turns to JYD and adds The Manta Corps, yes, there are four of them. The leader, Deepspeaker Alluguoth is a spiritual type. He doesn’t say much, but when he does, I’d advise listening. Then there’s Mantarider Ushuul; he’s a lot more talkative and loves to show off his gun. You might have seen Mantarider Suulhu-Huur around the sparring rooms. She’s a fighter and uses some kind of fancy cryopike. Lastly, there’s Wavetreader Vhoosh. She’s even quieter than Alluguoth, but that’s probably a good thing. She can be a little bit unnerving. She always wants to know about how many people you’ve killed. They’re good agents, all of them. We need to find them, and if something happened to them, we need to know why and bring them back, safe if possible. Do your best.
The Manta Corps are all kalos. Kalos are an aquatic race from the Brethedan moon of Kalo-Mahoi known for their blue- green skin, batlike wings, and glowing, protruding eyes. These four kalos are quite tight-knit and go on assignments together, typically deployed to underwater locations.
DC15+
and have been known to avoid assignments with a lot of detail or paperwork. Because of this, they’ve earned a reputation as underwater commandos but also as a group that doesn’t do well in overly social settings
DC20+
While such weapons generally cost 10% more than a regular version of the weapon, for this adventure, you can purchase such weapons at the base weapon’s normal price as many kalo manufacturers on Absalom Station are on good terms with the Manta Corps and want to help however they can.
Both lightweight and thermally stable, clophirium featured prominently in many early Drift engine designs, but natural sources were limited, and Pact World planets with clophirium deposits quickly exhausted their supplies. Alternate Drift engine designs that do not require the mineral have become more popular in the last 40 years.
DC20+
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JYD speaks out, "Ahh, Clophirium. Yes, yes, that was prominently used in many early Drift engine designs. I must have thought it was a different substance. It is lightweight and thermally stable but natural sources were limited with most deposits quickly being depleted. During the last 40 years alternate Drift engine designs became more popular and easier to maintain. The Master of Stars could be retrofitted with a more modern design Drift engine but the whole structure would have to be rebuilt. That would take years. Since most deposits were depleted, it would be incredible to find anything detailing lost veins of it."
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"Hey, I think I know the place where the Manta Corps equip themselves. If we want to get some weapons specifically designed for underwater use, that might be the place. Who knows, since they're tight with the Manta Corps, they might even give us a discount if they know it's for a rescue mission. This isn't classified, is it, Fitch?"
He nods with interest as he listens to JYD's analysis, providing more detail about the Clophirium than he had known.
Wait? What? Fitch seems a little bit distracted before she answer Ashtif
No, the mission was official, not secret.
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JYD gathers his gear and heads to the ship with the others. Once on board, he shrugs his shoulder at the Halfling and gives him a smirk, "Most of us are pilots, just don't screw it up! I'm better at Engineering and keeping the shields up but can work the ships Computers and sensors as well. Which position do you want to take, Pan?"
"We will need a Captain to give orders. Anyone?"
It takes several days for your ship to make the necessary journey through the Drift to reach Arniselle.
The Starfinder Society starship, a large personnel freighter called the Peregrination into Night, ferries you. a female shirren, is the ship’s captain and a jovial host to the you during your time onboard.
She offers daily (and delicious) meals in her private quarters, which she painstakingly prepares herself.
Sometime early in your journey, your ship come across an organic arkship lazily floating in the Drift. The biomechanical ship openly broadcasts its affiliation with the Xenowardens, along with free informational download packets on recent ecological events.
Hidden among various reports on the plant growth rates of various worlds, the most interesting piece of information in the packet is a report on plans to cruelly place the last known feathered renkrodas into captivity in small Castrovelian wildlife preserves.
Beyond the information packet, the arkship doesn’t engage in conversation with you and is quick to move on so it can continue its distribution to other traveling starships.
After 9 days of travel, the Peregrination into Night finally gets out of the Drift. Through her sensors and screens you are able to see Arniselle in her blue round majesty.
Water seems to recover most of the planet's surface. Some island are still visible from orbit.
Captain explains I will release you in a small submersible vessel once my ship achieves orbit over Arniselle.
I've already downloaded into the submersible's computer the lodge’s coordinates. I will retrieve you from your insertion location in 2 days, which should give you plenty of time to complete your mission.
From what I know, the submerged Starfinder lodge is simple to find, it's about a quarter mile under the surface.
After her best wishes from the Captain, you all go into the cramped submersible vessel and dive into Arniselle's waters.
As the Captain explained, the travel is short and uneventful. After a dozen minute you are at the Ldoge's coordinates.
Getting out of the subersmible is quite easy and you approach the Lodge.
As you come closer, the Arniselle lodge appears to be intact. The structure’s northern edge is pushed into a cluster of rocks and boulders, with obvious signs of other past impact.
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JYD is not sure what the Arkship was all about.
He goes out of the submersible and looks around the exterior of the Lodge. He looks for signs of damage and if the entrance airlock still seem to be intact and functional. If so, he will see if they will require brute strength to open or if temporary power can be hooked up to power open the airlock hatch.
As JYD looks around he sees many subtle signs indicating that someone, or something, currently resides within the facility.
Broken parts of the exterior are haphazardly repaired, exterior lights are active, and the front door is decorated with a strange broken chain.
The airlock hatch is functional and don't seems to be locked.
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Ashtif activates the autopilot, wiring it through the team's comms so they can access it if needed. He makes sure all of his gear is securely stowed in his starfinder backpack, and that it's all zipped up water tight. He then activates his environmental seals, swimming out with Junior Ambassador Calvon - whose otterlike body seems quite at home in the water - to the lodge. He activates the ship's locks as he leaves, so that any others who might come along can't just get in.
Once the group is all ready, he opens the airlock to go into the lodge.
The airlock disengages and opens. It can contain twelve medium humanoids.
The Starfinder's moves into the airlock chamber who closes, finishing draining.
The airlock door spins open, and two creatures await on the other side. One creature is a vibrant teal and the other a similarly bright indigo. Both are large creatures with an imposing presence, each with a stout body that ends in a single wide flipper. They have articulated side flippers with a surprising level of fine motion, brightly colored whiskers, gills, and four long tusks, two on each side. The tusks are lightly carved with decorative patterns. They both wear white robes that flutter with the movement of the ocean, and the indigo creature speaks in slightly accented but otherwise perfect Common.
Hello, and welcome! I am Hinevera, and this is Teltham of the morlamaw people. Welcome to our home. You must be more Starfinders, I presume? The last group left rather quickly, so we assumed another group would arrive soon. Greetings!
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Junior Ambassador Calvon steps forward and nods. "Greetings, Hinevera and Teltham. I am Junior Ambassador Calvon, of the Brenneri people, and my companions and I are indeed Starfinders. We are pleased to make the acquaintance of the morlamaw, and would be happy to learn what happened to the group that came previously, as well to open communication between your people and the Starfinder Society, on behalf of the Pact Worlds."
Calvon motions toward the others.
Ashtif nods. "Hiya. I'm Ashtif Cloudskipper. Pleased to meetcha."
bows his head to the Starfinder and says Greetings. while smiles and speaks They were quite funny, weren’t they? With their... wings? Is that what they’re called? The other Starfinders visited for a little while, and we offered to let them inventory and take back all the Starfinder- marked property. We certainly have no need of your weapons and armor; it’s hard for us to use them! Hinevera waves one of her flippers to demonstrate. They left quickly though; I don’t think they were keen on inventorying...
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Chorizal knows about 2 things: flying ships and punching things. All the things that happen along the way require knowledge that does not fit either of those two criteria, so he hardly pays attention to them.
He's quite pleased by Captain Zhast's hospitality and enjoys at least his fair share of the meals.
There's even more boring stuff when they get into the water and nothing but he readies himself as the interior door of the airlock opens.
He rumbles low in his throat as some rather large creatures appear on the other side and he brandishes his brand new pike at it.
What it says is unsettling...since it doesn't mean a fight.
"Uh...yes...you know of the other Starfinders? Why did they leave?" he answers, relaxing a little.
When they Chorizal speaks the two creatures takes a step back and a worried says Be careful! There is a Vesk with you!
Both seem ready to attack Chorizal, looking at the other Starfinders.
But... but ... The Veskarium is at war with the Pact World! says a confused who adds, hopeful, Is it your prisonner?
The two large walrus creature look at each other, as if this information was unexpected.
Who win the war? The Pact World I presume? asks
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JYD takes stock of the functionality of the Lodge while the discussion starts. "Greetings Hinevera and Teltham. I am JYD. This is your home now? How long have you been living here? I take it that it was your group that made the repairs? We expected it to be abandoned. May we take a tour and perhaps find somewhere we can discuss the terms of this building and the Starfinder property within."
When did the other team leave? Did they make any inquiries about this building? We were not aware of your species presence on this world. Have you always been here and are there more of you? He will take a mental tally of the number of morlamaw there are occupying the building. "Were you aware of the Starfinders who first built this building?"
"Ah, the Vesk. Yes, they are an intimidating race but are our allies now."
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Far from being offended, Chorizal grins. This is the appropriate reaction to facing a Vesk, after all. He does lower his weapon, though, placing the butt on the floor at his feet and leaning on the weapon casually.
The more they talk the more confused he gets, though. The war between the Veskarium and the Pact Worlds ended before he was born. In fact, his parents met after settling on Verces after the war with the Swarm was over after having fought against the Pact Worlds first.
"HAW! Like the Pact Worlds could have beaten the Veskarium if the Swarm hadn't come along. No, the only reason we're not all speaking Vesk right now is because we entered a treaty of mutual advantage," he says.
"But didn't the Manta Corps tell you that? You're talking ancient history and they were here just weeks ago."
Before the two creatures could answer, another one came out from another airlock. This time, the creature is of dark blue.
She moves towards the Starfinders and greets them. Greetings Starfinders, Be welcome into this Holy Place, I'm Oshessa, the leader of this small community.
We are you coming from ? I'm surprised to see a Vesk with you. It seem that the Galaxie has change a lot.
We are called, Morlamaw, inhabitants of this Planet. You are welcome to look for Starfinder Society equipment and claim what you wish.
Looking closer at different Starfinder she asks How can you walk and swim? How can you work with so small appendices? Where are placed your organs? Your heart?
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Ashtif glances around at the other Starfinders, then says, "Well, our hearts are ..." He taps his chest. "Around there, in our chest. You no doubt swim easier than us, but are able to swim even with smaller hands." He holds up his hands. "And we're able to do work well, grips things and such." After he answers the questions, he asks, "So, the Starfinders who came here before ... Were they people who breathed water? Do you know where they went?"
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And with that series of questions, Chorizal is back on edge. His grip tightens on his pike but then relaxes as the morlamaws get very close. He's got a different weapon for close up work, after all.
He's about to shoot off a flippant remark when Ashtif answers the questions.
He shakes his head in disgust. "Never tell someone who doesn't know where your vital organs are! he hisses at the halfling.