[SFS - PbP Gameday IX] 3-03 Frozen Ambitions: the Shimmerstone Gateway (Inactive)

Game Master Kludde

Alright, you motivations seem honest the hermit says to Kaixik, and to Modern Body, they respond: I have nothing to do with the portal's activation. It alarms me to hear of this phenomenon. The shimmerstone’s power is the key to the activation of the portals. When these portals are close together, they connect automatically.

A portal with enough energy to forge a connection while Vesk‑8 is nearly at its farthest point from us in orbit is beyond its normal abilities. Because emotional energy charges the shimmerstone, an infusion of powerful emotions could overcharge it and cause a portal to connect from well beyond its normal range. The stars shudder to prophesize what powerful feeling could cause something like that.

You fear for your safety the hermit says in a calm voice, I have ascended beyond the need for sleep, food, or air. The energy traded between myself and the universe while I meditate is everything I need to survive. You do not possess this capability, so lingering here will eventually cause you to perish. Let us investigate this portal together, so that we may find a way out for you.

---

With the mystic powers the hermit display, the trip back is a breeze - and we're not talking of the cold here - the hermit offers protection against the biting cold, and lifts the group over canyons and obstacles.

The boulders and collapsed walls from the earlier cave-in still obstruct the portal. The shimmerstone gently gleams with energy as Mathun enters, casting the room in dim light. This may be dangerous, please stand back, the hermit says. The ground starts to rumble and shake as a telekinetic power starts moving the rubble from the cave-in, clearing a path back to the portal.

We bid our farewell here Mathun says, I implore you not to reveal my presence to the inhabitants of this world - if the Vesk find out about my presence, it may compromise my safety. I trust you will keep silent.

---

As the hermit leaves, a presence bursts through the floor. An animated piece of rock, looking like a living piece of shimmerstone, has emerged and blocks the path to the portal, under loud groaning.
Though that groaning may be Modern Body, who knows

----
Dawnfriend
---
Shimmerstone elemental
---
Af'val
Kaixik
Angus
Kneepuncher
Modern Body
---

Skill to identify anything about the Shimmerstone Elemental would be Mysticism?

Mysticism, yes. DC 16, just tell me what you want to know.

"Aaargh!" groans Modern Body. "The power of emotions, seriously? Let me guess, the criminals have thoughts so dark its influencing these stupid crystals? Enough to summon this glummerstone golem? When will the insanity stop..." concludes the icon.

Kaixik can't get enough of the hermit.

"Thank you so, so much for this knowledge, kind being! Your ability to be at one with yourself, and the universe, is truly extraordinary! I would love to ask you more about your meditations if we had more time, but for now I can only offer my most sincere thanks for all you have done to assist us!"

In the cave, Kaixik is alarmed by the elemental! He quickly tries to think if he can figure anything out about it.

Mysticism to ID: 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (19) + 7 + (3) = 29

Special attacks, special defenses (i.e. resistances/immunities/vulerabilities etc.), other special abilities?

Angus has no skill in Mysticism - he was guessing, in the hopes that he was wrong. :-(

The elemental has all the usual elemental immunities, plus it care fire lasers from its eyes! Once every while, it can supercharge that blast and confuse those within range.

I'll give dawnfriend two actions. If dawnfriend manages to knock out or incapacitate the elemental in the first action, i'll retcon the attack

Th elemental moves deeper into the cave and releases a wave of mental energy. Even the most cynical of starfinders find themselves overwhelmed by this emotion, and it's hard to stay on target.

Will DC 13 or be confused for 1 round. Making the save will make you immune to further effects

--
Dawnfriend x2
Af'val
Kaixik
Angus
Kneepuncher
Modern Body
---
Shimmerstone elemental
---

Will Save: 1d20 ⇒ 19

Well, that was a surprise. Guarded step and smack it in the stone.

Entropic Strike: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10 vs. EAC
Acid/Bludgeoning Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Will DC 13: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Modern Body casts Junksword (block and reach) and moves within reach of the monster.

Probably too late now, but would we have had time with the hermit to rest and regain SP?

Round 1:

Dawnfriend seems momentarily flummoxed by the creature, but then springs into action. He waves his hands, "Fly, my little Sarenraefriend!" From the various lights he holds, small wisp of light - in the form of the dawnflower icon - flies forth and begins harrying the elemental.

The first attack from someone else will be at +2 from harrying fire

Round 2:
Will save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Confused roll: 1d100 ⇒ 12

Though somewhat confused by what is happening, he is able to act normally.
The wisp ally spell continues harrying the elemental.

Dawnfriend darts forward, up through Modern Body's position, along the wall, and then comes up on the other side of the elemental, swinging his staff.

"Sorry about this, rockfriend!"

Battle staff attack vs. flanked KAC: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Battle staff damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Hyper for extra move action. Move, then Guarded Step (to avoid AoO). Attack.

Since I feel like we're nearing the end of the adventure, I'll go ahead and use my re-roll on that

Battle staff attack re-roll w/ 1 Nova vs. flanked KAC: 1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 + 1 = 20

Yes, regaining SP would have been possible (and a reasonable action). I'm fine with assuming that happened.

Kneepuncher keeps on top of his mind, and goes for matter over mind. Sadly, he misses his strike.

Modern body has a junk sword. Good thing we are all adults.

Dawnfriend is the first to - apologetically - damage the elemntal, chipping off some shimmerstone dust with his staff.

--
Dawnfriend
Af'val
Kaixik
Angus
Kneepuncher
Modern Body
---
Shimmerstone elemental (4)
---

Elemental immunities = immune to Bleed, critical hits, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning unless the affect specifies 'affects elementals', and they are are unflankable.

Will Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Confused Roll: 1d100 ⇒ 55

Angus hits himself with his bare hands, dealing damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4.

Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Kaixik shakes off the emotional confusion coming from the elemental. Then he yells at it.

"LEAVE US ALONE!"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27

A moment later, Kaixik notices Angus struggling with the emotional energy coming from the elemental. He reaches out to assist.

"You've got this!"

Kaixik will use his shirren hive defense ability as a reaction to allow Angus to reroll that saving throw and potentially not be confused!

Will save: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 2 = 23 (I'm assuming it's a mind-affecting effect)

Seeing the moving pile of stone Af'val concentrates deep on the energy inside himself and pulls them out in a trio of globes which fire at the elemental and strike in rapid succession

Full round magic missiles: 3d4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4, 4, 2) + 3 + 1 = 14

Angus tries his Will Save again.

Will Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

and critically succeeds. Yay!

OK, instead of hitting himself, Angus draws his pistol and shoots the elemental.

Tactical Semi-Auto Pistol, Piercing Damage: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 111d6 ⇒ 4

Angus seems confused at first, until the hive mind protection of Kaixik saves the human from hurting himself. He instead sets out to hurt the shimmerstone creature, but only manages to ricochet some bullets of its tough exterior.

Af'val fires four globes of force at the elemental, which create a dazzling display of light as they strike, breaking of chips and pieces of crystal in the process.

Kaixik screams at the outsider, but finds no mind to connect to.

The elemental retaliates by lashing out at the nearby Dawnfriend

Slam, Dawnfriend: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 291d6 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

-
Dawnfriend
Af'val
Kaixik
Angus
Kneepuncher
Modern Body
---
Shimmerstone elemental (18)
---

Kneepuncher attempts two attacks on the elemental, allowing the chaos of the quick maneuver to flow into him.

Entropic Strike: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Acid and Bludgeoning Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Entropic Strike: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Acid and Bludgeoning Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

If this creature is subject to critical hits

Critical Acid and Bludgeoning Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Entropy 2

Modern Body casts Supercharge Weapon on his huge junk sword.

"This things seems a bit too tough to crack, maybe the utmost combination of magical power and muscular power will do the trick!"

Kneepuncher - critical hits is on the list of immunities I posted as the expansion of 'standard elemental immunities'.

Angus will use the irregularities of the cavern to attempt to trick attack the elemental, shooting it with his pistol.

Survival - Trick Attack Against 20+CR: 1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 7 + 4 = 171d4 ⇒ 2
Tactical Semi-Auto Pistol, Piercing Damage: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 161d6 ⇒ 4

Af'val smiles satisfied that his use of magic seems to be successful.

He then dives deep into his inner energy reserves and pulls out more globes of pure energy before hurling them at the elemental once more.

Full round magic missile: 3d4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4, 1, 3) + 3 + 1 = 12

Kneepuncher works hard to wear the elemental down, using the power of erosion to reduce it to little bits of stone.

Modern Body supercharges his junk sword.

Angus fires a round, and manages to hit the moving block of crystal, just before another series of missiles slams into the creature

---
Dawnfriend
Af'val
Kaixik
Angus
Kneepuncher
Modern Body
---
Shimmerstone elemental (40)
---

Dawnfriend shakes his head. "That was not nice ..." He begins banging on the thing with his staff.

Dawnfriend staff attack 1: 1d20 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 1 - 4 = -2
Dawnfriend staff damage 1: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Dawnfriend staff attack 2: 1d20 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 1 - 4 = 1
Dawnfriend staff damage 2: 1d4 ⇒ 2

His swings are wide, almost like he really isn't even trying to hit the creature.

Kaixik grimmaces as his scream has no effect. Instead, he tries drawing and firing a static arc pistol.

Static arc pistol: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Electric damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Another crit wasted on an elemental

Dawnfriend is clearly distracted by the many shimmering pieces and reflections in the cave, and only manages to point his staff in the general direction of the elemental. Kaixik strikes with uncanny accuracy, and electrifies a small bit of elemental.

Let's see the junk sword!

---
Dawnfriend
Af'val
Kaixik
Angus
Kneepuncher
Modern Body
---
Shimmerstone elemental (43)
---

Modern Body slashes and slams his supercharged junk sword against the monster (twice) with impressive results:

Junksword vs. KAC: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 6 - 4 = 19
Bludgeoning & Slashing damage: 1d4 + 8 + 4d6 ⇒ (3) + 8 + (1, 2, 6, 1) = 21

Junksword vs. KAC: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 6 - 4 = 20
Bludgeoning & Slashing damage: 1d4 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

"How do you like that? How do you like that?!" asks insistently Modern Body, as he hacks away at the poor creature.

If there's anything left, Kneepuncher will give it one more entropic smack, charging it with his stored entropy for additional damage.

Entropic Strike: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
A & B Damage: 1d3 + 4 + 2d4 ⇒ (1) + 4 + (3, 1) = 9

Entropy 0

If Modern Body and Kneepuncher haven't already killed it, Angus will try to trick attack it again.

Survival - Trick Attack Against 20+CR: 1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 4 = 151d4 ⇒ 4
Tactical Semi-Auto Pistol, Piercing Damage: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 61d6 ⇒ 4

Well, that looks useless!

Modern body slams his junksword into the crystalline mass, crushing the mosnter into small crystals and creating his own harden in the process. There is not much left of the creature after he is done.

Combat over!

With the defeat of the elemental, the portal flickers to life, allowing an egress from the frozen moon.

The portal still leads to the mine on Vesk-8. None other than Juralaz himself is ready to great the team. Great Scott the Vesk says with a degree of discomfort, you were gone forever, and thought you were dead for sure!.

Then, turning the discomfort to eagerness, he addsCome on! Tell us all! What did you find on the other side?

Angus asks, "How long were we gone?"

Does his report of how long we were gone match up with our perception of how long we were gone?

"The portal was activating due to a crazy shimmerstone elemental. I can't tell you how or why that elemental came into being."

How much of what we found in / about the crashed spaceship are we going to tell him? My inclination is 'found a nearly dead ship, were barely able to access logs, found out (fill in how it "escaped" and the customer logs). I want to imply that there's nothing worth recovering from the ship. Deception is not something Angus is good at, so I want to lie by omission, or have someone else do it.

"We think we were on the moon Traverse. It went a very far distance. We walked around for a bit - there were crystal clouds that were very cold. Then once we found our way back, we fought the shimmerstone elemental, and came here." He rushes through the report, glancing around at the others, and letting them finish out the report, the conflict between potentially betraying his nufriends on Traverse and misleading his friends here being too much for him. "It is very stressful," he mutters.

“Well, if it isn’t the High Despot of Vesk-8 himself! I am happy to surprise you, your highness!”

Modern Body dusts off some shimmerstone elemental dust from his clothes and hair.

“Where to start… that stupid gate tooks us to Traverse, where we fought some of the local fauna: exploding slugs. Then we found an old contraband ship being inhabited by a weird fairy - we have the details on the ship route with us. Finally we visited a kothama hermit with superpowers that doesn’t like to be bothered, but he shared some of his knowledge: the shimmerstone is influenced by “emotional energies”, if you believe that crap, so some sort of powerful emotion probably charged up the portal and got it to work. I’d guess your prisoners around here might have some dark thoughts, so you might want to work with motivational material - I’d suggest hiring me, but there are some legal problems right now, so I’m unavailable - maybe increase the working hours instead, leave them without free time to have bad thoughts. Finally, I destroyed a shimmerstone elemental on the other side of the door. All in a day of work!” Modern Body stands up right next to the despot, smiling.

Kneepuncher nods. Though he has little to add, he feels like he should contribute something to the report. "Neither we nor any of the people in the mines were harmed, and they are unlikely to be in any future danger because of this anomaly."

Kaixik chimes in telepathically at the end. "Indeed, High Despot sir, we hope you are able to use the knowledge we gained during our travels to Traverse to your advantage."

Kaixik limits his telepathy to just the High Despot and the other Starfinders "Particularly concerning some information about your political rivals' unprofession behavior we found in the smuggler's logs. On the behalf of the Starfinder Society it was a pleasure working for you, sir, and the Society would welcome future opportunities to explore the Veskarium for our organizations'... mutual benefit."

Kaixik gives a smile and a deferential nod to the High Despot when he is finished speaking.

The Vesk listens with great interest to the Starfinder's report, and is especially interested in the mentions of the moon's inhabitants. Splendid job he says. Rahla, make sure these fine specialists make it safely to their landing pad.

Rahla escorts the group off the mining planet, and by the time the shuttle lifts off, Ehu Hadif has already received a report from Jularaz.

Mission success! I will report and start creating chronicles. Thank you all for joining in!

Chronicles are up. Let me know if everything is fine.

Boon rolls, in order to handout table: 6d20 ⇒ (13, 9, 20, 15, 9, 17) = 83 --> Kaixik gets a boon! 1d3 ⇒ 2

@Kaixik: can you pm me your email address, so I can make sure you get it?

Shouldn't some of the boxes be checked in the Adventure Summary section? I think 'uncovered valuable encrypted secrets' and 'made a full report' should be checked?

Mine has Reputation credited to Second Seekers (Ehu), but my primary faction is Wayfinders. Should the reputation go to Wayfinders?

That's right. My tool doesn't like the boxes at random positions, but yes
* Uncovered secrets
and
* Made a full report
should be checked. Feel free to take a pen to the chronicle and refer to this post if proof is needed.

Chronicle looks good, though the lack of boons is pretty weird. Hope they get the achievement points thing working.

Thanks for GMing!

Thank you all, especially DM Kludde!

Boons are gone from SFS. We're supposed to get achievement points starting in S4, but Paizo still hasn't said if they will be retroactive.

Still upset about the nearly blank chronicle sheet from 3-00.

Thanks for running, and it's been a pleasure gaming with you all!