Bison (with the help of the team) completely nails the navigation, drawing a look of surprise and satisfaction from the Brigadier "Some hope for you as a future hunter!" she jests (you think)
***
After an hour, the group arrives in a large cavern with multiple branching tunnels. Brigadier Teshgari retrieves and deactivates the projector, gestures at the cavern, “What do you see? I’m curious on how skilled you Starfinders truly are at these sorts of things.”
"Take your time, then tell me which of the paths lead to the largest predators - preferably stridermanders"
You conclude scat and blood stains are most common down the east tunnel.
You identify the scat as belonging to stridermanders, and you note a sour odor down the east tunnel, which marks it as stridermander territory
The Brigadier seems impressed with the tracking efforts - "Seems that hunting comes naturally to Starfinders!"
***
The sour scent of stridermander musk grows progressively stronger as travel east through the tunnels until you eventually emerge into a larger chamber. Thick stalagmites rise up from the uneven floor of this vast cavern, reaching for the stalactites mirrored on the jagged ceiling thirty feet above.
The air is thick with a sour stench and a haze of grit, which drifts down from the ceiling, becoming lost amid the pebbles and filth coating the stone floor. As you enter on the far edge, a stalactite falls from the central ceiling, triggering a chorus of high-pitched screeches from the stridermander whelps. A dozen stridermander whelps scurry around, hunting for small prey. They hiss at you, rubbing their eyes when light is directed at them.
"Pah, those ones are puny and weak" the Brigadier looks like a fisherman who has pulled in a tiny fish and wasted their bait.
The area is quite unstable, especially around those stalagmites
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Mr. Bison floats onto his riding saddle on Zangief's back and engages the environmental seals on his armor.
"This area is quite unstable, especially around those stalagmites." Mr. Bison looks at Rocket's heavy weapons dubiously. "We're going to have to do this face to face; just the way I like it."
He taps the end of his greataxe against Zangief's metal body.
"What's the hold-up? You moving on or stopping in fascination?" the Brigadier comments.
Mich
Mr. Bison
Rocket
Mich Igan
Kultainen
ENEMY/Brig
A group of four stridermander whelps decide to try their luck with Kultainen emerging from the stalagtites to rush at her!
R1
Rocket
Mich
Bison
Max
ENEMY!
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"So what's the plan? Take them down one at a time?"
Rocket moves into the more open space a bit getting closer to Kultanien to prevent someone getting split of from the rest of the party while pointing his blaster in the general direction of the whelps before aiming his sight at the closest one and trying to take that one down.
Mich starts firing up.
Rocket just shoots one!
R1
Rocket - attacked
Mich - readied
Bison
Max
ENEMY!
R
OY
G 8
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"Are you man enough to fight with me?"
Zangief moves into melee range with the whelps. From his position on Zangief's back Mr. Bison strengthens his tentacles at the molecular level, doubling his strength. Swinging his axe above his head he sets it ablaze as he shunts energy from his photoenergetic node into it.
"Inferno Axe!"
Bison flings his greataxe at the closest stridermander (green).
The axe drops the stridermander whelp like a bad habit.
R1
Rocket - attacked
Mich - readied
Bison - acted
Max
ENEMY!
R
O
Y
G Dead
Maxamas rushes into the stalagmite peppered area and immediately realises the treachery of the situation as a mountain of rubble comes down around him!
Damage + Buried
DC12 Reflex for half and not buried.
The Stridermanders respond. Two go after Kultainen - surging in to pin her.
The other attacks Max
Attack
Damage
R2
Kultainen
R1
Rocket
Mich
Bison
Max - save required.
ENEMY!
R
O
Y
G Dead
The Brigadier draws her pistol and simply holds it at the ready, watching how the Starfinders respond to the Stridermander threat.
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"Seeing you in action is a joke."
Mr. Bison's axe returns to his tentacles and Zangief moves them around to Kultainen's side. Raising his still blazing axe over his head he sends it crashing down on the closest stridermander's (orange) head.
"Inferno Axe!"
Zangief adds to Bison's assault by stabbing his pike at the the same stridermander.
Kultainen backs up.
Two more strider-whelps fall under the blows of the Starfinders!
R1
Kultainen - acted
R2
Rocket
Mich - acted
Bison - acted
Max - save required.
ENEMY!
R Dead
O Dead
Y
G Dead
Rocket manages to gun down the last one!
Max is injured but not buried - luckily for him!
As the dust settles you note the rhe rockfall has revealed a metal structure high on the cavern’s south wall, which the stridermander whelps have clearly into.
"That must be the stridermander nest, prepare to enter once you have brushed yourselves off."
The rockfall reveals a metal structure high on
the cavern’s south wall, which the stridermander whelps flee into.
Brigadier Teshgari proclaims the structure a stridermander nest
and insists the group enters.
Checking the chamber you are in you note that he far end of the tunnel is blocked by rubble.
You determine it blocks a tunnel that collapsed a month ago.
***
Once done, you start picking your way up towards the metal opening.
20 Engineering, Perception, or Profession (spelunker):
identifies a safe route, which grants the party a +2 circumstance bonus to Athletics checks to climb the rubble.
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"This tunnel is blocked by rubble that has been there from as far back as at least a month ago. I can see a safe route to the top, follow me."
Mr. Bison alights from Zangief's back and begins to fly up to the entrance of the stridermander's nest. He grips his greataxe in his tentacles and holds it at the ready in front of him.
Zangief struggles to follow him up the escarpment.
As you ascend the rubble you find a backpack from a previous victim of the stridermanders. It contains a beacon, ten flares, and two mk 2 serums of
healing, a minor z-boson crystal and a tactical doshakari.
***
The wooden door of this dark underground room lays shattered on the filthy tiled floor. The walls show signs of bright paint beneath layers of muck and dust, and rows of lights line the ceiling. The stale air is heavy with the stench of rot and stridermander musk. Three wide hallways echo with sounds of dripping water, scrabbling claws, and hissing.
As you come into view, a trio of stridermander whelps shriek in panic
and flee, two run down the east hallway, while the third scrambles into a nearby vent in the west hall.
smears on the ground that lead down the east hall. These marks
were made by stridermanders dragging prey.
Sticking out of a vent in the west hallway is a lightly dented vivifier flare rifle - it looks like it has gotten jammed in there.
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Mr. Bison floats back to his perch on Zangief's back and telepathically says, "I can see large letters painted on the wall opposite the entrance.". Taking a closer look Bison projects telepathically, "It says Welcome!". The letters are written in a whimsical fashion and there is an exclamation point after the word.
Mr. Bison activates the flashlight attached to his armor by a gear clamp, adding to the light streaming out in front of him from his light projector.
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Kultanien quickly scans the area as well.
"Mith you might want that crystal that we found in the rockslide." she suggests as she pockets healing serem.
She approaches the jammed rifle.
"I wonder why this was left here? I take it stridermanders are not capable of using normal weapons?" she inquires before inspecting the rifle and seeing if she can remove it.
The rifle comes free. Apart from the cosmetic damage, it seems serviceable.
Desiccated corpses hang from the ceiling of this vile larder in long, irregular rows. The maze of swaying bodies obscures the chamber’s deeper recesses.
Stridermander whelps scurry around, nibbling on corpses. As you advance the whelps shriek in panic and flee into the walls or deeper into the complex. Most of the corpses can be identified as humanoid hunters (primarily vesk and pahtra).
Brigadier Teshgari is energized at the sight of this macabre larder and prepares for battle, checking her weapons. Mimzy and Jomp look horrified. Mimzy covers her backpack of baked goods protectively.
An oldfashioned entertainment unit riddled with bullet holes rests against the east wall.
You identify it as over 200 years out of date.
Examining the walls reveals the metal was painted with inconsistent bright patterns. The paint is chipped, and the walls are dented from bullet impacts. Longarm bullet casings litter the floor.