GM Quirk's Threefold Conspiracy

Game Master Quirk, Private Eye

-THE ENGINEERING DECK WITH YARIEL AND RAR'GUL-

Kiiv looks shocked and worried about everything going on, but responds in the positive. "Yes, I've got it. I'll be down here, I'm going to have to repair that valve and clean out all of the main pipes. That's going to set us back by at least a day."

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-BACK OUTSIDE THE STARBOARD CARGO HOLD-

I have placed all of your tokens in the hall outside the cargo hold. Feel free to arrange them as you wish. If at least a few of you can arrive at a consensus on a strategy for popping into the cargo hold and dealing with the robot we'll roll for initiative tonight.

Life Science: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23 Don't mind me, just breaking the game...

T'sorkel cranes his neck closer to the vent and his antennae vibrate the air. Doctor, I think this is some mucous residue from a living ooze or some other sort of gelatinous creature. I don't know if that is related or not, but something to note. He crawls out from under the bed, seeming to have mostly forgotten about his injury now that he's crawling around and investigating the room.

T'sorkel follows the Doctor down to the cargo hold. He carries the rifle awkwardly, uncertain of what to do with something so long and heavy. When he sees the others, he proclaims, I got shot! With this! He holds up the rifle. His seems both proud and terrified.

Is the robot in there? What do we do?

”Anyone here know how to use a longarm?” asks the Nuar. He quickly adds ”I sure don’t.”.

”Anyway,” he continues, ”Here’s the skinny as I see it. There’s a robot in there with one o them shoulder-mounted laser jobs. Seems that if you get too close he sets up to attack. Otherwise he leaves you alone. That’s all well and good, except our Vesk is laying in their unconscious or dead inside his ‘attack you’ range. Leastwise that’s what it looked like to me. I figure we all file in along the far wall so he doesn’t immediately attack, and then all open fire at once. Best shot at taking him down without him hurting us.”

How tall are those crates?

"That be as good a plan as any. I can go through first. I believe I can move unseen along the aft bulkhead to the far wall. There's a crate near Trostinek. I'll be within 15 or 20 feet of him. "

I think what I will allow John to do is take a series of stealth checks and moves to get into position. John, you may move and roll a stealth check for each move. The robot will roll an opposed perception check for each move you make. Once you are in position, we can roll for initiative and everyone else can start pouring into the room (unless anyone else wants to try pre-initiative stealth checks to get into the room).

You may proceed to move and make your stealth checks at any time.

Yariel makes it to the cargo hold looking a bit rough but her gloved left paw is clenched in a fist, ”Usually the toughs go distract everyone with a lotta noise den the rest of us sneak in an unload. Dat covers most combats I’ve been in.”

She looks around evaluating, ”Any y’all tough?”

FYI John, it looks like roughly three moves will get you to the "x" at the back of the room, if that is your end goal.

That's almost exactly what I had in mind. I moved the X to the destination that I had in mind, and plotted my course. I do thank you for this opportunity to use stealth. I might not get another chance in this adventure.

John draws his pistol and opens the door and peers through. He waits until the robot's face is turned away, then breaks in a low stoop toward the blind spot behind the crate.

Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

That 9 doesn't look good.

"That be as good a plan as any. I can go through first. I believe I can move unseen along the aft bulkhead to the far wall. There's a crate near Trostinek. I'll be within 15 or 20 feet of him. "

"I'm coming with you." Doc checks to make sure her medical tools are all at hand. "If he needs medical attention, it may not be able to wait."

The halfling follows John on silent feet, a smaller profile standing upright than the stooped human.

Stealth check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Stealth check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Stealth check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

Despite their best efforts at stealthily slipping past the robot, John and Doc Flint are spotted (or perhaps heard) as they near the edge of the first crate.

The robot begins making an intermittent alarm sound and it's shoulder mounted armament begins tracking toward that crate.

John and Doc Flint, I figure where I positioned you is about as far as you would have gotten before the robot sensed you. If you want to vary your position by 5' or so that would be okay. In fact, if all of you want to take a 5' step close to the door you plan on entering, I would fine with that.

John, you had asked how tall the crates were. The large ones vary between 5' and roughly 8'.

Initiative Order
Bold may go
1. Dr. Flint-Bridge
2. Yariel
3. T'Sorkel
4. Robot
5. Beauregard
6. John Rawlins
7. Rar'gul

Rar'gul arrives at the hold, a full-faced helmet tucked under one arm. He is clad in matte ceramic armour of breastplate, shoulder guards, bracers and greaves. While providing a high level of protection, the movement of the interlocking pieces as he walks indicates minimal impediment to movement. The long case he had been carrying earlier has been replaced by his massive hammer.

”Any y’all tough?”

"I can takke a hit orr two," he rumbles in reply to Flash. He nods his head in agreement with the ysoki. "Let's see how they go. Firrst sign of trrouble, I'll rush in, distrract the rrobot and somebody can grab the veskkk."

T'sorkel watches from the doorway as John and the Doctor enter the room. As they move, he sees the robot come to life and begin tracking their movement. Oh no!

He motions to the far wall and accesses the Archive. Suddenly his mind is flooded with an image of an infinite number of books on an infinite number of shelves. He moves among the shelves, knowing from experience that his mind is operating much faster than his body ever could. As he looks down rows of shelves, he waves his hand and many simply disappear. Finally he finds what he is looking for, picking out a single book. He opens it and fans the pages, until he stops at a particular page. The memory of a man tripping in a cargo bay and knocking over a large amount of equipment. A mundane memory, but recorded in the Archive nonetheless.

The Shirren opens his eyes and a loud clang of falling metal and equipment, along with an indistinct muffled voice erupts from the area behind the crates nearest them.

Casting Ghost Sound. Will save DC 13. It doesn't scale in Starfinder? So I can create the sound of 20 humans at level 1!

John looks down at the spanner he kicked. "Sorry, doctor."

Figured I better fess up to the bad roll. Nice posts, guys.

John looks down at the spanner he kicked. "Sorry, doctor."

"No time for apologies. Get behind something!" Doc wastes no time in taking her own advice.

Move action: move 30 feet to port (north) as noted on map. Standard action: take the total defense action.

Assuming the crate grants standard cover, Doc's AC is now EAC 20 KAC 21 and her Reflex save modifier is +7.

Yariel steps up to watch through the door as her allies try to sneak into position. I learned my lesson about that last mission. I ain't sneaky enough to even try to go that far.

When the spanner is kicked she grits her teeth and watches the robot start tracking the noise. With the promise of a meaty body heading in soon and the cacophony created behind the robot, she tries to slip into the room quietly and set up behind a large crate. She readies to overload the robot's circuits if it moves close enough.

Move w/ Stealth at half speed, Ready to blast with Energy Ray (electric) if the Robot comes within 25 ft

Stealth: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Energy Ray vs. EAC maybe vs FF?: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11 for Electricity: 1d3 ⇒ 3

Would there be a Knowledge check on this critter?

Engineering check could give you information about a construct like this one.

Engineering (t): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

Vulnerabilities, Resistances then Special Attacks is my current preference of order of information

T'sorkel peers through the porthole window of the cargo hold double doors and sees the robot on the far side. Calling upon the archive, muffled sounds come from the far wall. Unfortunately, the robot seems more interested in the targets coming into view.

Dr. Flint-Bridge continues around the crates on the port side of the hold, being sure to stay in cover.

Yariel takes up a position near the first crate and waits to attack with an energy ray, which sadly misses its mark. She does have some sort of an idea what you're up against, though.

The robot moves toward John. The shoulder mounted weapon makes a loud cough and launches a grenade toward him. Upon hitting the floor near John, it explodes, spreading sticky strands all over his general vicinity.

to hit: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12Almost a miss, and I would not have wanted to consult those rules for grenade deviation

John needs to make a DC 12 reflex save or be entangled 2d4 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5 rounds.

Bold may go
1. Dr. Flint-Bridge
2. Yariel
3. T'Sorkel
4. Robot
5. Beauregard
6. John Rawlins
7. Rar'gul

Following the final three players, Doc, Yariel, and T'sorkel may begin round 2.

Beauregard moves in and throws his hatchet
Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
damage if hit: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Then he calls his weapon back to his hand.

Yariel yells, "Whoever has it, activate that grenade scrambler and get in here!"

As the group spreads into positions she adds, "They call these Incapacitor Robots, it'll take ya out if it can get ya immobilized. Zappin it with electricity should fry the circuits though, so use that if ya got it."

Rar'gul watches on from just inside the hold doors as his companions try to creep around the room's perimeter. As the alarm sounds, the trox gathers his huge frame and by the time the grenade is lobbed at John he is striding across the room.

"Overr herre!" he calls, swinging at the robot with his hammer.

Glamered assault hammer (vs KAC): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Beauregard's axe bounces off the robot's armor, JUST missing a more vulnerable area.

Rar'gul, on the other hand, strides forward and lands a crushing blow with his hammer.

Bold may go--wrapping up round 1/starting round 2
1. Dr. Flint-Bridge
2. Yariel
3. T'Sorkel
4. Robot (-6)
5. Beauregard
6. John Rawlins
7. Rar'gul

Yariel bursts around the corner and quickly hacks the environmental controls to redirect a bit of the engine exhaust that almost cooked her earlier to envelope the robot, "TAKE THAT YA WHACKED OUT BOT!"

Move, Cast Overheat for 2d8 ⇒ (8, 5) = 13 fire damage, DC 15 Reflex for Half

reflex save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Misses.

Much of the padding and even some wiring harnesses on the robot begin to melt and smoke from Yariel's spell.

Nice job mapping out the spell area. Thanks.

Bold may go--wrapping up round 1/starting round 2
1. Dr. Flint-Bridge
2. Yariel
3. T'Sorkel
4. Robot (-19)
5. Beauregard
6. John Rawlins
7. Rar'gul

Reflex v Dc 12: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Seeing the grenade arc toward his feet, John dodges left and steps closer to the robot so that the grenade lands harmlessly behind him.

He presses against a large crate, raises his pulsecaster, and fires straight-armed at the robot.

Move as shown.
pulsecaster pistol: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 … damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3 non-lethal

T'sorkel enters the cargo bay tentatively, very glad that the others, especially Rar'gul is in front of him. He waves his hand and enters the Archive again. He quickly finds the bookmark he has set on telekinetic motion, then exits, using it to fling a loose tool at the robot.

Ranged KAC attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Doc moves quickly along the back of the room, coming within 10 feet of the vesk before stopping in a defensible position.

"I don't mean to be rude, but could you move the incapacitation bot a little farther from my patient?"

2 move actions: move as shown on map.

As John deftly avoids the grenade, he tumbles forward and fires his pulsecaster. The robot sparks and smokes. HIT! And it seems to do just a bit more damage than you rolled.

T'sorkel narrowly misses with his flung tool.

Doc does an end-run around the back side of the cargo hold.

The robot aggressively engages Rar'gul with deadly hugs.

to hit: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32
Bludgeoning damage, non-lethal: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
crit damage, non-lethal: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Rar'gul, you are also pinned.

Bold may go--round 2
1. Dr. Flint-Bridge
2. Yariel
3. T'Sorkel
4. Robot (-23)
5. Beauregard
6. John Rawlins
7. Rar'gul (-22 non-lethal)

Beauregard curses that he can't hit the thing and walks forward to Rar'Gul. He notices that the robot seems to take more damage from electricity.

"It was then that the big guy punched the thing full of electricity." he says to himself as he touches Rar-gul. As he does, the green energy surrounding Rar'gul's hands looses color saturation, almost turning black and white, and seems to shift to being electricity.

Shifting surge on Rar'gul's natural attacks. His next ACID attack from his vanguard level will instead deal electricity damage instead AND deal +2d6 damage.

"I uh, I suggest you punch him with those electricity hands vanguards are famed for having." he says to the Trox.

Ouch! On the upside, that generated 2 EP.

Reeling from the blow dealt by the incapacitation robot, Rar'gul shakes his head in an effort to disperse the stars. With his hammer pinned by his side, the trox reaches out with his bare hand, grabbing at the robot and redirecting the force of the robot's strike in a desperate effort to free himself.

Entropic strike (vs EAC): 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 3 - 4 = 5 -4 for pinned included
Electricity Damage: 1d3 + 3 + 2d6 + 1d4 ⇒ (2) + 3 + (1, 6) + (2) = 14 as per Beauregard's post & spending 1 EP as move action for extra damage

Amazingly, the robot is able to keep the enormous Rar'gul from hitting him.

Great idea. You just needed a pretty good roll to pull it off.

Bold may go--round 2 and beginning of 3
1. Dr. Flint-Bridge
2. Yariel
3. T'Sorkel
4. Robot (-23)
5. Beauregard
6. John Rawlins
7. Rar'gul (-22 non-lethal and pinned)

T'sorkel moves behind cover and flings another piece of loose cargo at the robot.

Ranged KAC attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2

"Arch your back, Rar'gul! Keep that blood pumping, don't let it cut off your circulation - it's a marathon, not a sprint!" Doc shouts out advice as she scurries to the side of the unconscious vesk.

Move action: move 15 feet as shown on the map. Standard action: use Doc's inspiring boost envoy improvisation to restore 5 SP to Rar'gul.

Emboldened becuase Rar'gul jas monopolized the robot's attention, John steps closer, sights down his arm and pistol and fires again.

Guarded step as shown.
pulsecaster pistol v EAC: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14 … damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1 non-lethal

John manages to scorch the robot with his pulsecaster, while T'sorkel's powers haven't found a vulnerable spot yet.

Doc Flint gives Rar'gul some motivating speech.

Meanwhile the battered and scorched robot continues to squeeze the consciousness out of Rar'gul.

Rar'gul falls unconscious, and the robot lets him drop to the floor, turning its attention elsewhere.

Bold may go--round 3
1. Dr. Flint-Bridge
2. Yariel
3. T'Sorkel
4. Robot (-25)
5. Beauregard
6. John Rawlins
7. Rar'gul (unconscious but stable)

Yariel repeats her program, flame venting from the ceiling and hopefully finishing off the bot. She sticks her tongue out at the pile of bolts and wires, "Is it me, or is it getting a bit hot in here?"

The Ysoki falls back behind the Nuar, hoping to lure it into a trap if it chases. "Come and get me ya dumb bot!"

Repeat Overheat for 2d8 ⇒ (6, 7) = 13 fire damage, Reflex DC 15 to halve.

Seeing the massive Rar'gul go down, John quails inside. "We must settle this fast, else we all suffer as Rar'gul."

The man raises the hand with his cane to eye level, lays his gun's barrel across his forearm, and snaps off two quick shots at the robot.

pulsecaster pistol v EAC, full attack: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 3 - 4 = 13 … damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2 non-lethal
pulsecaster pistol v EAC, full attack: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 3 - 4 = 15 … damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2 non-lethal

The robot falls, its armor blistering from the overheat, and its wiring sparking from the electricity. You needed both the overheat and the last few points of damage from John's pistol to finish off the robot.

TO EVERYONE:

WELCOME TO SECOND LEVEL!

Go ahead and level up between now and the end of the weekend.

The way I see it, there are three major things to do right away:

1. Wake up Trostinek and figure out what he knows.

2. Head back down to engineering and check in with Kiiv.

3. Figure out what's on the datapad and ledger found in Algiada's quarters.

I suppose you'll also want to care for Rar'gul, although he should be fine.

After that, you can take the information you find out from those sources and move on to other passengers, crew, and locations.

The diminutive Doctor Flint-Bridge stands between the hulking unconscious mounds of Trostinek and Rar'gul, assessing the situation.

"Someone fish out a serum for Rar'ugl." Doc rolls up her sleeves as she kneels next to the vesk. "I'll handle this one."

Medicine check to treat deadly wounds: 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (16) + 8 + (4) = 28: Success vs. DC 25.

Assuming Trostinek is sitting unconscious at 0 HP, Doc should be able to restore 2 HP w/ that check and wake up our friendly bounty hunter.

Yariel pulls out her bonus serum from the professor and drizzles it down Rar'gul's... most likely mouth opening.

Mk1 Healing Serum: 1d8 ⇒ 7

"There ya go buddy, easy. Ya just got knocked out. Good work distracting the bot, we took er down."

Once he wakes, she goes over to the robot and checks to see if anything can be salvageable or why it went crazy and attacked its owner.

1d20 ⇒ 12 Computers +9, Engineering +11

"Good, I'm glad those two are being taken care of. Well, let's see if we can't figure out what happened here." he says as he sees that the other injured people are being taken care of.

Gonna see if I can find some clues or figure out what happened here.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Profession-Private Eye: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

Dr. Flint Bridge is able to treat Trostinek, and he starts to come to. At first he is delirious and combative, but he calms down after a moment or so. Turning to see his robot, he says, "I see you took care of the problem." He grunts with approval.

Rar'gul, you also slowly come to. You took a good beating, but you should be fine.

Yariel, you figure out the following with regard to the robot: it has been tampered with. Someone probably hacked the robot’s
aggression settings. A hard reboot—shutting down the robot
and reactivating it—could fix such an alteration. As a method
of sabotage, it was very short-term.

T'sorkel waves Yariel away. Save it. I think I can help him. He comes over to Rar'gul and kneels over him. He looks at the fallen form of the big Trox and squints a bit.

He opens the Akashic Record, but instead of looking for knowledge like usual, he looks for Rar'gul. He finds the memories related to him, then filters them for Rar'gul's own memories. He flips past them to find the ones right before he was hurt by the robot. He takes a deep breath and begins to concentrate. Slowly, he pulls on the memories. He pulls them out of the Archive and into the physical world. They settle back around Rar'gul as his own memories. But being from before the fight, it was of a healthy Rar'gul.

Unfortunately, the mental integration isn't complete, but it does a lot to reverse the damage. The Shirren opens his eyes and several of Rar'gul's wounds are erased.

Healing Touch heals 10 damage to Rar'gul

Yariel quickly secrets the serum away, you aren't quite sure but did she just pop the whole vial into her mouth? That's weird. Must have just been slipped into her vest pocket.

Definitely slipped that serum into her cheek pouch.

She waits for Rar'gul to stir, "There ya go buddy, easy. Ya just got knocked out. Good work distracting the bot, we took er down." She looks up at the Shirren, "Excellent work, what did ya do?"

____________________

The Ysoki shares the info about her investigation on the bot, "Someone just hacked the aggression settings. Simple enough thing to do, but definitely wanted him out of the way. I'd put money on our local security officer since we literally just heard her tell Trostinek to come work on the thing after an argument. It all lines up perfectly. What did y'all find in her quarters?"

Memories stream by as Rar'gul lies unconscious on the floor. An expansive subterranean palace... A ysoki woman engulfed by a burst of flame... Boarding a small transport... A throne in a vast cavern-like chamber... A rugged, mountainous vista... Strange worm-like creatures treated with a reverence normally reserved for the gods themselves... A courtyard filled with soldiers, squaring off in pairs, preparing to train... Eating a plate of mollusks in a dock-side diner... Scores of barathu-like beings drifting like clouds through peach-coloured skies... Waking in the night after yet another dream of forboding... A regal figure sitting high atop a throne... A crumpled body writhing in pain on a smooth, paved floor... A panaroma of mountains glimpsed through the viewing portal of a small transport... A robot striking out with its fists... His partner, writhing, wounded on the ground... The robot strikes out... His partner wounded... The robot. His partner. The robot, his partner, the robot, his partner, the robot, the robot...

The robot.

Rar'gul opens his eyes. The robot lies on the ground before him, deactivated.
Rar'gul sits up with a groan. "I guess the 'bot lived up to its name," the trox murmurs abashed.

"Thankks," he rumbles, nodding at Flash. Turning to T'sorkel, Rar'gul regards the shirren for a moment. "Thankks forr the help. Apprrreciate it," Dusting himself off, Rar'gul rises to his feet.

The large trox nods agreement with Yariel's words. "Did you find any answerrrs?" be asks the others. "We should also go and checkk on Kiiv."

Looking back at the grad student, he wonders, Does he know of my shame?

T'sorkel helps the big Trox to his feet. It was the least I could do after you took on the robot. Sorry I wasn't more help. You may want to take it easy. A memory graft it hard on the mind. Effectively, I've tried to fool your body into thinking that it's still in the healthy state from before the fight. Mind over matter, you know. It only works so well though.[i] He touches Rar'gul's remaining wounds gingerly, noting how similar his chitin was to his own, but yet much more sturdy and rugged.

[i]Is Kiiv ok? Was he able to get the thrusters back online? We found no sign of the Security Chief, but someone set up that trap to shoot at me. I also found some odd ooze residue under her bed.

After the fight, John holsters his pistol and slumps against the wall. He takes a few shaky steps toward the fallen trox, but Yariel and T'sorkel are there first. He kneels beside the halfling, "I know a little first aid, and I have a medkit here, if it will help."

His hand shakes as he undoes the straps to pull the kit from his pack, but he's slow and shaky and tries not so much to aid, as to stay out of the doctor's way while remaining close enough to act if she asks.

***

As the party pulls itself together, so does John. When the vesk wakes, John pushes himself into a crouch, and then stands, stumbling forward a step in the process. Shaking his head he drifts after Beauregard, searching the room. "The vesk's awake. I think you should talk to him."

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

***
During the interview John examines the robot's crate, but keeps an attentive ear on the discussion.

I assume the robot was crated, and said crate lies open in here someplace. If not I'll definitely want to ask about that. Otherwise I'll pipe in with questions as they occur.

Beauregard takes the vesk's hand and helps him get into a comfortable sitting position, back against a wall or something. As he does he mutters under his breath something about 'the nuar PI talked with the Vesk.' As he does he slightly looses color saturation again.

Casting Charming Veneer. I can do that again since I haven't used it for the 'gather information' part of the spell today.

"Easy there kid, y'took a nasty turn. That Robot almost did for ya. We took it out, mind telling us what happened here?"

Diplomacy check if called for: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25