[RD][SFS] 2-06/2-08: The Stumbling Society (Inactive)

Game Master Andrew Harasty

"If you're in front of me, duck!" Officer Swizzers shouts, firing her laser rifle vaguely in the direction of the plant monster.

attack roll vs EAC w/ azimuth artillery laser: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26
miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 57
damage (fire, penetrating): 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Reflex save vs bile: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

"Did I hit anything?"

ref DC13: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
fort DC15: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Thomagar hears the large creature falls but does not have the opportunity to rejoice as he is hit by acidic bile and yet another explosive blast.

Stumbling still blinded, he heads towards where he thinks the nearest seedpod (red) and attempts to strike with his glowing palms but ends up just striking the air.

miss chance?: 1d100 ⇒ 14

With the main plant down, Viper-6 easily takes down one pod, while Rocket and Swizzers burn the other one.

With all the biological contaminates destroyed the neutriad spheres automatically shut off and the electronic voice declares, “Xenobiological threats eliminated. Elevator enabled. Decontamination recommended at your earliest convenience.”

You take a few moments to recover and then proceed down to the depot itself.

The lift descends several hundred yards to a massive storage facility illuminated by flickering emergency lights. The weapon racks, storage containers, forklifts, and heavy vault doors make this level’s purpose abundantly clear—but the vaults are empty.

A single data pad with a blinking red light sits in the middle of one of the empty vaults. It turns on as you approach:

“Hello again! I guess you survived. Good for you, making it all the way down after I set all your critters loose and turned your nasty defenses against you. Speaking of nasty, you sure had a lot of firepower down here. Wow! For an organization that’s supposedly about exploration, I’m shocked. Shocked I say! But don’t worry. I know some folks who could sure use this stuff. And, to make things even, please accept this payment. See you soon!”

The balance on the datapad is 6 credits.

Thus ends Part 1

Ugh!

Datch, she 'scooped' us is the idiom? D'zyliit expresses as you look upon the picked-clean armory.

This is not good...

Thomagar takes a deep breath and as he releases it, he similarly lets the stellar energy dissipates, just as his vision also slowly recovers.

"I do not enjoy the experience of being toyed with," he comments grimly.

"She's implicated herself in several crimes--this will be her undoing when we finally catch up and arrest her."

After a long stare at Datch's recording, Hermena begins to fiddle with the hilt of the holy sintered longsword she grabbed on the upper level. "Do you think the 'holy' function will still function for me if I use the blade to widen that ysoki's various orifices?"

The return trip to Absalom station takes a few days as is normal. Your team is debriefed by Zigvigix while on board the Thunderous Transgressor

Zigvigix is at first ecstatic, but their pleasure quickly fades as you give you report during the journey home. Zigvigix thinks for several hours, then calls a meeting. They explain that, although Datch has the weapons, there is little the Starfinder Society can do to act against her. Any evidence to implicate her, especially collected out in the Vast, would be difficult to argue in a legal setting. Furthermore, the Society would never admit that a massive stockpile of weapons fell into an outside power’s hands. Zigvigix is determined to come up with a plan to thwart Datch and recover the weapons.

At Absalom station you are give a few days R&R before you get a summons from Fitch to meet at the Lorespire complex again. Seems that she has some new intel regarding the fate of the equipment taken from Sangaro.

An older ysoki woman, Fitch of the Wayfinders faction, stands behind a table in the center of the room. A frozen holographic image, hovers above the table, depicting strange, moth‑like creatures with brightly colored wings in a dense jungle, apparently in the midst of a shoot‑out. Each of the creatures grips a gun in their front two claws, and the combatants seem to be divided into two groups. The weaponry the creatures wield is emblazoned with the Starfinder Society emblem.

“Welcome back, fellow Starfinders,” Fitch says. "I have reviewed your reports regarding the events at Sangoro's Arsenel. And about the communication you received from Datch. This isn’t the first time she’s come to the Society’s attention, and we’ve been trying to figure out her game ever since. Our immediate problem, though, is what she’s done with the supplies she stole from that facility.”

Fitch clicks a button on the table, and the vid‑footage springs to life. The sound of gunfire fills the room as the creatures engage in a brief battle. After several creatures fall, both sides retreat, screeching wordlessly at each other. Once the vid finishes, the hologram disappears. “This footage was taken on a planet called Stabrisis‑14,” Fitch says. “It’s been charted, but not explored— the local inhabitants aren’t very advanced technologically and we didn’t want to interfere in their civilization. But apparently, Datch has been dropping crates of our equipment for them to find. The last thing the Starfinders need in the middle of this smear campaign is for people to think we’re handing out weapons to developing worlds, not to mention the response from our weapon manufacturing partners if they think we can’t keep hold of our arms. I need you to go to Stabrisis‑14 and get back our equipment, hopefully before this gets out. And please, try to find a diplomatic way to do so. The only thing that would look worse for the Starfinders than seemingly distributing these weapons would be causing a massacre on a low‑tech world.

“I’ll be sending another agent along with you, a maraquoi named Saivessa. They’ll be following you in a second ship so they can secure the equipment you find; that way, you won’t have to waste time gathering it.” Fitch runs her hands through her fur—judging by the tousles at the top of her head, not for the first time today. “Any questions?”

"Is there some kind of civil war on the planet? Are both sides using our weaponry?"

"And what do we know about the planet itself?"

Flitch responds: “We don’t know too much about the world, only what we’ve gotten through scans and this footage. It’s a jungle planet in Near Space, orbiting a red star. As for the inhabitants, all we know about them is that they haven’t developed advanced technology and seem to be divided into semi‑nomadic tribes. We haven’t studied them extensively yet.”

"I am not sure if it a fractured government, or two different tribes. But what every it is now, they are fighting each other. We would prefer that they don't use our technology and weapons to kill each other. "

“Well, we don’t want to cause a bloodbath trying to reclaim them. Defend yourselves if attacked, of course, but aim for a diplomatic solution if at all possible. If not... I hate to say it, but you’ll probably have to leave the equipment and head back to Absalom Station if they insist on continuing to fight over it.”

"The audacity of this..." Thomagar mutters under his breath, deeply frowning, staring at the chaos the weapons have caused on this budding planet. "They must be allowed to advance according to their own progress without external corruption."

Turning to Fitch, he asks, "When you saw lack advanced technology, approximately at what stage of development are they? I am concerned over how they would react to a first contact of a group of alien races, from their perspective. And more importantly, how would we communicate with them?"

D’zyliit’s antennae twitch as he looks at the frozen footage. Isolated planet, but this footage came from somewhere. Quite possible this Datch has agents on world to further fuel the fire and ‘document’ Society malfeasance.

If this lepidoptorous species has been avoided, are they aware of other worlds? Presuming language barrier if not -or do they even communicate verbally?

“Good question. The seem to be per-industrial, but there does seem to be some extra-planar influences. There has been evidence of some mystical activities. It’s hard to say whether they’d speak any language we’d recognize. I’d recommend preparing spells to communicate or bringing along any translation equipment if you’ve got; otherwise, you might have some difficulty.”

Rocket scratches behind his right ear
"So the mission is still the same, retrieve the weapons...we just have to get them from another planet now. And have new problems getting them back."

Hermena frowns. ”I suppose it’s too much to ask for a pre-industrial culture to have some kind of record keeping we could use to track down the ones who got them those weapons? Also, do we have any information about pre-existing peace prospects we might be able to capitalize on? I’d rather not need to go in guns blazing just to get our stuff back.”

Can I buy a new set of armor between the last scenario and this one?

Are there any knowledge or gather info type checks to learn more about the situation?

yes there is down time to reequip and you are on Absalom station so normal availability

Flitch nods. "This is pretty much a first contact situation. Though as we can see, Datch already made some type of contact. But we don't have any details other than giving them the weapons. And Datch is not telling us."

"Get your gear and rendezvous with Saivessa and her ship"

Travel to Stabrissis-14 takes 3d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 4) = 8 days and is mostly uneventful. There is a brief communication with the Clutter Collector, a salvage ship trawling the drift for matter pulled from other planes. Captain Winks of the Clutter Collector talks about a discovered potential find a few weeks away before getting outside of comms distance.

Saivessa is very personable throughout the journey, and is always willing to talk shop about mechanics and technology. Though she stays behind on her transport for the journey.

D'zyliit will pick up a Tetrad Translator and a spell ampoule of Share Language before departing the Station

During the journey, Diz will occasionally communicate with their maraquoi escort. I can understand why our ship's agents were selected for this mission: our delay in retrieving the supplies opened the door for Datch to acquire them. It is, 'personal'. But why you? Did you volunteer for this assignment? Or did the Forum believe your expertise might be required here?

Hermena hails the Clutter Collector as they drift by, taking a moment to personally thank Captain Winks for getting the Society back on track to securing the Bulwark. Hermena has the Chronicle for 1-04, where Captain Winks provided the intel that got the scenario started.

"I suppose we'd better keep an eye out for hidden cameras. If Datch is trying to catch the Society in an embarrassing position with this gambit, we should do our best to minimize our chances of being caught with our figurative pants down."

For boon slotting, does the scenario recommend anything?

The maraquoi chuckles. "Well I have worked with Fitch many times. Though I think she like me for my boat more than my company. Let's just say I made a lot of aftermarket alterations that facilitate moving of goods quickly and safely." She notions to her transport. "She is good at getting away and past blockades. She'll take a few hits, but not being there is the best defense. Once you secure the goods, I can get them safely out of there. "

No specific boons, other than make sure you have some means of first contact communication. Which Diz has covered for now

Arriving from the Drift near Stabrissis-14, you quickly detect two starships circling the area in a set pattern. The ships respond and immediately turn and target their weapons at your ship. Scanning the ships as they approach, they are unmanned drone fighters that neither have Drift engines or atmospheric capabilities, so there were deposited here by some ship or platform.

And to get it out of the way now. Starship combat. Everyone can post actions. Though Gunners should use spoilers, then I will resolve items in order.

Init Viper: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (4) + 20 = 24
Init Drone, Green: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23
Init Drone, Yellow: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14

The Drones have moved. Their original positions are marked by the respective dots

Rocket powers up the forward weapons and tries to get the biggest weapon available to target one of the drones

"Get me a line to one of them and I'll blow it out of the skies!"

I don't think there's an official ruling for this but would Taunt work against unmanned enemy ships?

Noting that unmanned nature of the drones, Thomagar quickly inputs a series of ship-to-ship communications, attempting to confuse one of the drone's central processor of the ship's intent.

vs green: taunt, bluff: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19

Do not appear to have life-support capabilities. Still, let me analyze. Would be a bad look to have Datch trick us into blowing away manned fighters, especially if natives brought inside.

Performing a Scan on the 'green' drone. Can then shift over to Engineering in future rounds easily as needed.

Computers: 1d20 + 15 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 15 + 2 = 36

Also I would propose our 3 'floating' computers bonuses default to the pilot and gunner(s) each turn

"Looks like their going in for a flank, but that only works if they both survive. If we focus fire, we can end this before it begins!" Hermena opens the targeting interface for the forward and broadside coilguns and tries her best to align her shots with Rocket's initial volley.

Left the torpedo launcher for Swizzers, but did take one of the +2 bonuses from the computer. Fire At Will to shoot forward coilgun at green and port coilgun at yellow (or forward coilgun at yellow and starboard coilgun at green, if we turn downward) at -4 penalty each.

Concur about computers - will take one for Pilot, and two for gunners :)

Viper is well and truly on top of these enemies and uses her highly tuned machine-reflexes to outmanoeuvre the enemy ships whilst evading incoming fire

Evade DC 19, can't fail.

This round - AC 24 TL 23

Swizzers targets one of the drones with the torpedo launcher, waiting a split second to ensure they're hostile before pressing the trigger.

Diz scans one of the drones:

Tiny starship drone
Speed 10; Maneuverability good(turn 1)
AC 19; TL 19
HP 35; DT –; CT 7
Shields light 80 (forward 20, port 20, starboard 20, aft 20)
Attack[(Forward) gyrolaser (1d8; 5 hexes), light torpedo launcher (2d8; 20 hexes)
Attack (Turret) light particle beam (3d6; 10 hexes)

Also you get a Ping of something else out there that is cloaked.

Rocket's shot just misses the drone, but Hermana's forward gun and the missles strike true. Critically damaging the ship
Due to the nature of the ships all criticals just do more damage and not specific systems)

Yellow escapes and damage this round

Green can only bring its turret to bare
Drone Turret Light Particle Beam: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Just missing due to Viper's fancy piloting.

Yellow launches a torpedo.
Drone Forward Light Torp: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
The Torpedo goes wide

Green: Shields (FPSA) 20/0/20/20 -- Hull 16/35
Yellow: Shields (FPSA) 20/20/20/20 -- Hull 35/35

Drake: Shields (FPSA) 25/25/25/25 -- Hull 85/85

???: Shields (FPSA) ??/??/??/?? -- Hull ??/??

-----------------------------------

Next round:

Init Viper: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (6) + 20 = 26
Init Drone, Green: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29
Init Drone, Yellow: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32
init, ???: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

By some twist of chance, Viper loses the edge [ooc]You move first, the Hidden thing is far a way right now

Curious D'zyliit muses to the others. Additional object in the distance. Currently unable to get a strong reading.

Would there be a check capable of getting a better lock on it/sense of what it is?

In the meanwime, as the Drake is still unscathed, the shirren begins linking the starship's telemetry readings on the damaged drone with the weaponry circuits.

Attempting to Lock On to green. If successful (DC 15+its tier+and Defensive Counters), all our gunners get +2 to target that drone this turn.

Computers to Lock On: 1d20 + 15 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 15 + 2 = 19

If the damaged ship can be kept in forward arc, hopefully we can elimiate it with another salvo. he mentions to Viepr.

A Sci Officer "scan" action will locate the hidden thing

Viper was a bit surprised to hear about some hidden object out there and was too busy looking for it she lost concentration.

She brings the ship around in a circle - making it dance.

Evade DC 19, can't fail.

This round - AC 24 TL 23

Having made the attempt at one of the drones, Thomagar switches to other one, attempting the same. He notes the presence of the other ship but waits until they know more of it.

vs yellow: taunt, bluff: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (18) + 15 = 33

Seeing the first torpedo work well, Officer Swizzers fires another to wear down the second drone.

Thomargar continues to throw the drones off. But they swing around and join up one the port side of your ship.

Swizzers does navigate the missile cleaning at the other drone doing some significant damage to its hull

Hermana only has the port side coil gun to follow up on yellow as well since green has move a fresh arc towards the Drake.

coil gun: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 10 + 2 = 32
Coil gun dmg: 4d4 ⇒ (3, 3, 1, 4) = 11

The drones both fire their forward torpedos:

Drone Forward Light Torp: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 8 - 2 = 19
Light Torp Damage: 2d8 ⇒ (6, 5) = 11
Drone Forward Light Torp: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 8 - 2 = 8
Light Torp Damage: 2d8 ⇒ (7, 2) = 9

But both missiles fail to lock on

Taunt green: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Taunt yellow: 1d4 ⇒ 2

Green: Shields (FPSA) 20/0/20/20 -- Hull 16/35 Taunted 2
Yellow: Shields (FPSA) 0/20/20/20 -- Hull 6/35 Taunted 1

Drake: Shields (FPSA) 25/25/25/25 -- Hull 85/85

???: Shields (FPSA) ??/??/??/?? -- Hull ??/??

-----

[ooc]Giving Viper one of the computer nodes

Init Viper: 1d20 + 20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 20 + 2 = 29
Init Drone, Green: 1d20 + 13 - 2 ⇒ (5) + 13 - 2 = 16
Init Drone, Yellow: 1d20 + 13 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 13 - 2 = 29
init, ???: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Viper just edges out and gets edge on the drones this round.

The drones split off as to get in different arcs of the drake.

"Point me at something and I'll blast it"

Hermena watches Viper maneuver the yellow drone drift into the forward arc, and decides to leave rocket to bring that one down. Instead she turns to the rear-facing coilguns and takes aim at the green drone.

I won't need the +2 for this attack, if someone else wants it for their attack.

Here Viper. Increasing thrusters for additional maneuverability options.

Swivelling over the the Engineering chair to Divert power to the engines

Engineering: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35
So speed is 10 this round :)

Having down what he could to confuse the drones, he turns his attention now to the crew.

"Rocket, good shooting. Keep at it and we'll take them out in no time."

Encourage Rocket for +2, Auto-Succeed Diplomacy DC15

Swizzers lets loose yet another torpedo!

Firing at Green.

Moved for Viper. There is a place where you can get in the front arc of Yellow and the port arch of Green to go on clean shields for both

Viper finds the sweet spot and the gunners each take out one of the drones. Right as they get their last shots off.

yellow
Drone Forward Light Torp: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Light Torp Damage: 2d8 ⇒ (8, 7) = 15

Green
Drone Turret Light Particle Beam: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Light Particle Beam Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 4) = 11

But Viper's flying keeps everything off.

However as the last drone falls another one appears in the distance. Green Diamond

----

Init Viper: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (11) + 20 = 31
Init Drone, Green: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25
init, ???: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

The new drone flies out towards your ship.

Excellent firing! D'zyliit congratulates the rest of the team. That should clear the path to

His thoughts are cut off as a new drone emerges. That is unexpected. And unfortunate. Perhaps that anomoly detected earlier...

Scanning for the hidden thing

Computers: 1d20 + 15 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 15 + 2 = 27

With a deft scan, Diz exposes the Launch platform. You believe you could remotely disable its ability to launch more drones next turn with "target subsystem" action.

Viper uses the boosted speed to get into a good firing position - maintaining her defensiveflying.

Evade DC 19, can't fail.

This round - AC 24 TL 23

"Did you say there's a platform launching these things? Let's blast through this drone and move there"

Hermena nods at Rocket's suggestion. "Alright then, let's bring down that remaining drone. Hey Doc," She winks at D'zyliit, "Try to put an end to that thing's launch party while we're at it!"

Firing forward coilgun, won't need +2 from computer on this check (recommend Science Officer take it to attempt to disable the platform).

Intent on clearing any obstacles to the platform, Swizzers fires again at the drone.

I think this is the fifth torpedo I've fired--I'm not sure off-hand how many it has, but this may be the last one.

Swiveling his attention to the new entrant, Thomagar repeats the ship-to-ship communications attempting to throw it off.

vs green diamond: taunt, bluff: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21

At this point we are at the lather/rise/repeat of the this encounter. They can barely hit you and you can almost kill one around so moving forward

The gunners focus on the latest drone. Another appears again before Diz is able to shut down then platform. With few more rounds of fancy flying from Viper, your ship comes out unscathed from the encounter.

As you survey the situation, Saivessa’s ship emerges from the Drift. Scans reveal caches of Starfinder equipment aboard the platform. Over the comms, Saivessa says they can secure these items and examine the platform’s launch data to find the location of the most recent drop.

Scanning Stabrisis-14 reveals that the world has a breathable atmosphere and light gravity. From the platform, Saivessa notifies you of the latest drop location and says there’s space to land nearby, about half a mile away. You make your final preparations to land and journey to the location.