Starfinder Fly Free or Die Solo Campaign

Game Master Clebsch73

Scherzo fires her next pulse of plasma at Morgar. The sizzling ball of energy clips her in the shoulder, giving her her first wound.

Orion rose again, still in a fighting frenzy. He was too far from Morgar to attack her right away so he edged closer, gripping his doshko menacingly.

Shasta lived up to her nickname of The Ghost by slipping out of Spirzaer's field of vision and stabbing him with her knife. He was dripping blood and nearly out of options.

Map at end of round 5

Emersohn cracked his club into Spirzaer's head and the drow thug finally fell.

Seeing all her gang defeated, Morgar surrendered. The fight was finally over.

Scherzo ordered Orion to keep his weapon ready in case Morgar tried anything dangerous. Then she turned on Cecil. "You tricked us you little snip! Explain yourself!"

Cecil told a tale that seemed to Scherzo to be about half true, how he was trying to make enough credit to get off the planet, a few of his schemes fell through, and money he had borrowed from Morgar was owed. He had a deal with a small time smuggler and when he went to the warehouse for a transaction, the smugglers had all been killed by something that left nasty, acid filled wounds. Cecil recognized the work of the crate fiends and was working on a way to get the crates over to Morgar when Horizon tried to arrest him.

Scherzo looked through the files on Morgar's comm unit and in a small computer. It became obvious that she was a vicious predator who did horrible things to those who could not pay her high interest loans. Scherzo decided to forgive Cecil so long as he left and didn't come back.

She collected the valuables from the dead or unconscious gang, tied up Morgar and Breck, and they made their way back to the ship to sort through what they found.

On the ride back to the freighter, Benny channeled healing energy that took away the remaining wounds.

After Benny healed people, Zeph used a spell to clean the blood off fabric and armor.

Once back at the freighter, people took showers and got something to eat before going to sleep. Orion stayed up and kept watch for a while and when he retired, Emersohn got up to continue the watch. By morning, everyone had slept and felt much better.

Shasta claimed the black armor the group had collected from the bounty hunter, and Scherzo took his decoupler pistol. The drow gang members had semi-automatic pistols that were claimed by Orion, Zeph, and Benny. Zeph also took the witch's battle staff.

The cargo was not due to arrive at the ship until 12 hours after everyone woke up, so some of the crew went on a shopping trip. They sold the items they had collected from the gang and divvied up the credits that resulted. Everyone got about 500 credits to spend. Weapon shops were plentiful on a planet that specialized in arms production, so it was an easy matter to pick up extra ammo and batteries. Orion claimed the sopranino singing disk that the witch had forfeited and he got a weapon fusion to make it return after being thrown. He and Emersohn invested in some grenades as well.

Scherzo got some spell gems, which she had learned how to utilize, even though she could not cast spells.

Zeph got an augmentation to her voice that allowed her voice to be amplified. She demonstrated later in the day and turned out to have a lovely singing voice.

Benny picked up a synth pipe, a musical instrument that allowed him to play instruments similar to woodwind and brass instruments. He too gave a brief performance.

Thus was the beginning of the musical group. Orion admitted he enjoyed drumming, although he had no drumset and admitted he was not very talented. Still he promised to use the next infusion of cash to get an electronic drum kit to help keep the beat during jam sessions. In the meantime, he would improvise with containers on the ship. Not wanting to be left out, Shasta demonstrated some pretty smooth dance moves. Zeph too was a good dancer. Only Emersohn showed no interest in performing, although he enjoyed the music that resulted.

Come evening everyone was back at the ship and the promised cargo was delivered and stored in the two cargo holds. Scherzo signed the receipt papers and Zeph collected the coordinates for the delivery site.

They fired up the power unit and headed out to orbit to plan the jump to the drift.

The jump to the drift went smoothly, and the trip to Voxha only took two days. The crew filled the time by having jam sessions, showing off their new purchases, and getting to know each other better. The events of the past few weeks had encouraged the start of friendships.

The music and socializing did not eliminate the apprehension they all felt about the nature of the delivery. Tarika had wondered aloud, when she was explaining the job, that it was odd that an martial organization like the Gideron Authority would need a special shipment of weapons by a small time freighter. Since they all needed a well paying job, they did not jinx the operation by discussing these matters.

The freighter emerged into normal space near the planet Vohxa. Before leaving Aucturn, Zeph downloaded some information on the planet, which everybody studied during the trip. It was a strange world, cold but supporting an ecosystem. Humans, Dwarves, and Shirren had occupied the planet in order to mine valuable minerals. The already inhospitable world became polluted as well, driving the sentient inhabitants to build residences largely underground. When hobgoblin ruins were discovered on the planet, gave the Gideron Authority an excuse to invade. The residents were no match for the militant hobgoblins and since then, the residents were largely enslaved. Few reports were available about the current situation.

The crew agreed they should be on the lookout for ways they could help the subjugated residents without jeopardizing their delivery payment.

As soon as the ship was detected by the Gideron Authority, a starship fighter approached and scanned the ship to determine the content. Scherzo gave the ship the information she had received that identified the source of the shipment and to whom it was supposed to be delivered. After a few minutes, the fighter told the crew it was cleared to land at Labor Camp 1120, and it provided the coordinates, along with a warning about not deviating a course to this destination. Shasta delivered the ship to the designated landing site.

As BD514 descended through the clouds toward its destination, signs of war and conflict quickly became apparent. Blast craters and wrecked vehicles pockmarked fractured highways, shattered stumps of smokestacks rose from shut-down factories, and the tracks of hobgoblin war machines crisscrossed the countryside. Labor Camp 1120 came into sight: a large rectangular compound nestled against the foot of a mountain, surrounded by high walls and spiral wire, accessed by a single enormous gate and protected by multiple guard towers with gun emplacements. A flat landing area with several parked vehicles had room for BD514.

A cavernous mine entrance led into the mountain. The camp had several rugged, prefabricated buildings, as well as a large collection of plastic shelters that looked like they provided little protection from the cold mountain air. Hobgoblin soldiers patrolled or guarded locations throughout the camp, but most of the population consisted of dwarven, human, and shirren prisoners, including some children.

In the time it took Shasta to shut down the ship and make sure the air pressure inside matched that of the air outside, a group of five hobgoblin soldiers were trudging toward the ship.

Scherzo stood by the airlock, ready to be the first out to handle the negotiations about what to do with the shipment, Zeph asked, "If you'll allow me to, I'll cast a spell that may make your job a little easier."

Scherzo raised an eyebrow at the request, but nodded. Zeph concentrated and a moment later, Scherzo felt as if a warm breeze of fresh air had blown over her, although there was no evidence of actual movement of air. She wasn't sure what the effect was, but she felt subtle changes in her self-confidence.

"It's called charming veneer, and it should make others a bit more responsive to your already considerable set of charms."

Scherzo blushed a little at the complement, but she thanked Zeph.

Scherzo led the group out of the air lock and onto the planet surface. A female hobgoblin officer strode forward waving a datapad, a squad of troopers at her back. “What are you doing here? This camp is not cleared for civilian access!” she said in a shrill voice.

Scherzo spoke in a chipper voice, as if the hobgoblin, whose uniform identified her in common as Quartermaster Siib, had just given them a warm welcome. "Good day, quartermaster. I'm Scherzo Vivacissimo, captain of freighter BD514, here to make delivery of 50 tons of cargo sent by Lord Sinjin of Aucturn. Our orders are to deliver it here to Commander Vash."

As she spoke, Scherzo sent the shipping manifest to the Siib's datapad.

Siib looked over the communicated data but did not seem mollified. “You can’t unload 50 tons of personal armaments here,” the officer insisted, gesturing around the camp. “Look around you! This is a prison labor camp! Do you think it’s a wise idea to put laser rifles and frag grenades a few yards away from this desperate swarm of vermin?”

She gestured toward the dwarven, human, and shirren prisoners in threadbare and sometimes tattered clothing, hiding inside cheap plastic shelters or shambling in and out of the mine entrance under the close eye of Gideron guards. Some eyed the starship curiously while also trying to avoid the attention of the soldiers. “We don’t even have a place to store them!”

Without batting an eye, Scherzo replied, "I understand your concern. However, as you can see, the shipment was ordered by someone in your organization and was quite specific in designating this labor camp as the delivery site. We will fly back without leaving the weapons and I'll let the Gideron Authority know the reason you gave for refusing shipment. I hope they won't punish you too severely."

The quartermaster said, "Wait! Let me check with the Commandant."

She walked out of earshot, leaving her soldiers to watch the crew and ship. She had a short conversation in the goblin tongue and returned.

"I'm not authorized to accept delivery here. We have an armory just up the mountain, and a couple of trucks. I can spare some soldiers to drive one of them, but if you want your credits, you’ll have to take the other. Wait here for the trucks."

Siib stomped off toward one of the Gideron Authority compounds to make the arrangements for the truck.

Scherzo called after Siib, "We could save you the work and just fly the cargo to your armory!" Siib did not respond.

While they waited for the trucks, Scherzo kept a casual eye on the prisoners she could see from the ship. In the short time it took for a pair of heavy hovertrucks to pull up, she observed several disheveled and emaciated prisoners ask a guard something, holding out empty mess trays. The guard took out a taclash and drove the prisoners away with several stinging lashes of the electrified cords.

Once the two trucks were positioned near the freighter, the crew began to transfer the crates to the trucks. The hobgoblins assigned to drive the truck did not help with the transfer, instead gambling some distance away, awaiting the crew to complete the loading operation. After a few hours of work, one of the trucks was loaded.

"Help!"

The shout cut across the area as a shirren prisoner ran in panic into the area from a nearby pen that housed hobgoblin attack beasts called hobhounds. The prisoner had been assigned the job of feeding large quantities of meat to the animals. A moment of weakness caused the shirren to flee, which provoked all the hobhounds to bolt from their now open enclosure and scatter across the main prison yard, attacking anyone they came upon. Right behind the shirren running toward the crew were three such beasts.

The hobhounds were four feet tall at the shoulder and weighed 200 pounds. They had a mouthful of teeth and tufts of hair grew along their backs. They were snarling as they ran with saliva dripping from their open mouths. Two had almost caught the fleeing prisoner, with a third trailing a bit.

Orion was closest to the beasts. He was not carrying his doshko, but he did not need a weapon to inflict lethal wounds. He shambled closer, his fighting frenzy kicking in. He hit the closest hound and left a line of deep claw wounds.

Benny acted quickly, using his mind to hurl a nearby rock at the hound next to the one Orion had walloped. The rock sailed over their heads to clunk against the side of the freighter. Benny then retreated to the side of the prisoner to see if he was injured, leaving the close combat to those who were better at it.

Scherzo gave out cry of surprise, but she reacted quickly, moving over by one of the trucks to get a clear shot, drawing her decoupler as she went. She aimed at the one Benny had missed with his rock and fired. The plasma hit the muscular beast on the left haunch. "What in space are those?!"

The third hobhound bounded up to attack Orion. Before he got a chance, however, Orion took a swipe at it with his claws and wounded it. The oversize rodent was not deterred however, and it bit Orion. It did not break the bear's skin, however.

Emersohn ran forward, drawing his Subzero pistol as he went. When he got up next to Zeph, he fired his pistol at the same one she and Orion had wounded, hoping to take it out of the fight before it could do any harm. His aim was good and his ice projectile hit the beast's heart and killed it.

Map after round 1

Both of the remaining hobhounds attacked Orion. They were hard to defend against and both bit the soldier, drawing blood this time.

Seeing Orion bitten by the fierce beasts, Benny advanced to where he could touch him and channeled some energy into him, healing of almost all the wounds the hounds just caused. "Fight on, big guy! We've got your back."

Shasta tries to get to a new position and surprise one of the beasts with a semi-auto pistol shot, her target was aware of her and her shot went low.

Zeph shifted until she was about five feet from the closest Hobhound and unleashed a new spell she had just mastered. She drew heat from an adjacent dimension and concentrated it into a searing blast that swept over both beasts while just missing Orion. They were not ready for the attack which burned their flesh and burned away the little ridge of hair along their spines.

This should have occurred just before Benny's action above.

Orion roared and tried to hit each hobhound with his mighty claws. But the creatures were elusive and he did not hit either one.

Emersohn activated his exocortex to track the nearest hobhound. But his pistol shot went wide.

The hobhound who first bit Orion continued his aggressive attacks and again bit into the bear. Thanks to Scherzo and Benny, however, he was able to shrug off the worst of it and keep fighting.

The second hobhound broke off his attack on Orion to rush at Shasta. It bit her, pinning one arm to her body and holding her fast. Then is shook her from side to side like a puppy with a chew toy.

Orion tried to swing a paw at the hobhound gripping Shasta, but he underestimated the distance and his claws swished through the air harmlessly.

Benny tried to help Shasta too, but he directed a mental attack at the beast, overloading the creature's brain with a barrage of damaging energy. The creature suffered but did not drop Shasta.

Scherzo's attention also shifted to the crew pilot. She called out, "Hang in there, Shasta! We'll kill the brute!" Shasta felt the effects of Scherzo's words, grateful for friends ready to come to her defense.

Then Scherzo moved along the side of the truck to get a clear shot with her pistol.

Shasta drew her knife and tried to stab the creature holding her fast, but could not get a good swing.

Zeph drew electrical energy out of her pulsecaster pistol with a spell and tried to touch the hobhound to discharge the energy into it, but she couldn't manage to touch it.

Emersohn's combat tracker helped him aim a shot on the same hobhound that Orion, Shasta, and Zeph had just tried to hit. His ice bullet hit the hound's side.

The hound on Orion bit him again. Orion was starting to look in trouble.

The other tried to bite into Shasta, but it only managed to squeeze some of her breath out.

Orion swiped at the hound biting him, but missed. His frenzied fighting style finally overtaxed him, and he was forced to fight more carefully and with less energy.

Benny crept around the side of Orion and drew spell energy into his hand, which glowed like he was holding a handful of blue light. He reached over and tapped the hobhound attacking Orion and the creature reacted as if a huge club had just crashed into it, throwing it sideways and killing it. "Ya owe me one, mate!" he crowed.

Scherzo angled down south of the hobhound with Shasta in its big mouth and sent a blob of plasma at it, but she aimed wide, worried she would hit Shasta.

Shasta wriggled furiously and managed to dislodge herself from the mouth of the hobhound. "Bad puppy!" she yelled at it, as she stood ready to attack it with her pistol and knife.

Without having to worry about discharging her handful of electric charge into Shasta, Zeph tapped the hound, saying "Tag! Your dead!"

The electricity surged through the creature and put it down for good.

As Scherzo ran to check on the shirren the hounds were initially chasing, Benny applied the last of his spell efforts to Orion. It did not completely heal the soldier, but it was better than it was.

Emersohn looked at Orion's wounds but could not do much except clean the wounds and let them heal naturally.

Scherzo found the shirren prisoner shaking with fear, even though the hobhounds had been killed. A few other hounds had gotten out and some were being dealt with by guards. "Are you all right? What happened."

The shirren's name was Xoben. Hesh had been ordered to feed the beasts, but had panicked and ran, which only made the beasts chase. Hesh had not been injured, but Scherzo could see hesh was underfed.

The soldiers assigned to drive the truck up the mountain to the armory finally sauntered over to see what was going on. When Scherzo explained, they started to haul off Xoben.

"Wait!" Scherzo called after them. "Hesh did nothing wrong! It's those beasts you need to discipline."

"Don’t waste your time showing pity on these pathetic specimens,” the troopers shot back. "All they’re good at is rushing out of their hidey holes when we least expect them, snatching what they’re after, and disappearing again. We’ll soon exterminate them."

Scherzo ran after them. "Why don't you let hirm go? We've almost got the trucks loaded and you'll make the weapons delivery late."

The soldiers shrugged and one said, "We could get back to our game, unless you want an excuse to avoid getting cleaned out."

They let the prisoner go and hesh fled back to the plastic shelters, hoping to avoid further notice.