As you look outside you can see chaos in the streets with a few groups exchanging fire and bystanders trying to take cover. Naiaj broadcasts that a group of vesk has attacked a nearby docked Starfinder vessel and is attempting to flee with items stolen from the Society.
Dalteno locks the till and pulls a menacing-looking scattergun from underneath the bar, then jumps the counter to run outside with several of the junior Starfinders in train, heading out to join the fray "Get in there!" he cries out joyfully to everyone as they charge out the door.
Naiaj then sends a tight message to your group "Three of the vesk have got one of our agents, Pickle, pinned down and about to over-run her position near your location. She's a small white-furred ysoki"
Dalteno and the other Starfinders from the bar begin engaging other vesk in a firefight whilst you round the corner to Pickles position. You see the small ysoki cheer silently at your arrival "Three at the end of the street! Try keep one alive for questioning if you can! I think the one in white is the leader - Get 'em!"
Speaker for the Dead undulates over to protect Pickle, and calls out in Vesk: "This one recommends honourable surrender to remedy dishonourable theft and assault!"
The group rushes forwards, Gulkyn drawing first blood!
The enemy reply in kind.
One steps in on Murg, casting rapidly as it tries to touch his armour!
Doesn't provoke
Touch 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18 vs EAC
Damage 4d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 5, 2) = 16
Another moves in whipping at Murg with a plasma lash!
Attack 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21 vs EAC
Damage 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
..also appears to begin channelling some sort of energy into himself..
The other goes after Keeper
Trick 1d20 + 13 + 4 - 20 ⇒ (9) + 13 + 4 - 20 = 6 = CR or lower tricked.
Electronic devices around keeper emit loud squawks, confusing him momentarily - and the vesk opens up with a flaming burst from a pistol!
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18 vs FF EAC
Damage 1d4 + 2 + 1d4 ⇒ (2) + 2 + (1) = 5
Despite being shot at, Speaker for the Dead remains calm. His voice amplified by magic, he continues speaking to the vesk who is shooting at him. "Wouldn't you prefer to stop shooting and tell us what this is all about?"
Casting charm person at the vesk in front of me. Base save DC is 14, but it might get a bonus if it considers itself as being threatened by us.
Will 1d20 + 4 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 4 + 5 = 18 Yeah your allies are shooting at it and the ones nearby :(
"You'll never stop us, the Keepers will prevail!" it shouts at Speaker defiantly.
Which is then questioned by Benny shooting at it (missing).
Gulkyn BARELY misses the enemy.
The Ysoki looks a bit battered and bruised but smiles at Asclepius, "I'll live, especially now you've arrived" - some injuries are evident but nothing immediately life-threatening.
Murg punches one right in the shout.
***
It replies by trying to touch him again.
Touch 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18 vs EAC
Damage 4d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 4, 1) = 12
Then guardedly stepping back. It looks seriously rattled.
The plasma lasher begins to circle Murg.
Attack 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16 vs EAC
Damage 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
..also appears to continue channelling some sort of energy into himself..
The other goes after Keeper
Trick 1d20 + 13 + 4 - 20 ⇒ (19) + 13 + 4 - 20 = 16 = CR or lower tricked.
Electronic devices around keeper once gain emit loud squawks, confusing him momentarily before the flames catch his atention...
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11 vs FF EAC
Strax slides into cover next to Pickle and casts a spell at White. Maybe the Veskarium Code for medics is 'Do No Harm except to those intending to do you harm'
mind thrust:2d10 ⇒ (10, 7) = 17 dc 14 will for half.
Gulkyn gets in and gives the vesk a surprise!
Ref 1d20 ⇒ 14
***
The wounded space wizard moves in and shoots a flaming pistol at Gulkyn.
Attack 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15 vs EAC
Damage 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
The plasma lasher begins to circle Gulkyn.
Attack 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20 vs EAC
Damage 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
..also appears to continue channelling some sort of energy into himself..
The other stays after Keeper
Trick 1d20 + 13 + 4 - 20 ⇒ (12) + 13 + 4 - 20 = 9 = CR or lower tricked.
Electronic devices around keeper once gain emit loud squawks, confusing him momentarily before the flames catch his atention...
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18 vs FF EAC
Damage 1d4 + 2 + 1d4 ⇒ (4) + 2 + (3) = 9
Strax loads a dart with enough tranquilizer to take down a horse then shoots it at White (unless White has already fallen in which case, he'll cast Stabilize))
Angry about their friend being crushed, the other vesk steps in and three Starfinder are engulfed in a flash of light.
Gulk, Murg, Speaker
Supernova
Damage 3d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5) = 10
DC11 Ref for half.
The other goes after Gulkyn
Trick 1d20 + 13 + 4 - 20 ⇒ (6) + 13 + 4 - 20 = 3 = CR or lower tricked.
Electronic devices around Gulkyn emit loud squawks, but Gulkyn doesn't care.
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23 EAC
Damage 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Undulating over to Murgatroyd, Speaker for the Dead says "This one believes that one fought bravely, and will have many exciting stories to tell! That one's wounds are severe, but this one believes it is not yet time to discover one's eternal fate." A glow envelops the android, healing almost all of his wounds!
Using my Healing Touch to restore 15 hp to Murgatroyd. Since this takes 10 minutes anyway, folks should feel free to spend RP to get back stamina. (I'm going to).
As the battle ends, Venture-Captain Naiaj arrives, casually surveying the site after jogging in from the Lorespire Complex. She quickly moves to check on the status of Pickle and the Keeper cultists
Naiaj quietly questions the captives with the assistance of an aide before standing them up and handing them off to other Starfinders to march them back to the Lorespire Complex.
Naiaj then approaches your group with Pickles in tow, "Congratulations for keeping at least one of the Keepers alive" noting Straxs work stablising the enemy.
“Such destruction.” Venture-Captain Naiaj surveys the scene, looking in dismay at the broken glass window that was once the front of the Seeker’s Respite. “We have a lot to do to make this right. Lucky for you, you’re not on clean-up duty. Our attackers were just a distraction. While you were busy fighting, another group was able to make it to a docked starship and escape into the Drift. I believe they took an artifact retrieved by our agents back to their base of operations in the heart of the Veskarium. To make matters worse, these are no ordinary thieves: I believe they are members of the Keepers of the Lie, a fringe cult whose beliefs are so ridiculous I won’t even legitimize them by telling you.”
Naiaj sighs and turns to Pickles by her side. “Thank you for your assistance. You did an excellent job retrieving the item from the contact we gave you, but we couldn’t have known that the Keepers would be waiting in ambush when you returned to Absalom Station. These Starfinders may have some questions for you, but after that conversation, you’re dismissed. I’ll be tasking these agents with retrieving the artifact, even it means going to Vesk Prime.”
Naiaj turns back from the agent. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but I’m going to need to call in a favor from an old friend—a former brutaris sparring partner of mine who happens to be the commander of the Division of Disloyal Organizations in the Veskarium. We don’t have time to get any formal approval before I send you on this mission, so hopefully he receives my request for aid in time—you’ll be able to tell by how he greets you. I’ve instructed the dock crew to start preparing a ship to take you directly to Vesk Prime.”
"The item is a datapad made of unidentified polymer, thus far unbreakable, with hundreds of files. The only unencrypted item is a detailed digital wireframe of an unknown mountainous island with a single large coastal city. The Starfinder team who discovered it had got that far, but we were bringing it back for further analysis and to see if we could crack it - perhaps the thing contains information the Keepers want"
Keepers of the Lie, known as Liars, work on the streets of the Veskarium’s many settled worlds. These agents specialize in acts of extortion, slavery and smuggling, as well as their primary missions of destroying the perceived “lie” of the Gap. Any trace of pre-Gap information is targeted for deletion or destruction by the Liars and their overseers"
Speaker for the Dead sounds shocked. "Destroying tales of lives before the Gap is akin to annihilating the lives and memories of those who voiced those tales. This one says these ones will find those ones and recover the datapad, Venture-Captain!"
Naiaj turns to Strax and pulls out her personal datapad, and with a few taps, produces a digital image: that of a younger, more colorful Naiaj grinning widely in a brutaris player’s uniform, dwarfed by an enormous, green-black vesk with a scar down one side of his face. “This is Paxel. He’s known as ‘The Dragon’ in the Veskarium. When you meet him, you’ll see why. He and I were part of a joint Pact Worlds–Veskarium brutaris exhibition many years ago, back when relations with Vesk Prime were fresher than they are now. Paxel may seem friendly but make no mistake: his allegiance is to the Veskarium, and he’ll do whatever he needs to do to protect it.” She cocks her head to one side with a quiet snort. “He’s quite vain, though he’d never admit it. I heard he’s had several interesting augmentations done as he’s aged.”
"There's a ship being prepared for you now, luckily your bags are already packed" she hands over a computer chip and a small electronic device "These will assist you to learn more about the Veskarium, although I know most of you have already been venturing into that area for a while now and no doubt already have good situational understanding"
A library chip (Culture) (Starfinder Pact Worlds 199) and a tetrad certified translator (see the Starfinder Society Guide)
CULTURE (RECALL KNOWLEDGE) OR DIPLOMACY (GATHER INFORMATION)
15+:
The Veskarium is an autocratic military dictatorship ruled by a council of high-ranking military officers. A military commander called a high despot rules each of the Veskarium’s nine major worlds. Together, they form the Council of Despots, a nine-member body that rules the entire Veskarium from the Imperial Palace on Vesk Prime. Vesk dominate the empire and make up the majority of its inhabitants. The Veskarium claims the entirety of the Ghavaniska system: Vesk Prime, the imperial capital and homeworld of the vesk; seven other planets, which the vesk have renamed and numbered based on their distance from the sun, from Vesk-2 to Vesk-8; and the immense mobile space station known as the Conqueror’s Forge.
20+:
Dozens of planets are under imperial rule, and Veskarium citizens include many sapient species, such as formians, ijtikri, kothamas, pahtras, and skittermanders, among others. Although most vesk consider themselves superior to other species, they nevertheless believe they have an obligation to care for vassals they’ve conquered and incorporated into the Veskarium. The laws of the Veskarium are strict and draconian, but standards of living are high, and most residents of the empire, vesk or not, are content with their lives and support—or at least tolerate—their government
***
CULTURE (RECALL KNOWLEDGE), MYSTICISM (RECALL KNOWLEDGE), OR PROFESSION (HISTORIAN)
20+:
The Keepers of the Lie is a vast criminal organization based in the Veskarium. It recruits from the bitter and disenfranchised by offering a unique worldview: that the universe was created after the Gap, and all history before then is an elaborate lie. The cult calls for members to cast off the bonds of family, religion, and past, and craft a new truth for themselves through smuggling, extortion, and slavery, all while working to erase any traces of pre-Gap history.
25+:
Shortly after the end of the Gap, a group of vesk soldiers and researchers on the icy wastelands of Vesk-8 uncovered a being encased in the ice. Though it couldn’t move, the entity telepathically informed the vesk they were being lied to, their entire existence simple contrivances, as the universe had been created whole cloth after the Gap. Rumors say that the mysterious being continues to guide the Keepers from within the False Witnesses, the organization’s innermost circle.
30+:
With the cult’s spread beyond the Veskarium, new voices have been added to the council that runs the Keepers. A councilor has recently been selected to represent the cult’s growing influence within Absalom Station, and rumor has it that they’ve been planning a sizable operation in order to impress the cult’s leaders and take their place among more established branches of the organization.
***
Naiaj has chartered a sleek shuttle named the Dapper Coatl to fly you to the Veskarium. Your pilot, a stoic kasatha named Halovah, greets you at the ship, polite but formal and somewhat distant "It's anywhere from three to eighteen days to Vesk Prime. You have time to buy anything you need in advance of departure. We fly in an hour"
