[SFS_Aerondor] 02-04 Future's Fall (7-10) (Inactive)

Game Master Aerondor

@Ivok - it is already accounted for. I gave a bit of a potted 'history' of the vault which was a summary of the records.

Sorry, gong to be slow going this week. Hopefully catch up a bit over the weekend.

@Goose, the Computer Idol is listed as not legal for play.

https://paizo.com/starfindersociety/additional

See Hybrid items, Armory.

@Goose, the Computer Idol is listed as not legal for play.

https://paizo.com/starfindersociety/additional

See Hybrid items, Armory.

Well, color me silly. I'm not sure how I missed that.

I will credit it back at the end of the adventure and use my promotional reroll for that check then.

I only knew about it because I had wanted one, then was disappointed when I saw the AR. Would have loved to find out it was available via chronicle somewhere. :)

So I believe that I have used all the time available to me before curfew.

Please let me know if that is not the case.

I still have a one hour action, but I am trying to give Goose the chance to get his actions in. I'm willing investigate the VR parlor, but I don't want to take someone's actions away.

Sense Motive has Sense Mental Effect. Would that be appropriate for trying to detect something funky happening to people using the VR?

Charli is good at Sense Motive too.

Yeah, we can use that instead of one of the other checks I suggested.

I've updated the notes document with the information so far.

I also wanted to share a bit more of the personal bit as I think I'm content with my work painting my miniature of Ivok which I also wanted to share since it might still be a while till I get to use it in a game.
Ivok Mini Pictures

Like the mini, especially the pose and the boom box in the back!

Sweet. Love the smile on his face.

I love this mini! So cute!

Quirk and Rakdon, are you presenting evidence? There is still evidence to present. There's the shrine, the VR parlour, the drones, the weird naming system that includes 00ERROR01 as names....

Um, we all did that as a group. Everyone knows my experience in the VR parlour. Explaining the skateboarding experience to an NPC is redundant.

For another bit of physical evidence there was the holoprojector component that Quirk identified in the barracks.

@Rakdon, while we did it as a group as the characters providing evidence it can be helpful to reiterate the evidence to provide a convincing arguement. Like in a detective story, when the mystery is revealed the evidence is highlighted and repeated then and there even if some of it might have been more obvious to you watching it.

Charlie has already described the VR parlor, but every character would describe it differently and that can bring some life to a game even if we were all provided that same information here on through the posts. When Charlie described the parlor and it felt like did so in a way that called out the parlor as another way to entrap the people in the town while denying them real experiences. If Ivok were to have described them, he would have focused on the lack of physical resistance or challenge to drive the users to improve. For me both presentations are perfect for the character. It doesn't need to be a lot and it is isn't necessary to do a lot in a lot of cases. For the VR parlor example it would be only a few sentences either case.

GM Aerondor also asked if we had any questions for Governor Shipbreaker. We hadn't asked much from here in this round, but if there is a question you think she can answer that could also be useful

She might be able to answer more questions about the attackers or provide the messages she has received from the Vault Lord on request. We don't know if the Governor's troops have taken any prisoners.

There also might be answers to if we were curious to how the town ever gets shipments. If the "base in the sky" has ever given support in recent memory.

I think any question might be good since it can help reveal more about the situation here.

Sorry for the lack of posting. Last week of term here is being very busy.

GM can we switch between Zones in different rounds?

Can people in the Med Range Area do the Mysticism?

I am used to providing support near the front of the battlefield -- Inspiring Oration and Get 'Em have a range of 60 feet.

You have Nelli with you as well to place somewhere.

Unfortunately there is no secured equipment near the medium range area. If you want to try and snaffle data on the simulation you have to be right at the back.

And yes, you can move between areas.

One thing to note is that medium ranged area... is very near where you saw the vesk were laying explosives earlier.

Other than auto Aid on skills, what does Nelli do again?

I expect we will want her in Support, but want to check. If she can inspiring boost or something like that, Ivok may really want the company.

No combat ability but she can automatically aid anyone in the same location she is during the investigation of the town. If you end up in combat with her around, then she can use improved get'em and inspiring boost once a round as well.

GM: It isn't important now, but do could you say how much SP Nelli restores with inspiring boost and does she have resolve to produce improved version of the abilities?

It might be great to have Nelli's support in combat, but thinking only of my own health I think Ivok can take some hits to start while Nelli helps secure data with aid another. I'm fine with the risk there and taking some HP damage to make sure this mission is more successful is fine with me.

It sounds like we can adjust positions if needed though. I could fall back if I'm taking too much damage and others might be able to take my position as it all works out.

I'm sending Nelli to the front with you... It allows Charli / Spoons to attempt the Mysticism without guilt this round.

I'm good with that plan

Spoons wonders how Charli ever functioned without his backup... Everyone needs an advertising copy writer to keep their ship afloat!

Will the above do for ammo?

SAP = Static Arc Pistol
ALP = Azimuth Laser Pistol
ATP = Advanced Tactical Pistol

bat = 20 charge normal battery
ammo 54 n 30 ci 30 s 30 a

n = Normal (no special materials)
ci = Cold Iron
s = Silver
a = admantine

He seldom uses his projectile pistol but I prepared it as best I could to handle DR.
He would have full clips ready of the alternate ammo types.

Since I have already used it and the header was looking full, I took out the reroll for claims. No need to track something that has been used up. :)

Goose has the following:

Tetrad Rings - 20 charges; usage 2
Azimuth Laser Pistol - 20 charges; usage 1
Semi-automatic Pistol - 9 rounds; 3 magazines (27 rounds)

All have the 'Called' Fusion, making them magical.

Batteries - 2 backup.

I didn't specify the type of battery. Should I designate them for a specific item or does it matter?

Should only matter if it is a different type of battery because a weapon can only use one type.

The types (from the CRB ammunition table) are:
Battery
Battery, high-capacity
Battery, super-capacity
Battery, ultra-capacity

The differences are in how many charges they hold. All of my weapons use the basic battery. Based on you listing them as all having 20 charges, your weapons should all be the basic battery as well.

Quirk has at least one extra battery for his Aphelion laser pistol. It has a few fusions on it.

He has a backup pistol as well. Don't think it has a backup battery.

He most likely will not run out of ammo, especially if none of whatever is attacking is immune to fire. He's planning to give a heavy dose of trick attacks, perhaps sprinkled with some computer checks if needed.

Nelli restores 12SP with inspiring boost. I'm assuming no resolve use of improved get'em.

re: batteries. Just keep a track of them yourselves. I don't normally bother unless it goes long, but in this battle it is worthwhile doing from the start.

So sorry for the absence! Thank you for botting me. I had family in town for the holiday and it stole more time than expected. :D

Yeah, July 4th,
No hurry here. If DG doesn't post in another day I'll hve someone suggest an action for him.

GM Aerondor - some clarifying questions:

1. The grenade microbots give harrying fire and off-target. With UNCANNY AGILITY (EX) 7TH LEVEL, I am immune to the flat-footed condition, and your opponent doesn’t gain any bonuses to attack rolls against you from flanking you or attacking you when you’re prone. Furthermore, covering fire and harrying fire don’t provide any advantage against you.

Am I unaffected then, with the exception of the damage?

2. Can we or should we attack the siege engine? What is the distance from us if we were to attack it directly? Can I trick attack it?

I guess whoever threw that grenade didn't count on it landing next to an operative!

I'll remove the conditions next to you, so I don't include them accidentally.

So yes, don't worry about the microbots. The damage and battery drain do affect you though.

And yes, you can attack the siege engine. I'm not sure how appropriate a trick attack against a siege engine is, but what the heck, it is not called out being immune to them, so why not.

The distance to the engine is as on the map.

Sorry how long this battle is taking, there are a lot of moving parts, so keeping everyone on the same initiative would not really work especially well. I'll try to stay on top of the posting, and bot if you are more than 24 hours.

So there are a lot of mysticism checks in the latest post. Does it take an action to perform the checks?

Neon would suggest the load of explosive joy hit black mech on the side that purple is. Hopefully there is a radius so that both would be a part of the fun.

That target for the location sounds reasonable me as well.

The mysticism checks are free actions to help identify stuff that is going on and that you can see.

The siege mech rumbles forward, blowing a massive hole in the fence. The enemy surge through surrounding those of you at the gate. "Pull back, pull back" is the command from the garrison.

Why hasn’t the siege mech moved on the map?

I am confused because the descriptions don’t match what is on the maps. I evidently also completely misunderstood how the explosives were set. I thought they would be triggered by enemies coming into the area where they were.

Does Inspiring Oration include NPCs, survivors, and other allied folk who are not our team? Because Charli could dish out a whole lot of healing next round to help the survivors if that is the case!

Would using this limited resource help us save more people?

Also, is there a way to dispel the magical hurricane in the center of the board?

Just realized today I had missed applying one chronicle. Updating from original information.

New information:

Chronicle: 26
Player name: BretI
Character name: Neon Ten
Organized play #-#: 141981-2001
Faction: Dataphiles
XP: 26
Fame: 39
Credits: 27349
Day job: STEMM Pundit, clothing + tools: 36 = 36
Reputation:

Overall 77 Tier 4
Acquisitives 12 Tier 1
Dataphiles 44 Tier 3
Exo-Guardians 2 Tier 0
Wayfinders 2 Tier 0
Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo) 11 Tier 1
Manifold Host 0 Tier 0
Second Seekers (Judnura) 2 Tier 0

Boons:

Ally:
Faction: Improved Dataphiles
Personal: Scoured Stars Survivor
Promotional: Reroll: Messenger bag
Social: Street Cred
Starship: N/A
(Relevant) Slotless: Surviving Companion, Marked Field Agent

Purchases:
Accelerated Datajack 8525
Standard Speed Suspension 8800

...and another correction,

Starting credits: 35874

Siege mech hadn't moved forward because.. ahh.. well... terrain....either that or the GM forgot the move.

Maybe the driver was distracted by the missile on its shoulder being blown off by a pesky starfinder laser. Yeah, that must have been it.
Fixed.

For the most part its damage is ranged, so there is not a lot of need for it to actually move, think of it as mostly background that so long as it is there, is chewing up vesk defenders and defences like a meat grinder.

Thus the fences being smashed in is a reflection of the weaponry it is deploying against the town, not it physically walking over them.

--
As for the defensive explosives, they are in the middle of town, in the green area.

--
@Charli, in general I think inspiriting ovation should include allies, but remember only PCs have stamina points. Mechanically the scenario is not tracking individual defenders hp - only your teams.

As for dispelling the hurricane... well... a dispel magic might do the trick.

So the longer the mech is active, the more of the unseen NPCs die?

Without wanting to go into mechanical details... Pretty much yes, or other collateral damage happens.

--
On a separate note.. I've (semi) reconsidered by view on inspiring ovation. If you want to use that, I'm happy for that to take the place of a medicine check in the back zone to help "rescue" survivors.

So this scenario seems to be set up such that we can’t do everything. We have the data download (which I don’t know what effect it has had), medicine checks, rescu8ng the miners, obvious NPCs and then the mech.

The only thing we can see mechanically doing anything is hitting the significant NPCs for damage.

I would like a little more insight as to what we are achieving by taking these choices. Was the ability to call in a strike because we got to a certain point in the download? Do we think downloading more would open new options?

There are some great things in this scenario, but I am feeling frustrated by having to make decisions where I can’t see any positive impact from taking certain actions.

I admit there are some bits that I've been missing in the descriptions. It has been moving fast as there seems to be a lot of development in the three turns I've had. For the combat I've been trying to open up a path to attack the siege machine directly, but that hasn't been working out well for me. Even then I don't even have a guess as to how severe the effect of the siege engine is (compared to anything else on the field).

In general I'm taking guesses at what I should be doing. The previous turn I was inclined to help fight the void hag, but since I was prone I opted to get an attack in this round rather than stand and move.

What you know.
1: Vex has asked you to get as much information as you can. You have acquired a fair amount. If you get to the point that there is mechanically no more useful data you can acquire, I'll let you know that.
2: Aside from the direct data download, there are a lot of people here who can probably reveal a lot about what has been happening - even if they don't "know" it directly, so rescuing folk from the attack is also a useful activity. There are various activities you can do to help them (Charli has rescued some miners, I imagine Neon's heal-junkbot will be doing some medicine checks)
3: There are a number of specific threats you are facing (the elves, dwarves, hag etc) - which you can take on in normal combat.
4: There is the threat of the siege mech who is attacking the base, with possible poor consequences. You have damaged but not yet disabled it.

@Neon Yes she should, map updated to reflect the text.

Nice call on Arcing surge. I didn't realise that you could start it anywhere in range, but that certainly looks to be the case. Something for my technomancer to remember for the future.

Sorry, that isn’t what happened,

He ran forward 30’, cast the spell, ran back 30’ then dropped prone. Agile Casting allows him to move both before and after the spell is cast.

I don’t think you can start it anywhere in range. My understanding is you must start it from the caster and draw a line out.

Interesting... the rule book goes out of its way several times to say burst spells can originate anywhere in range.

Under Range it says

An effect’s range indicates how far from you it can reach. An effect’s range is the maximum distance from you that the effect can occur, as well as the maximum distance at which you can designate the effect’s point of origin

Most effects with an area function as a burst, an emanation, or a spread. In each case, you select the effect’s point of origin and measure its area from that point.

I know in PF the lightning bolt (which arcing surge is obviously based on) started from the caster, but it seems that in SF, that is not necessarily the case. Or am I missing something here?

BTW, I think with agile casting you only get a normal move, not a run.

60’ is a single move for Neon: 30’ base + 10’ Fleet feat + 20’ standard speed suspension. I just got tripped up by using a keyword when I wasn’t intending that. Probably should have said scurry or something like that in the description.

I will have to look more closely at the rules, it may be I have also been making assumptions on the arcing surge based on too many years of AD&D and Pathfinder. Would be great if I could start it at range,

Line
A line-shaped effect extends away from you in a line in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that blocks line of effect (see page 271). A line-shaped effect applies to all creatures in squares through which the line passes.

——

Although I would have loved for the Arcing Surge to start anywhere in range, it appears it does start from where you cast it. I had made a small mistake in that I should be doing it at a vertex, but I don’t think that would have affected things.

This is specific to the line and cone areas — both state they start from any corner of your square.