(Outpost IV) GM Quirk's Frozen Ambitions: The Preluria Connection (Inactive)

Game Master Quirk, Private Eye

The enemy driver (another shobhad, but she is wearing a white lab coat), can only attempt to maneuver around the ginormous potholes that Karpo created in front of her (It seems fair that she'll have to give up her standard action).

Kaath remains on the enemy vehicle.

Time to drive! You are on a busy starport highway, and you must do the EVADE action this turn. This is a DC 12 maneuver. Should you fail, you'll take 3d4 damage to your vehicle. Success gives you vehicle +2 AC for the turn.

Evade, enemy van, with penalty from Karpo's witchwarping ways!: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 7 - 2 = 23

-Drivers-
1. Boris
2. Yellow (Sorah Ka)

-Everyone Else-
1. Kaath (standard action)(-10)
2. Dr. Phlonxx
3. Boris (possibly only standard action)
4. Shobhad Security (Blue) (dead)
5. HFG-5-309
6. Seska
7. Karpo
8. Sorah Ka (yellow, possibly only standard action)

Still reeling from the prior hit, Kaath moves to the driver.

Stop this vehicle NOW! There is no reason for further bloodshed this day.

He will ready to strike if she attacks.

Dr. Phlonxx readies to mind thrust II the driver if she becomes visible.

piloting: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Boris, trying to stay close to the other van as it evades the new potholes barely evades a parking barrier.
"Oh my, it is getting busy here..."

He then yells over at the other driver one more time.
"You got lucky there but my friend in your van will change your luck quickly if you don't stop. If you have the brain cells left to see logic..."

I will Dispiriting Taunt you a second time, intimidation: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

Kaath, to your utter horror, the shobhad security guard at the back of van picks himself up off the floor, brandishes his weapon, and attacks you! Perhaps this is an effect of the drug.

to hit: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
damage, B: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
That's a hit!

Boris, you think you might be getting under the other drivers skin. Though she continues to stay behind the total cover of her van, she shouts back awkward insults like "I know you are, but what am I."

Kaath and Dr. Phlonxx, she is not in view, and hasn't acted yet.

Bold may go.

-Drivers-
1. Boris
2. Yellow (Sorah Ka)

-Everyone Else-
1. Kaath (standard action)(-21)
2. Dr. Phlonxx
3. Boris (possibly only standard action)
4. Shobhad Security (Blue) (dead)
5. HFG-5-309
6. Seska
7. Karpo
8. Sorah Ka (yellow, possibly only standard action)

Kaath turns in severe pain and even more shock as he reels from the hit.

Not sure if he still has his readied action? Assuming yes...

Kaath turns in severe pain and even more shock as he reels from the hit.

Not sure if he still has his readied action? Assuming yes...

You do.

"Kaath, look out!"

Too late, HFG sees the reviving shobhad lurch toward her fellow Starfinder. The android reactivates the laser and fires.

Rooftop laser gun v giant enemy shobhad: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20 ... damage: 1d8 ⇒ 8

Boris, you think you might be getting under the other drivers skin. Though she continues to stay behind the total cover of her van, she shouts back awkward insults like "I know you are, but what am I."

Boris smiles and yells back "Oh! How witty! Want to stop and talk about it? I'm game!"

This has been fun. Boris is usually the outgoing 'nice guy' but after a few games with a character named Vyecmuraf, who was all about the insults and intimidation, he realized that could be fun as well! :)

"Is the driver 12?"

As soon as I ask that, the Shobhad in the back of the truck stands up and strike at Kaath.

"KAATH!"

"Blast it!"

Laser Pistol: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

In his last thought, the shobhad considers the following excerpt from the work of a famous shobhad bard:

"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life."

Then he dramatically falls of the van and on the side of the road, quite dead from the final shots coming from Seska and HFG.

MEANWHILE, the shobhad driver pulls off the side of the road and into very soft sand where her van becomes stuck. Boris, to his credit, is able to get quite close before your becomes stuck as well.

Please see the new slide (#4). This is NOT the slide that the adventure uses for the end of this encounter. Please don't call the Starfinder police on me! This one makes more sense, and uses the brand-new Alien Planet flip tiles.

The enemy shobhad hops out of her van, brandishes a pistol, and fires at Kaath (who has some cover being on top of the van).

to hit: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

That's a miss. Everyone but Kaath is still in your van. There's plenty of doors for you to bail out through, so there won't be any additional actions to get out (just move your token up to your speed as appropriate).

Bold may go.

1. Kaath (-21)
2. Dr. Phlonxx
3. Boris
4. Shobhad Security (Blue) (dead)
5. HFG-5-309
6. Seska
7. Karpo
8. Sorah Ka

Karpo jumps off the van and fires a quick shot at the shobhad.

skipshot pistol: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Seska quickly crawls out of the van and fires a shot.

"If you had just said no to drugs, we probably wouldn't be in this situation.."

Laser Pistol: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Damge: 1d4 ⇒ 1

"And you call youself a doctor. Where are your ethics."
Dr. Phlonxx runs out of the van and hits her with his last mind thrust II
DC 15 will: 4d10 ⇒ (7, 4, 4, 3) = 18

Seeing his friends fanning out to engage and help Kaath, Boris leans his head out of the window and attempts to prod the guy one more time...
"Geez, your driving is SO bad you got us both stuck in the mud! You really did get your license from a vending machine, didn't you!"

intimidate: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
However, this time his heart just wasn't in the effort...

HFG digs Jenny out of her pack and tosses the drone into the air. The drone shoots vertically upward, wheels a tight 360 and darts off toward the enemy, firing its laser.

Retreive drone. Jenny moves as shown. Jenny attacks.

Ranged laser pistol, azimuth (tiny) v EAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9 ... damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3 critical Burn 1d4; -)

Kaath yells Are you MAD! he is still angry at the fallen companion of this driver.

He moves to slam her with his solar weapon.

solar: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 for 1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 1 = 5

Confirm

solar: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17 for 1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 1 = 5

will save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

The shobhad scientist dies in a hail of gunfire, magic, and one nasty hit from Kaath's solar weapon.

That's it! We're out of combat. Tomorrow I will make a post wrapping things up. Spoiler alert: sadly, the body of the guy you were looking for is in the back of their van. No, there was nothing you could to stop this. They'll be grateful to you for recovering it. There are other things to be discovered in the back of that van as well.

Kaath looks down upon the bodies.

The cosmos had not been kind to those who sought destruction. Clearly their minds were not right.

Boris exits the van, shrugs at Kaath. "Could just be the bad drugs... A mess either way."

The Dr. Checks over the fallen scientist fairly certain she is dead.
"This kind of illegal activity gives the profession a bad name, not to mention the complete lack of ethics. I'm glad we stopped this, but I wish we had taken her alive so we could find out who she was working for and hold her accountable for all this" *sigh*

"Perhaps there is more data available back at the lab. With time we may be able to crack any computers or comm units we find after a more thorough search."

Boris nods at HFG.
"Ah, very true! We did leave in quite the hurry."

"One can follow the money. These guys always leave a money trail and someone will talk if proper witness protection be arranged." Karpo ponders confidently

With Sorah Ka and her bodyguards defeated, you have time to search her delivery van. It’s packed full of laboratory equipment and crates. The crates contain both unrefined shimmerstone and ampoules of kinwood sap.

Other crates contain enough finished shimmersheen to
power a small army (to be clear, this is the drug the shobhad guards were on, and that they seemed to have been creating and distributing out of the warehouse you were just at).

Stuffed halfway into a broken crate is the lifeless body of Firiz,
the Xystrian agent. A quick examination reveals that he died from a broken neck more than a day ago, but that the body is remarkably well-preserved by cold and is beginning to thaw.

You can load up the goods into one of the vehicles and drive back to the spaceport, where they can transfer the cargo to their shuttle for the return journey to Xys.

You pilot the borrowed shuttle back to Xys without further
excitement. Makao collects the body of the deceased agent with
reverence and thanks you for your efforts in returning his
Brother to their world.

Unless you have any further questions or business with Makao (he does do a credit transfer, which is reflected on your incoming chronicles sheets), you enjoy a tranquil trip
back to the Pact Worlds. You do notice an interesting headline in local infosphere news feeds after leaving the Drift, buried in a host of mundane weather and financial reports:
“Robotics lab suffers massive data loss.” The report provides no
additional information except that the facility affected is located
somewhere in the Vast.

Back at the Lorespire Complex, Ehu debriefs all of you after
a few days of analysis and closed-door discussions with other
Society leaders. He explains that the Lorespire Complex’s labs
discovered or confirmed that the raw materials recovered from
the laboratory and shipment are shimmerstone and kinwood sap,
though the sap displays variations in appearance and molecular
structure different from any other sap samples their technicians
have encountered before. Ehu also elaborates on the nature of the shimmersheen serum and reassures you that most of the shipment has already been destroyed, with a few samples kept in the Archives and sent to the Stewards. Ehu comments that the shimmersheen’s similarity to an experimental serum recovered on Zrulik-3 is too great to be a coincidence.

The First Seeker informs them of his plans to
investigate further, beginning with a trip to Ghorus Prime, the
only known source of kinwood sap. He tells you to
be patient while leadership prepares for the mission, and that
they’ll be in touch.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
The PCs complete their primary objective if they find the body of
the missing Xystrian agent. Doing so earns each PC 1 Fame and 1
Reputation for their selected faction. COMPLETE!

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES
If the PCs complete at least three of the following five objectives,
they complete their secondary objective and earn 1 additional
Fame and 1 Reputation for their selected faction: recover
Firiz’s comm unit without damaging it, identify and collect a
shimmerstone sample, identify and collect a kinwood sap sample,
locate the hard drive in area B2, and successfully complete the
chase in Event 2. COMPLETE!

FACTION NOTES
The Second Seekers faction (Ehu Hadif) takes particular interest
in this adventure.
Second Seekers (Ehu Hadif): This mission is of major importance
to the First Seeker. If the PCs complete the Primary Success
Conditions, each PC earns 1 additional Reputation with the Second
Seekers (Ehu Hadif) faction.

The cosmos has delivered us to our destination intact. Well done, team.

"Indeed, I will be interested in that expedition to Ghorus Prime when it is ready to depart. I'd like to see this through."

"Agreed. I believe we did the best we could. I am also interested in tracking down the source. Perhaps I will see some of you on that trip."

"If you need technical assistance, contact me."