tt's The Elsebo Way

Game Master therealthom

"a (one) primary navigator" So, I'm assuming we pick a lead and everybody tries to assist the lead. It may just be true that those of us in the cube do NOT WANT to assist the lead, so as to avoid the complications you mentioned. An unexpected twist, that. So, the two external can roll for assists without fear. Royo gives a +2 bonus without rolling. Lorne has the best solo Int bonus, but just. Angel's right there only a +1 behind me. With Royo's bonus, I would have to roll a 4 on a D20 to succeed. With 2 assists from those outside, I wouldn't even have to roll! If we had known that, with the mindlink spell up, it would probably have been simplest just to send Lorne! Oh, well.

Never strums her fingernails against her teeth. She stares down at the other members of the team with no small amount of glee; it's the first time in her life she's had this kind of god's eye view of the "little people." Like the way mister megabucks - Iteration-77 - and his pretty golden spaceship always sneer at the hardworking types in the bowels of Absalom.

Int: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Distracted by this fantasy of misaligned proportion, Never fails to be of any help whatsoever.

Let's go ahead and roll a series of three checks. In-maze characters each roll once. Out-of-maze characters please roll three aid another's.

Int: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

Intelligence Check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

Intelligence check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

Already rolled badly once. Here are the other two.

Never watches her erstwhile companions tackle the maze without much difficulty, at least for now.

Int: 1d20 ⇒ 91d20 ⇒ 15

You guys are crushing it, even without the aids or Royo's bonus.

The party moves out of the entrance chamber. The maze seems easy enough. Every turn you take leads deeper into the maze.

Three more wins to go. I'll take Lorne's roll first; Jaeric and Zephyr have the same modifier so I'll take them in the order they post. And the aids from Never and Veda.

"How are we doing? Can anyone tell if we're making progress towards the center of the maze?"

OOC: I assume you want us to go ahead and roll now, but you're applying them in the order you listed?

Intelligence check #2: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Maze Intelligence Check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Yep…Too good to last

Yes, please on 'roll now' and I'll sort out the order.

All is not lost. You've got Royo's bonus and 2 potential aids that would put your roll over the top.

"How are we doing? Can anyone tell if we're making progress towards the center of the maze?"

...

Royo looks up at his elven friend. "We haven't hit a dead end yet. I take that as an encouraging sign."

Int Aid: 1d20 ⇒ 101d20 ⇒ 51d20 ⇒ 17

Never closes her eyes and points.

??? I KNOW I posted earlier? Must not have taken.

Int: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Yep. That's what I remember seeing for the roll!

The dread Board Monster strikes again! I've seen it many times, and experienced it personally.

Rolling Veda's aid, just to speed things up: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

The maze travelers continue to have good luck. Every choice they make seems to lead to an open pathway. Royo comments on their good fortune so far. Unexpectedly they turn a corner and their passage is blocked by a wall. Zephyr and Royo feel it first, a wave of hopelessness rolling from the obstructing wall. Jaeric and Lorne are soon caught in the miasmatic mood. There is nothing to do but retrace your steps to the last junction and try a different route.

You were doing very well. One wisdom damage to the away team. DC to move forward is now 11. Lorne is up. Everyone can roll, and I'll resolve in the most favorable order.

Int: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Of course! +2 from Royo means I need 1 of the assists to succeed.

Never leans on her arm, head in hand, and pokes at the tiny copies of her teammates.

Int Aid: 1d20 ⇒ 131d20 ⇒ 161d20 ⇒ 1

Lorne pauses at the intersection where the travelers made their wrong turn. Straight ahead had failed. He rules out left as too likely to double back toward their already trodden trail and end. That leaves two branches to the right.

Never pokes at the little figments of her companions. Lorne decides that the rightmost passage will take them farthest from her ominously looming digits and goes that way. The rest of the party trudged behind. After what feels like half a kick of marching they reach the room in the center of the maze.

A trinary star system—a place you instinctively know to be the Scoured Stars—floats in the center of the room. Many of the planets around the three stars grow green, representing an abundance of life.

Suddenly a dark presence, felt more than seen, descends on the room and hungrily encircles the stars. One of the worlds pulsates with a golden aura that continues to grow. Eventually, this vast golden shield covers all the worlds of the region. The clawing darkness recedes.

Time passes, generations come and go in the blink of an eye. Gradually, the golden shield lowers. Soon after, eight groups of ships, their shapes too intangible to make out, depart into the cosmos beyond. Each fleet travels through the void on a different path. The home of these eight fleets soon goes dark, and over the coming generations the last vestiges of life in the Scoured Stars disappears.

Eons later, eight small objects hurtle out from the lifeless planet that summoned the shield. Each object, a relic of immense magical power, follows the course of one of the previously departed groups. The objects disappear along their trajectories, and the vision abruptly ends as the worlds of the Scoured Stars fade to black.

Royo watches intently. When the history play has run its course, he speaks excitedly. " The shape of the relics sent out at the end of the experience are reminiscent of the object found by the lost First Seeker Jadnura. I had the opportunity to see and handle it when he consulted me about it. That object kindled his desire to enter the Scoured Stars, and it was the sour that ultimately led to the incident that crippled the Society. With additional research using star charts available here on Athaeum, I may be able to track the path of the relics.

It could be the key to returning to the Scoured Stars!"

"Or, more importantly," Jaeric interjects, "The key to returning those who ventured there and were lost to us. Instead of rebuilding the Starfinder Society, we could simply reclaim our resources and missing agents. Let's talk to Albryan about accessing the Athaeum's star charts and see what more we can bring back to our colleagues...in addition to the memory I'll be able to share of this place."

Discussing the ramifications of what they've seen, the party begins their descent. They retrace their steps past the myriad mundane, interesting , and odd resources in the Tower of the Oma.

Suddenly a small flying clockwork drone, roughly a foot wide, whizzes into view and rapidly approaches. A holographic projection of Albryan the Curator emerges from the top of the drone and begins to speak.

“Starfinders, I am glad that I have reached you. The Order of the Pyre Hellknights who accompanied you to Athaeum have destroyed the lore wardens in a nearby tower and are burning one of our most ancient book collections! We have more wardens on the way, but they will arrive too late to save our books. Please, hurry to the Tower of the Ellicoth and stop the Hellknights from causing further harm! If you do so, the Curators will waive your research fee entirely and offer whatever assistance we can!”

Royo straightens up. "This is another opportunity to save the Society resources that it can ill afford to spend. I urge you to accept the offer. Meanwhile I will continue our research on the star maps. Do you agree?"

Never rolls her head. "I'm all for bashing bozos who burn books, but these Curators are information terrorists. As in, they seek out and destroy copies of the stuff they have and punish those that have it, so I don't actually feel bad at all about this. And like, the Hellknights were on that ridiculous ship with us, and yeah, they were grumps, but I'm guessing they have their reasons. My instinct is to trust them over the Curators, but I don't have any problem going over there to ask them about it."

Never is happy to lead the way, but is not inclined to fight.

This feels like one of those situations where you get a point of infamy if you don't do the "right thing." Sometimes the Society really galls me. They do a good job of creating complex characters and then shuffle us into binary choices about how to deal with them.

"Let's go and investigate at once!" responds Zephyr. "What collection are they burning?" he asks out of curiosity, wondering what books would incense the hell knights so.

"Didn't like those Bozos anyway."

"We know the curators of Athaeum are keen on having the only recorded copy of various books," Jaeric recalls aloud, "So, if these Hellknights are burning one of their collections, it must be because there's something they don't want anyone to know...like, ever. So, yeah, I think we put them down, save whatever's left, and endear ourselves to these curators so we can foster continued goodwill between them and the Society." He then leans a bit closer to Never so only she can hear. "And...avoid funding their activities with any more of our money."

The half-elf then checks the ammo in his slugthrower to ensure he has a full clip before nodding to the hovering drone. "Lead us there, and make sure you notify the lore wardens that we're allies and not to be fired on..."

"That's cute, Jaeric, but I don't care about the money. I'm sure the Curators don't blink an eye at whatever fee they've levied. They probably just figured it was an appropriate amount based on what the Society is able to pay, but look around, they don't need it. We've been relegated to servants since we landed on planet. We should tell them to f$%* themselves and fix their own problems. We had a deal and the Hellknights aren't part of it. The Society expected to pay for this information. Aren't we as agents more valuable than any fee?"

Despite her now-public thoughts on the matter, Never continues toward the source of the trouble.

"Follow me," the Albryan drone spins on its vertical access and speeds back up the stairs of the Tower of the Oma.

Royo scurries along with the party for a short distance. "Miss Stormfox, time is of the essence here, else the information in the books be lost forever. Please do your best to stop the Hellknights. I will be happy to debate the merits of our respective cases later. Desna smile on you all."

Wheezing heavily, the old ysoki patters to a halt then turns around and walks toward the stone rail-car.

The drone leads you back up five flights of stairs, then across a bridge to a second tower, up more flight, and so on through two more towers and onto a last bridge. A set of stone double doors is at the end of the bridge. Just before the doors narrow hallways lead along the perimeter of the tower to the east and south.

"That is the Tower of the Ellicoth."

Please position yourselves on the bridge in the northwest corner of the map on slide two. Make your preparations, and let me know how you want to proceed.

Once the group has prepared themselves, Never throws open the doors and strides in directly. She would see what the Hellknights were really doing; she wasn't going to be pressured by Royo or anyone else. If it was as bad as the drone said, then all bets were off.

Zephyr strides in alongside Never, Artillery Laser at the ready and fully recharged, ready for whatever comes next.

Standing next to the captain, Lorne waits for the combat specialists to start the breaching maneuvers.

Kicking in the door!

The smell of petrol and smoke fills the air here. Cracks and blast marks pit the floor, all of which surround a gaping hole in the wall. A stone control console covered with metal dials rests in the center of the room. The floor-to-ceiling glass windows to the southwest overlook a library filled with shelves, flames, and billowing smoke.

Scorch marks from fire and explosions scar the floor ceiling and walls. A small hole in the northeast wall of this room, and scattered mechanical pieces of lore wardens on the floor are testimony to the violence that has already taken place here.

Only a small creature could squeeze through that hole.

The floor groans unsteadily under Never's and Zephyr's feet.

The two hellknights in the room both whirl to face you. One had been leaning against the stone console; the other, standing foursquare looking down into the library. Now facing you, they both raise the rifle-like nozzles of their flame throwers.

Initative. Jaeric's up.

Jaeric (-1 RP)

Red

Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-1 RP)

Blue

Zephyr (_1 RP)
Veda (-16 SP)

Engineering: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Never almost laughs. Flamethrowers, she thinks. Good choice.

She is about to jump into the fray when she observes the condition of the room; the floor is compromised, and likely won't take another blast, which may play into their hands if things get a lot worse.

"Watch your step!" she shouts to the others while pointing at the vulnerable areas of the floor.

Engineering DC15 (must roll - really?): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32

"Grenade should drop the floor from beneath 'em."

Engineering check: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Even without Lorne and Never pointing out the dangerous floor, Jaeric recognizes the compromised structural damage the Hellknights have already inflicted. He gestures at the bigger of the two enemies and shouts, "Go get'em, guys!"

OOC: Jaeric uses his Get'Em envoy ability as a move action.

He then intones a quick prayer to Desna similar to the one he used on the errant lorewardens in the other tower. A bright blue-light shaped like a butterfly appears and streaks toward the same Hellknight to distract her aim.

OOC: Jaeric uses a standard action to cast wisp ally and provide covering fire (+2 AC) to anyone the red Hellknight attacks this round.

Jaeric targets and distracts the hellknight behind the console.

The hellknight (red) doesn't stand idle. He or she, it's hard to tell exactly what's beneath the spiky armor, takes a step forward and levels his, or her, flamethrower at the party. A sheet of flame plays out toward you and engulfs the party.

Jaeric is shielded by his brave companions.

Never, Zephyr, Lorne, and Veda each take 4 points of damage.

The Hellknights bark something harsh at each other.

Never flips her hair back, pissed that her eyebrows are singed. There's a strong smell of accelerant that's a real turn-off.

"I woulda preferred to talk it out, but now we gotta kill you."

The next time she opens her mouth, a blast of extreme cold air floods the far end of the room, enveloping the Hellknights.

Dragon Gland, Wyrmling (Cold): 3d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 6) = 12 Ref save DC 15 for 1/2

Then she runs between the two of them and jumps on top of the computer terminal, taclash at the ready.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

I don't speak infernal, but this was my plan before your post. Not metagaming!

Entropic Pool = 2

The dwarf frowns as the fire washes over him, but he focuses on the one to his left (Red), getting his exocortex to lock onto the target before he fires his skipshot pistol at the target.

Move: Combat Tracking Mark Red
Standard: Attack

Skipshot Pistol w. Get 'em vs KAC: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 1 = 20
Piercing: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Never breathes icy death. The right hand Hellknight goes down, clutching his chest.

Then the vanguard charges between the two hellknights and seizes the high ground.

Lorne's shot pings off the Hellknight's armor. But bruises him through it.

Initative, Round 1/2. Zephyr Veda and Jaeric are up.

Jaeric (-1 RP)

Red (-14)

Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-1 RP)
Zephyr (-1 RP)
Veda (-16 SP)

Zephyr winces as the fire washes over him, then aims his artillery laser and fires a pair of coherent light lances at the remaining hellknight.

Artillery Laser Full Attack vs EAC: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 9 - 4 = 23
Fire Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Artillery Laser Full Attack vs EAC: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 9 - 4 = 22
Fire Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Zephyr's lasers punch through the Hellknight's breastplate and back. The fight's over before it's even begun.

And the library's on fire. Now what?

"Quickly, who is good with computers? Are there any fire suppression systems on that console?" calls Zephyr as he moves carefully into the room searching for more mundane fire alarms that might be present.

"Don't know, yet, lad. Let me look, will ya?"

Lorne trundles over to the console, leery of the floor, but recognizing the need for speed.

"Now, what have ya got for ol' Lorne . . .?" The dwarf uses the keyboard if he musts, jacking in instead if the system is configured for it in the interest of speed.

Computer: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17
Well, I though Lorne was good with computers . . ..

While the nerds in the party futz with the computer, Never recharges her super breath and steps within range of an area of burning library.

"There's three parts to fire," she explains as if anyone is listening. "Oxygen, fuel, and heat. Take any one away and--"

She blows another blast of supernatural cold air onto the flames and hopes for the best.

1 RP to recharge the wyrmling gland. If that works, she can do it 3 more times.

Map updated. Lots of fire hotspots (red squares). I like Never's idea, but I don't think you have the range to reach any hot spots from the hole in the control room wall. You'll have to go down into the library proper via one of the spiral stairs in the corners. Do you want to run off alone to try? ~DM drools slightly~

The console has been damaged by the Hellknights, and Lorne has to improvise a bridge to jack in. Once he does, he that the console did control climate and fire suppression for this part of the library. He'll need a little more work to figure out whether he can recover any of the systems.

17 won't cut it. You can take more time for another try.

Through the glass windows, well they are so large you might almost consider them glass walls, you can see the stacks of the floor below:

Fire and smoke fill this immense room. A long and mazelike trench is carved into the floor of the room, brimming with gray mist. Shelves line the walls of the trench, filled with rows of ancient parchments and tomes. The trench forms into a rough circle in the room’s center, creating a small island with three bookshelves standing atop it. The twenty-foot-high ceiling of the room mounts three large spray nozzles, each attached to a clear drum-sized canister containing blue foam.

In the center of the room, Loomarch is pulling books off the shelves on the island and feeding them into his burning maw, revealed since he has removed the lower helmet and gorgette of his armor. Two burning dogs stalk the stacks, pawing books from the shelves.

You can also see the heads of two Hellknight fanatics sticking out of the mist-filled trench. Through the languidly siwlring mist around them, you can see that they are engaged in removing books and carrying them to the fires.

Of course it couldn't be that easy.

"Anyone got a grenade? We can just blow the floor here and drop into the room. Save a lot of time."

How far of a drop is it to the lower level?

Loomarch labors on, apparently oblivious to you.

Ceilings in the library are 20' high. I'm going to say it's a 10' drop to the library floor.

”As fun as that sounds,” says Zephyr as he grabs a grenade from one of the fallen hellknights, ”There is a good chance that will wreck whatever fire suppression remains to be had from this control unit.”

”I’m thinking Lorne should continue to get the fire suppression underway, and I’ll take the fight to the hellknights…Who is with me?!” calls Zephyr, preparing to rush off to the nearest stairwell unless someone has a better idea…

Seeing what Zephyr just picked off one of the Hellknights, Never grabs the last incendiary grenade for herself. Though not experienced in its use, she guesses Zephyr is probably right, and a grenade here would likely take out the control unit and everything else in the room.

So is the wall already compromised so that we could just step through it and drop down into the larger room below? The stairwells are going to take a few rounds to navigate through. Seems like a lot of time wasted just running.

"Even if we get the fire suppression systems going, we'll still have to take out Hellknights and whatever they've managed to summon down there," Jaeric surmises as he assesses their tactical options aloud to everyone. "Lorne? Definitely stay here and get the console working so we can put out the fires. Everyone else? Let's get downstairs and start giving those Hellknights something else to think about. They're in heavy armor and carrying some serious weaponry. So, let's stick together and concentrate fire to put them down one at a time, if we can. Northeast stairwell looks like the shortest route without blowing the floor. Never? Zephyr? Lead the way. Veda? Watch our flank in case anything circles behind us."

As the team moves out, Jaeric touches his comm. "Lorne? You should have a good vantage point from that glass window. Once you get the fire suppression going, call out any tactical options you see, and then snipe anything threatening us. If you think you can hustle downstairs to join us, let us know you're on the way."

Nodding at Jaeric’s wise strategy, Zephyr runs off to the northeast stairwell and prepares to engage the enemy!