SFS Storm of the End Times (Inactive)

Game Master Quentin Coldwater

You are all in a Lorespire Complex hangar. You're supposed to meet Venture-Captain Arvin here, but he is running late. Nearby, a Pegasus-class starship is being loaded with astronomical equipment by several workers. There is an uncomfortable silence as you all have been waiting here for several minutes.

You can use this space to introduce yourselves.

A tall, gangly, Brakim walk into the room, take one look at the equipment being loaded and stride over to help load it into the Pegasus-Class Starship.

As he goes, he looks at the other assembled Starfinder and speaks in a friendly manner, totally oblivious to the awkward silence, "Hello fellow Starfinders, my name is Ratfink Tink Shlinkbink, but of course you can call me Ratfink!

It's wonderful to be here, I will be your Vanguard and Frontliner, and it's so nice to not have those pesky Azlanti chasing me all the time, quite a refreshing change!"

As he starts to help load he starts talking to the workers, "Oh boy! I love this kind of equipment, I wonder where we're going today!"

The Silence in the room is broken as you hear loud tapping and scraping noises from the hanger entrance.

As you look towards the source, you see a robed figure approach, the lines across his partially exposed face reveal him to be an android, but otherwise you could not tell.

Greetings.Operatives.This.One.Is.Named.Ferrus.26.A.Pleasure.To.Be.Working.W ith.You.

He raises his arms above his head, revealing one of them to be a maintenance claw.

Engaging.Jubilation.Matrix.Woooooooooooooooo.

He then moves towards the Pegasus itself and holds out his arm, appearing to scan and document all the equipment being loaded.

A Maraquaoi holding a large stick is standing around in the hangar, just looking how everyone is loading the Pegasus starship. When Ratfink and Ferrus-26 start helping with the loading of the ship, he merely smiles and nods in approval.

"Greetings, companions. I'm Gusio, your resident Mystic for this mission. Do not mind my presence please, I merely need to be present for everything to turn out OK." He gives a thumbs up and a smile.

"Please do not ask how that works, not even I know, but for my gender it has always been like this. Also, speaking of gender, I learned quite quickly that other species get confused the moment there are more than 3 genders. You are allowed to just refer to me as a "he". I do not really care, but it seems other species get really confused and apologetic for some reason when they "get it wrong"."

Gusio then moves a bit closer to the working crew, and just stands there being all content.

Maraquoi are space monkeys with seven genders. Gusio's gender is Zysha, which literary just stands around the others doing nothing when children are conceived (and it fails if the Zysha is not around). Nobody knows how it works, it just is.

Ferrus-26 scans all the equipment the workers are hauling on board. You are amazed at how expensive all of this stuff is. Everything is state of the art meteorological and astronomical equipment. Dropping a crate could cost you a year's worth of wages, you reckon.

Ratfink lifts a crate and the other workers nod in thanks. They direct you where everything is supposed to go. One of them comments, "Thanks, mate. Glad one of you adventurers is helping out the common folk around here." He shoots a foul look at Gusio. "Venture-Captain said something about going to 'Wheel'-something. Never heard of the place, but must be pretty important if you're lugging all this expensive tech there."

"No problem at all! I'm keen to see what all this equipment does! You could even say, I'm"

And Ratfink pauses, and looks to the workers with a goofy grin on his face.

"Wheel-ly excited for this!"

He waits expectantly for the groans, as per usual.

Ferrus ponders what this mission could entail with equipment and supply being this extensive, before he adresses the next member of the team.

Retracting.Doubts.About.Leadership.A.Mystic.Is.A.Good.Addition.to.

He then hears Ratfink's horrible pun.

Retracting.Retraction.Leadership.Qualifications.Doubtful.Mission.Succes.Cha nce.Reduced.

He then surveys the rest of the Hanger.

Member.Numerical.Insufficient.Surveying.For.Additional.Operatives.

The sounds of an air-wrench that came from a maintenance hatch on the Pegasus come to a halt, and soon after a gangly young Ysoki male wearing dirty coveralls emerges.

"Oh! Hey there!", he stammers in a shy voice.

"I didn't notice you there. I heard this whirring sound and I just needing to fix it. Good that the meeting hasn't yet started, that would've been embarrassing. How nice to meet y'all!".

He nervously fumbles as he tries to put the wrench in his tool-belt, almost dropping it to the ground. And then he hold up his paw in a greeting gesture.

I'm copy/pasting a lot of info from the scenario. It has a tendency to skip the letter "i" every so often. I may have missed a few, so if a word doesn't seem to make sense, try inserting an "i" somewhere.

Venture-Captain Arvin, a male lashunta with a half-shaved head, emerges from a docked Pegasus starship. He presses himself against the hull near the cargo-bay door to make room for several teamsters as they carry crates packed with intricate recording devices onto the starship. “I’ve got good news!” Arvin announces, hopping down off the loading ramp. “Not long ago, some of your colleagues recovered ship logs describing a previously unknown planet called Wealdriad. The planet lacked any sentient life or noteworthy resources, so we sent a long-distance probe to monitor it while we focused on the Scoured Stars debacle.
“Well, that probe picked up something intriguing: solar flares from Wealdriad’s sun create auroras in the atmosphere, which are then ‘shaped’ into unnatural patterns by the magnetic forces arising from stone pillars on the planet’s crust. It is unlike anything we’ve seen in the Pact Worlds or Near Space, and the Forum decided it’s worth investigating further. Our probes indicate a massive solar flare will hit the atmosphere directly above the planet’s largest collection of pillars within the next few weeks, so we don’t want to miss what could be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Furthermore, the auroras should make for quite a spectacle, so we advertised the upcoming event to some interested parties throughout the Pact Worlds. The Society’s public image has taken a beating recently, so this aurora could give us some much-needed good press.
“You’ll be taking this ship, along with some state-of-the-art astronomical equipment, out to Wealdriad for the upcoming aurora. Your mission has three components. First, gather as much data about the aurora as you can. Second, make a good impression among the other visitors so we can start rehabilitating the Starfinder brand in light of this multimedia smear campaign against us. I suspect other spectators are planning to record the event as well, so if you can collaborate with the other attendees, you might just kill two electrovores with one bullet. Third, we might not be setting foot on Wealdriad’s surface again for a long time, so see if there is anything interesting on the ground that our probes missed. Any questions?”

"I'll give you a bit of info on Wealdriad as well: Wealdriad is almost entirely oceanic; the only noteworthy landmasses are the basalt spires that seem to generate the magnetic fields we’re investigating. Orbital scans also detected harsh and unpredictable weather patterns, so expect a lot of wind and rain. As far as we can estimate, the planet is about comparable in size, mass, and gravity to Golarion, and the atmosphere seems to be breathable, so I expect no difficulties there.”

You may roll Culture (Recall Knowledge) or Diplomacy (Gather Information) to see if you can get your hands on existing records concerning Wealdriad. Please use the built-in diceroller in the forum. Click the "How to format your text" button below the text field if you need help.

You may also roll Mysticism to see if you know anything about the motivation of the other spectators.

Now is also the time to slot your boons. Most people have new characters, I think, but if you have boons, post which ones you're going to slot. If you have the Contractor's Respect boon for either the Church of Desna or the Xenowardens (Scenario 1-12: Ashes of Discovery), it is recommended that you slot it.

Also, there will not be any spaceship combat, but I would like to know who will fulfill the roles of Captain, Science Officer, and Engineer while travelling.

Also, it is smart to ctrl-a, ctrl-c the text before posting it. The forums have a tendency to eat your posts sometimes, so quickly saving your text is recommended.

Ratfink shakes the hand of Sir Kit, "Lovely to meet you and welcome to the team! No need to be shy, we're all friends here!"

He turns to listen to Venture-Captain Arvin, and after hearing the briefing, turns to his comrades, "Well I don't know about you, but this planet sounds exciting, if a little too Mystical for me personally", he says, throwing a look at the Maraquoi.

"Let me see what I can remember about this from past mission reports"

Culture: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

I don't have Mysticism

My Charisma is an 8, so not a good Captain.
I have 0 Computers, so not a good Science Officer.
I have 5 Engineering, so I'm guessing someone is better than me.

Gusio waves to Sir Kit: "Ah, welcome. It seems you're just in time." he says while pointing in Venture Captain Arvin's direction.

After the briefing, Gusio scratches his chin. "My dear Ratfink, a little mysticism now and then doesn't hurt. Without it, there would be no wonder left in this world. That's why there will probably be so many other spectators as well, each with their own interpretation of the upcoming events."

Mysticism: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26 Edit: nice
"For instance, we can certainly expect followers of Desna, Ibra and Weydan, for this is their thing so to say. I would also find these people excellent candidates for further collaborations. We can however also expect worshipers of Groetus, Nyarlathotep or the Great Old Ones. I expect such people to attend as well, for their own destructive reasoning. We should avoid those."

Gusio scratches his chin some more, and suddenly rattles sways the stick he was holding, nearly hitting Ferrus-26. "Or we could let them go explore on their own and get eaten by the local lifeforms. Such cultist tend to go past the safe zones for their own nefarious reasons, and might go a little to deep into this ocean. Our scanners cannot reach so far down, so intelligent life isn't out of the question. Or at least, large life that can gobble such cultist right up." Gusio then frowns a bit. "Saying that, let's stay on the little bits of land. You know, to avoid such fate ourselves."

Culture: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10 Edit: damn...
"All of my rambling of deep-sea creatures is speculation though. I must admit this planet is unknown to me. I'm not a great swimmer, so I would probably never have inquired about such a planet."

I have a diplo of +7 and a computers of +8. Place me wherever in the ship if necessary.

With all the attention Sir Kit feels himself blushing, his ears flatten and his frame slouches ever so slightly while looking up at the collection of impressive seasoned adventurers. His right paw absent-mindedly wanders to his tool-belt seeking the reassuring comfort of his wrench.

Count yourself lucky Kit! You've landed yourself a fine crew for your first mission!... Now is the time to impress them! THINK!

Sir Kit scratches behind his ear with his left paw, trying hard to recall things he might have overheard during his work-shifts.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (16) + 0 = 16 Edit: it was a long-shot... XD

But Sir Kit draws a blank. Who in their right mind would listen to people talking when there's the sound of machines being fine-tuned...

@GM: Is the new space mystic role available for the Mystic in the group?

Yes, Space Mystic is also an option.

Ferrus scans Sir Kit before proceeding.

Dedicated.Repair.Unit.Detected.Reallocating.Power.To.Tactical.
Cogitators.'whiiiiiiiiiiir'.Operation.Succesful.Welcome.

He does not pay heed to Gusio's erratic body movements, making a sound
that can only be described as 'grumbling gears'.

Assumption.Is.The.Creator.Of.Error.Gusio.Situations.Shall.Be.Dealt.
With.When.Oppertunity.Arises.Possibility.Cosmic.Horror.Presence.
Negligible.

He then righs his stance.

However.Substantial.Aquatic.Habitat.Confirmed.Recommending.
Trailblazer.Weapon.Fusion.Purchase.

Upon the subject of Waeldriad coming up.

Searching.DataBanks.Processing.

Culture: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Ferrus is a capable : Pilot, Engineer and Scientist due to high int and Dex, but don't expect him to do anything involving magic or socializing. Also, If Ferrus is to hard to understand in this way I can just type the sentences normally.

I personally like it. It sets you apart from the "meatbags." :P
It's slightly harder to read, but not a problem on my end.

I like it too, takes some getting used to, but nice

Personally I think the way the character is a nice quirk, but I do prefer double quotes around what's being spoken out loud (next to the bold). Somehow without them it doesn't register as spoken out loud in my mind, but more like thoughts. *shrugs*

Also, I need to learn to copy this field before submitting... This forum is hungry and eats a lot of text XD

Playing out my roll of 16 above

Then like cogs falling into place when repairing a machine, something clicked in Sir Kit's mind.

"Wealdriad you said? Wasn't that planet discovered by the Starfinder ship the Unbounded Wayfarer?"

Sir Kit paused for a moment and then added with a sad face, "Such a fine ship that was! I was sad to hear it got destroyed! Did that Starfinder group who found the wreck and salvaged the information of the discovery of Wealdriad ever find out how the Unbounded Wayfarer got destroyed?"

Then as if surprised by his sudden outburst Sir Kit stops talking.

I hope Ratfink Tink Shlinkbink and Ferrus-26 don't mind Sir Kit stealing (part of) the thunder by revealing DC 15 info.

Processing.Complete.

A little holo screen appears from Ferrus's maintenance claw
and he starts reading some info off.

Switching.Manual.Display.Improved.Communication.Subject.
Sir.Kit.Correct.Discovery.Lies.With.Retired.Starfinder.Vessel

He then switches the display to a page in a completely different language.

After about 10 seconds of reloading the entire page now appears in common.

Correlation.Planet.Similair.Description.Appears.In.Several.Aeon.Vessel.Logs .Caution.Advised.Aeon.Throne.Presence.Possible.

Downloading.Azlanti.Tactics.Primer.Package.Review.At.Your.Convenience.

"Azlanti you say? WHY IS IT ALWAYS AZLANTI!" Ratfink yells, looking around nervously, and beginning to sweat.

"I can't go back to the Empire, promise me Venture Captain Arvin, please don't make me go back...please"

Ratfink looks from Ferrus-26 to Arvin, taking deep calming breaths. "Venture Captain, you say the Solar Flares get "Shaped", what exactly do you mean by that?"

Don't know much about the Azlanti and their lore, I'm afraid.

Arvin gently Ratfink by his arm and starts making sushing noises in an attempt to calm him down. "Remember your training. Breathe in... Hold that breath for a few seconds... Breathe out. Think of happy thoughts." This takes a minute or two until Ratfink is calmed down. Arvin genuinely seems worried about Ratfink, this isn't just the trained coldness of other Venture-Captains.

"Yes, we've found some traces that the Azlanti Empire know of Wealdriad's existence, but we don't know why they're interested in it. In any case, what we've found suggests that nothing more than scouting reports have happened yet, and that's been a while ago now. We think the Empire itself isn't interested in the planet, though it might be valuable to individuals of the Empire, for the same reason we are interested in it. We do not expect a military force there, in any case."

"As for the solar flares... In layman's terms: a solar flare is a burst of energy from a star, travelling through space. When these particles hit an atmosphere, it changes colour. Due to a planet's electromagnetic field, these waves can get spread out all across the sky, creating an aurora of sorts, with different shapes and colours, depending on the intensity of the cloud.
These pillars seem to form a particularly localised electromagnetic field, warping the solar energy around it. We cannot pinpoint the source of this field, which is why we're sending you. By studying the aurora, we hope to unlock some of the secret of this heretofore uninteresting planet. Should you find anything useful, we might consider further expeditions to Wealdriad for further investigation."

Looking at the imposing vanguard have a meltdown at the mere sight of an Azlanti text, Sir Kit felt the need to step up.

Patting Ratfink just above his knee Sir Kit said in a comforting voice, "There there Ratfink! Don't you worry, I'll protect you! And that was an excellent question to an intriguing piece of information. Though of course you meant to say Aurora instead of Solar flares getting shaped."

Sir Kit looked at Arvin, "And can I add to that question if there is visual data of these shaped auroras that can be shared with us?"

"Do not worry Ratfink, I will stay around. And as long as I'm around, everything will end up being fine. It has always been like that." Gusio states with a smile while placing a hand on Ratfink's shoulder.

He then turns to Venture Captain Arvin. "I do have a question though: Among all these pieces of gear and equipment that we get to bring along, is their any... aquatic gear in there? Scuba-gear? Aqua Jets? Maybe a vehicle that can travel over water? I cannot speak for my fellow starfinders, but I prefer not to have to swim on a regular basis."

At Gusio's question, Venture-Captain Arvin snaps his fingers in an "aha!"-moment, and enthusiastically says, "No! That's an excellent idea, wish I would've thought of it! Unfortunately, vehicle requisitioning takes quite a long while, they need to be approved by AbadarCorp and need everything to be filled in in triplicate, I'm afraid the Starfinders cannot loan you our vehicles. But, if you have the money for it, I'm sure there are vendors on Absalom Station who are willing to sell you theirs."

Arvin then turns to Sir Kit. "I'm afraid we don't have actual visual recordings. We've sent a probe there and it doesn't scan for video. It scans more abstract data, such as electromagnetic waves and their intensity, which is why it appeared on our radars in the first place."

At first glance, potential vehicles suited for this sort of mission would be a torpedo minisub (level 1, CRB, 1500 credits, 1 passenger), and a hovertrike (level 2, from an AP, 1850 credits, 2 passengers). Don't know if you have the money for it, but these are your options, it looks like. There's also a level 3 vehicle, but that's 4000+ credits. Any vehicle with a fly, hover, or water speed would do.

Upon hearing that the starfinders will not loan a vehicle on an expededition that takes place on a planet that is literally more water than dirt.

The realization that he has to pay for what seems to be mission vital gear that would also help with all of the stupidly expensive equipment that is also hard to requisition causes a loud siren erupts from Ferrus.

Think the Air Raid alarm we get every month.

Ferrus is equipped with his very own adult language filter, it replaces every swear word with an extremely loud air horn.

Are.You.Serious.Whateven.IsThisMakesNoSense.WhattheF&%$ingStupid.
Batshit.Nonsense.AbsolutelyDisgracefulTomf#*&fooleristhisevenicannotcompreh endthenuarshitbehindthisFuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu---

Before literal sparks fly across his body and he slumps forward, smoke
and fire erupting from under his hood.

M-m-m-onetary.Supplies.N-n-ot.Suf-f-f-f-f-icieeeeeeent.

He then slams face first into the floor, twitching every few seconds.

I kinda screwed up the tyrade so I would like to ask for a do-over on this one.

Upon hearing that the starfinders will not loan a vehicle on an expededition that takes place on a planet that is literally more water than dirt.

The realization that he has to pay for what seems to be mission vital gear that would also help with all of the stupidly expensive equipment that is also hard to requisition causes a loud siren erupts from Ferrus.

Think the Air Raid alarm we get every month.

Ferrus is equipped with his very own adult language filter, it replaces every swear word with an extremely loud air horn.

Are.You.Serious.What.F!~*ing.Sewage.Water.Is.Seeping.From.Our.F$*$ing.Frack ing.Requisition.F%+*ing.Department.I-I-I-Inheritor.Be.F%+%ing.Dammned.Unacc eptable.F#%!ing.Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

Before literal sparks fly across his body and he slumps forward, smoke
and fire erupting from under his hood.

Error.Erroooooooor.Overflow.Reb-b-b-b-boooooot.Requ-i-i-i-red.

He then slams face first into the floor, twitching every few seconds.

And then finally.

The door slams open and a slim, heavily tattooed lashunta woman in freebooter armor storms into the meeting.

"Sorry I'm late! I was supposed to do a bombing run with the Gorgon on some asteroids for a recruitment ad, but that got cancelled and I was reassigned at the last minute. What did I miss?"

While comforting Ratfink, Gusio sees Ferrus-26 face-slam the floor. "Well... That can't be good. Let's see here."

Gusio moves about a bit, as if he was trying to position himself properly. He squats next to Ferrus-26, looking at him intently.

medicine check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16 A 15+ is enough to stabilize.

With a smile Gusio states: "Aaaah, he is stable. He'll make a full recovery. Just to be sure, I'll hang around this spot for a while."

And when Nivaeka rushes in "Welcome, you're just in time. We are to be transported to planet which is mostly water, without any aquatic gear. I hope you got some special scuba material? If not, that is fine. We were planning to stay on a tiny bit of land anyway."

"So glad you managed to join our team. Imagine how bad would you have felt if we'd already left and you'd have another assignment fall in the water?", Sir Kit softly giggled over his cleaver pun that he thought nobody probably would get.

"No time to waste, these solar flares will wait for nothing! We'll fill you in on the briefing while we're underway."

Sir Kit started to move towards the nearby Pegasus.

"I'm Sir Kit by the way, nice to meet you. And these fine adventurers are Ratfink, Ferrus-26 and Gusio", pointing at the others.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Nivaeka. Combat pilot, gunslinger if need be."

"And no, I don't really have submersible gear. Is that going to be needed? I don't really have credits to get it right now."

Okay, gonna assume Sir Kit is the Science Officer. I have decided Nivaeka is Captain purely she has the highest Charisma.

You all head for the Pegasus after doing some emergency gill sheath implanting, and you're off on your mission. Travelling through the Drift takes nearly a full month and by the end of it you're happy to get off the ship. The planet Wealdriad can be seen from your spaceship. From here, it seems like a giant ball of water. Some specks of land dot are dotted across the planet, but as far as you can see, it's really mostly just water.

Sir Kit quickly scans the planet for the optimal place to observe the solar flare, and estimates its peak brilliance to happen in 12 hours. The flare happens right above a set of ten basalt pillars jutting out of the water. It also looks like you're not the first to arrive here. One of the pillars is already occupied by a spaceship and a construction has been quickly built on the pillar. Telescope lenses, dish receivers, and other recording instruments are sticking out of the domed structure. Sir Kit also receives some signals that multiple other ships will be entering this space from the Drift soon.
A picture of what you see is in the link in my header. More on that later in this post.

Meanwhile, in the captain's seat, Nivaeka reveives a distress call from another starship orbiting Wealdriad. When you accept the call, a panicked female halfling pops on your screen. "Hello? Thank Ibra someone's responding! This is the Whispered Wish, and my name is Jinnra. We're a company of pilgrims heading for Wealdriad, but as soon as we got in reach of Wealdriad's orbit, our astronomical equipment started malfunctioning. I suspect the method we use to store our equipment is acting up. You see, we have very delicate tools on board, so we suspend it in a ferrofluid. In hindsight, that might not have been the best idea, what with Wealdriad's weird magnetism and such. Anyway, we heard some crashing, and I guess the suspension got out of its container somehow and engulfed one of our crewmembers, like it had a mind of its own! Anyway, it's now wreaking havoc on our ship and we've locked ourselves up for our own safety! Could you please come on board and check it for us?"

Okay, so I'll explain the mechanics of this scenario now:
- You have 12 hours in which to collect data. On each pillar you can collect three different resources: Recordings, Favor, and Findings, all of which are important to you. Recordings are, obviously, the recordings you've come here to make. You can earn Favor with several factions that are present on Wealdriad, representing goodwill towards the Starfinders (relevant for the smear campaign currently going on). And Findings are things you find about Wealdriad on each pillar.
- Making a Recording always is either an Engineering or a Survival check.
- Each pillar can only support one faction's recording equipment.
- As I said, you have 12 hours to complete this mission. Basically, each attempt at scoring either a Recording, Favor, or Finding takes one hour (but not everyone needs to be present).
Only one person can try the check for the Recording, but as many people as you want can assist.
- You can try to get a Recording from an occupied pillar by chatting up the faction, so you're not necessarily locked out of a Recording when the pillar's occupied.
- Over the course of time, more and more factions will arrive and claim pillars. Each can be impressed by two different skill checks. Succeeding at one gets you your choice of a Recording or a Finding. Succeeding at both means you get both. Assisting each other is also possible.
- Each pillar is at "plot length" distance from each other. Don't worry about it. It's far enough apart that you can't cheat your way there, but not so far that it takes too much time.
- Travelling from one pillar to another is negligible and factored in that one hour, assuming you take a spaceship or a vehicle. Travelling without a vehicle (i.e. swimming) takes a full hour.
- People can split up to do different tasks. For example, two party members can try to do a Recording, and three others can go butter up the faction or do a Finding. Theoretically, you can also drop people off on a different pillar, but for my sanity's sake, let's do it pillar by pillar.
- I've renamed the locations on the map, since the way Paizo labelled them is spoilerriffic.

You now have a choice: Do you help out the Whispered Wish, or head for the planet? Helping out will take one of your 12 hours.

If you decide to go planetside, I'll explain what you see. First, let's get this out of the way.

"Lovely to meet you Nivaeka, glad to have you on board!"

"Did she say Ferrofluid? Hmm, sounds like an ooze type creature to me, I've encountered them before, dangerous things" says Ratfink, after hearing Jinnra's message. "But nothing Starfinders can't handle!"

He has thankfully calmed down in the trip and is not totally freaked anymore

"I believe we need to help Jinnra and her crew, it's the honourable thing to do, and also, once we've helped, we may be able to get their recording from the pillar they pick up too!" Ratfink proclaims, already gearing up and starting to head towards the airlock.

"Unless you lot believe otherwise of course?..." the Brakim lets the question hang in the air...

Nivaeka is highly specialized as pilot, captain is a job for people who have no other employable skills :P But I can answer comms from the pilot's seat.

"All starfarers need to be able to count on each other in the Vast, we can't ignore a distress call. But let's hope we can help them quickly."

She starts plotting a rendezvous course.

"I agree that we should help our fellow spacefarer. Not only is it the right thing to do, think of the consequences if we don't: we would only confirm what that smear campaign is spouting."

Ferrus will take the engineering spot then.

Ferrus cocks his head at the party.

Support.Of.This.Decision.Contradicts.Mission.Parameter.Objective.Is.
Clear.Aiding.These.Lifeforms.Does.Not.Aid.Mission.

He notices the disapproving looks he is probably getting.

Majority.Votes.In.Favor.Will.Recalculate.Mission.Parameters.

That's a majority for helping out, so we're going to do that.

You board the Whispered Wish's cargo bay and you immediately see two spiky, convulsing masses of goo deliberately trying to break open several storage containers. Your immediate guess is that they're trying to free more ferrofluid, either to liberate more "friends," or to grow in size. When you enter, they turn back to you and make a hissing, screeching noise and make ready to attack you.

I'm assuming you'll have your preferred weapon drawn. Combat works a little differently in PbP: everyone goes in chunks. All allied chunks go in whichever order they want, then the enemy goes, then the allies go again.

Initiative order:
Nivaeka
Ratfink
Gusio
Sir Kit
Ferrus-26
Oozes

So this is a good example. Everyone may act in whichever order they want (so Ratfink doesn't necessarily have to wait until Nivaeka has acted, for instance), then the oozes are. If anyone had rolled below the oozes, they can act after that, after which a new round of combat begins.

I believe it's a Life Science check to know anything about these things. If you try to identify them, please note an order of importance of what you'd like to know about them.

I hope everyone can see the map and move themselves accordingly. I've included a bigger picture of the oozes to the left of the map.

"Can we subdue them without killing them? Should we?"

Waiting to act to give people a chance to do knowledge checks. Kwinten, since you can see everyone's skills, maybe you want to just roll our knowledges at initiative? That saves a lot of waiting and back-and-forth.

Good point about that. Not everyone has their skills spelled out though (Ferrus and Ratfink, for example), but I'll roll what I can. And it's "GM Kwinten" for you. :P

Life Science Gusio: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Is it still 10+1.5 CR, or 15+1.5? I keep getting them mixed up.

Gusio knows about these things. He thinks the peculiar magnetic field around Wealdriad has given regular ferrofluid a limited form of sentience. He doesn't know if leaving Wealdriad's orbit will return them to regular ferrofluid, or if they keep being alive.
Since magnetism is related to electricity, Gusio thinks they have a resistance to that energy type.
Bludgeoning weapons wouldn't work very well either, you think. Piercing or slashing at it (strangely enough) would work.
Oh, this is good to know for everyone: Ferrofluid oozes generate a magnetic field around them (30 ft aura). Anyone using a technological weapon needs to make a Strength check beforehand or take a -2 to the attack, since the oozes pull the weapon from your hands. Fire damage neutralises its magnetic field for a turn.

"Now, that is just icky... Better do something out that field then."

He then aims his flaregun and fires at the yellow ooze (don't know its name): against EAC: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (18) - 2 = 16 for 1d3 ⇒ 3 fire damage

"I think it is best if I stay right where I am. You know, for you people's sake." Gusio states while reloading his flaregun.

The flaregun hits Yellow straight in its chest, and the ooze makes a clicking screech as it loses some of its cohesion, but still manages to hold itself together.

Yellow's aura is off, but White's still in effect. I'll also rule that the two auras don't stack, otherwise, urgh.

Ferrus moves down a bit to stand outside white ooze's magnetic field

Ferrus moves to make some distance, while running an additional arm with a mounted reaction cannon appears out of his upper robes.

He then turns around and fires at yellow ooze.

Ferrus has a MKI gunner harness, allowing him to use level 1-10 heavy weapons without penalty.

Against KAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 251d10 ⇒ 7

Edit : I assume these oozes are immune to crits, but in the case of crits, do you edit right away to roll extra damage or do we wait for confirmation of crit?

They're oozes, so no crits. If you see a crit, just roll your damage dice again in a separate roll and I'll add them.

Nivaeka's arm and hand are surrounded by a glowing lattice of blue lines, vectors and equations as she points at the [yellow] ooze.

Full attack

Solar Flare vs. EAC: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
cold damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Solar Flare vs. EAC: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
cold damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Bursts of cold blue light flash outward.

"Boom."

As Ratfink moves forward, his hand begins to glow and swirl, Entropic Strike, he tries to remember what he knows about these creatures.

Life Science vs DC-5 if Average: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12 That makes a 17 if it's Average, and just a useful piece of info please?

Remembering what Gusio said about Bludgeoning not being effective, the swirls take on an Acidic colouring as Ratfink smashes into the Yellow Ooze.

"Ratfink SMASH"
Entropic Strike vs EAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Acid/Magical Damage: 1d3 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Not sure if smashing occurs or not though.

The brave Starfinders rush forward and shoot and/or smash into the oozes with uncanny precision. At Ratfink's final blow, the Yellow ooze loses cohesion and falls apart, its fluids slowly spreading across the floor.

Sir Kit can still act, then it's the White ooze's turn.

Ratfink also remembers something else about the oozes:
As a move action every 1d4 rounds, a ferrofluid ooze can move adjacent to a creature within its magnetic field that is either a technological construct or wearing or wielding technological equipment. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The ooze then automatically attaches to that creature, as per the attach universal creature rule.

Attach rules: The creature can attempt a special attack against KAC as a standard action. If it succeeds, it deals no damage, but the creature adheres to its target. Once attached, the creature gains a +4 bonus to its AC (from cover) and a +2 circumstance bonus to melee attacks, but it can attack only the creature to which it is attached. An attached creature can’t move on its own (though it moves with its target), take actions that require two hands, or make attacks of opportunity. An attached creature can be removed with a successful Strength check (DC = 10 + 1-1/2 × the creature’s CR) made as a move action, or it can remove itself from its target as a move action.

Not assisting people in need hadn't even been an option in Sir Kit's mind, but when he first saw the ferro-metallic creatures, he had to swallow.

In for an electron, in for a full charge Kit!, he thought steeling himself. Exhaling deeply he took a few quick steps further into the cargo hold and aimed his azimuth laser pistol at the remaining ooze.

*ZAP* small azimuth laser pistol vs EAC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 221d4 ⇒ 4

You're all rolling really well. Nice!

Sir Kit Zaps the remaining ooze, and he also loses some of its magnetic properties.

The ooze retaliates by schlorping forward and attacking Nivaeka with a pseudopod, but tragically misses.
Attack roll vs KAC: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

It's everyone's turn again!

"Yikes, that came close!"

Step away, shoot it.

solar flare: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
cold damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

As the ferrofluidic ooze suddenly moves towards Nivaeka, Sir Kit just barely in time managed to shout "Watch out!"

Seeing the semi-creature missed Nivaeka Sir Kit takes a few steps to circle around it and fires again.

*ZING* small azimuth laser pistol vs EAC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 71d4 ⇒ 2

I assume 7 misses, so editing for that

As Sir Kit sees the laser burn as small hole in the cargo deck plating, he makes a mental note. Don't forget! That'll need some repairing.

Ratfink notices the White Ooze is threatening his friends, and goes over to hit it!

"Get away from my friends! Ratfink SMASH"

Entropic Strike vs EAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 Damn Ooze, avoiding my crit...
Acid/Magical Damage: 1d3 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Ratfink's eyes light up as the Entropic forces around his fist glow even brighter, as he hits the Ooze square in it's body, but then fade as the Ooze seems to negate his extra damage.