tt's The Elsebo Way

Game Master therealthom

Never's breath has extinguished all flames within 15 or 30 feet of her current position. She can supply the exact number. Lorne can very accurately estimate the trench depth as 5 feet. You could see the hellknights' heads above the mist. You can see stairs on the map at the ends of some trenches.

The trenches are lined with shelves and builtin cabinets that hold more scrolls, books, tablets, Etc. Many are sadly empty where the hellknights were working.

Never's breath has extinguished all flames within 15 or 30 feet of her current position. She can supply the exact number. Lorne can very accurately estimate the trench depth as 5 feet. You could see the hellknights' heads above the mist. You can see stairs on the map at the ends of some trenches.

The trenches are lined with shelves and builtin cabinets that hold more scrolls, books, tablets, Etc. Many are sadly empty where the hellknights were working.

To explicitly answer Never's question. It's a DC 5 check to jump the trenches. Lorne just rolled poorly. Walking or jumping through flaming hot spots will cause you damage.
Lorne, the dice are just not treating you well. You can dare the flames or try to climb out again. It's only 5 feet. I'll say it's only a single move action to climb out.

Just a point of description that you get as the first to experience the flames this closely.

Jaeric and Veda are up.
Status/Initiative Round 4 middle : A lot going on last round. Check my stats calcs for your PC, please. Bold to go.
Purple Hound (-27)
Yellow Hound (dead)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-11 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+7 HP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-0 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-20 SP) (-4 RP)

I'll give Jaeriv and Veda another day before botting them.

Jaeric uses his comm to speak to everyone on the team. "I'm fading fast, guys. Veda's not looking too good either. We've got to take out Loomarch and that last hellhound. I'm not sure if they're drawing strength from the fire or something else, but either way, we need those fire suppression systems to save the books and dampen our opponents." He then calls upon Desna one last time to give everyone the best fighting chance he can.

OOC: Jaeric spends his last Resolve point to do another Healing Channel as a full-round action. Every ally within 30 feet receives...

Healing: 2d8 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3 hit points back

"Then shoot the reservoirs. Punch a hole in 'em!" Lorne answers back over Comms.

The dice have turned on all of you. This could get ugly.

Jaeric makes all of you feel a little bit better.

Veda straightens up and strides after the hound, looking for a target. She stops and fires through the gap in the stacks. Plasma arcs and the hound yelps softly.

Loomarch looks at Lorne trying to scrabble out of the trench. "Just stop. I'll even help you out of the trench and you can just leave us to our work."

Status/Initiative Round 4 middle : A lot going on last round. Check my stats calcs for your PC, please. Bold to go.
Purple Hound (-31)
Yellow Hound (dead)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-8 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+10 HP)

Loomarch

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-0 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-20 SP) (-4 RP)

Shrugging, Zephyr fires at the extinguisher nozzle above his head to see if it will douse the whole area with foam.

Artillery Laser (Penetrating) Attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
Laser Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

If that works, he will move towards the center of the room.

"Work?" Never mocks. "Did you train for this? Did you take a book-burning seminar? I hear those are really popular."

Never draws her taclash and hugs the wall approaching Loomarch. Maybe he thinks he's being tactical, hiding behind flames and all. She just whips his ass from the other side of the trench.

Beginning Entropic Pool: 6

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 crit = +1 Entropic Pool

Using 3 entropy points to boost damage, x2 for crit

Damage to Loomarch: 2d4 + 14 + 6d4 ⇒ (2, 1) + 14 + (2, 1, 3, 1, 3, 2) = 29

"How about you just stop and we won't finish killing you."

Ending Entropic Pool: 4

Hearing her taunts, Loomarch crams the two books in his hands into his maw and turns to face Never. Her whip catches his arm, and somehow nearly pulls off his armor from the shoulder down.

He clutches at it before it hits the floor and pulls it back into place. "You'll pay for that."

Very nice roll. That could save you all.

Zephyr's laser punches through the shell of the extinguishers tank. It explodes; the blue gel inside changes to foam, and expands to cover the walls and floor and people within 30 feet. This foam is cold! You start to shiver and exposed skin freezes.

2 cold damage for everyone except Lorne. Fires are out inside the light blue boxes.

Status/Initiative Round 4 almost over : Lorne to go.
Purple Hound (-31)
Yellow Hound (dead)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-8 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+10 HP)

Loomarch (-29)

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-0 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-8 SP)
Never (-20 SP) (-4 RP)

"Now, Ah do 'preciate the offer, don't want ya ta misunderstand that. But, doesn't seem like the way I'm supposed to be making this go."

The dwarf takes a moment to extend niceties to the book burner who was extending some to him.

He turns and points his pistol at the reservoir for the extinguisher opposite the one his companion just ripped open. Gonna look the fool if this don't work.

Tactical skipshot pistol: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Piercing: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

My money's on the weapon's too weak and he looks the fool.

Then he scrambles up the wall closer to the extinguisher.

Athletics: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (18) - 1 = 17

Lorne's shot ricochets off the canister and leaves behind a dent with a small hole. A pencil thin stream of escaping gel condenses water in the air. It looks like escaping steam, then changes to a fine thin crystalline snow.

Not quite a fool; your gun let you down. You just need more damage.

A yelp and motion to his left causes Lorne to look down. Barely twenty feet away, the burning dog circles in pain and stops. It is looking straight at him. Two quick bounds and it's on him. Snapping, and burning.

Yikes! 19 hp of piercing and fire damage

[/ooc]Status/Initiative Round 5 after dog : Bold are up. [/ooc]
Purple Hound (-31)
Yellow Hound (dead)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-10 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+8 HP)

Loomarch (-29)

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-2 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-18 SP) (-9 HP)
Never (-22 SP) (-4 RP)

As Lorne scrambles his way out of the trench, the hound comes over and wraps it's muzzle around the dwarf's left leg, ripping armor, clothing, and flesh as it shakes it's head without letting go, the way dogs do.

"Ahhh!" The cry of pain and alarm is hard to miss, even over the roar of the fires. "So much fer yer offer o' just lettin' me be! Call of yer beastie!"

I said previously that your SP/HP numbers for Lorne were off. What I think they are is in my status line. I'm pretty sure that's right, though when I looked there were 2 points taken I didn't find the source for. So either 11 or 13 HP left. Lorne's in pretty deep.

So tempted for Loomarch to reply, "That's not my beastie." I think you're right; 13 hp for Lorne. That was a savage attack. The dogs are no joke.

With the flames extinguished, Jaeric moves into the trench to take cover from anything new Loomarch might unleash. He also trusts in Never's combat prowess to take on the Hellknight, but prepares to back her up in case things go from bad to worse.

"Zephyr? See if you can circle around Loomarch and take him from behind. Keep shooting those fire-suppression cannisters along the way and maybe we can save this place..." Jaeric suggests over the team's comm. "Veda? Check on Lorne. Sounds like he's busy with another of those hellhounds. Hang in there, buddy! Help's on the way!"

He then raises his handgun above the lip of the trench and fires multiple shots in an attempt to hinder Loomarch while Never hopefully takes advantage of the distraction. "Go get him!" he encourages the vanguard.

OOC: Jaeric uses a move action to slip into the trench for some cover. He then gets close enough to Loomarch to use harrying fire on him so Never can hopefully gain a +2 bonus on her next attack.

Harrying Fire vs. AC 15: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Unfortunately, the dice continue to hate Jaeric right now.

Veda drops into the trench and charges toward Lorne. A few steps take her to the stairs where she rises from the mist like one of her ancient saurian ancestors stepping onto land from warm fog-shrouded lakes. The mist seems to cling to her and trails crookedly in the vortices of her wake. Passing the wall of the stacks, she steps to her right, levels her bolter and fires into the back of the hound.

tactical plasma bolter v Hound EAC: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 .. damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10 E & F; unwieldy)

...

"Ahhh!" The cry of pain and alarm is hard to miss, even over the roar of the fires. "So much fer yer offer o' just lettin' me be! Call of yer beastie!"

...

"Surely a hellhound is no match for one of the mighty Starfinders!" Loomarch's reply is blind arrogance, because he keeps his attention focused on Never. Even Jaeric's shot doesn't phase him. He twists the nozzle of his flamethrower to concentrate the stream and fires it directly at the vanguard, But she nimbly curves her body to avoid the worst of the flame.

Pyre-class flamethrower: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (9) + 15 = 24 ... damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 F; critical burn

Status/Initiative Round 5 after Loomarch : Bold are up.
Purple Hound (-31)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-10 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+8 HP)

Loomarch (-29)

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-2 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-18 SP) (-13 HP)
Never (-25 SP) (-2 HP) (-4 RP)

As Loomarch's flamethrower rakes across her she realizes it could have been a lot worse. With the flames extinguished, she slides laterally down the wall and then jumps the trench to get partial cover behind the stacks.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Beginning Entropic Pool: 5

From behind the charred remains of the stack wall she whips at Loomarch again with her taclash.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 ;) crit = +1 Entropic Pool

Using 3 entropy points to boost damage, x2 for crit

Damage to Loomarch: 2d4 + 14 + 6d4 ⇒ (1, 2) + 14 + (3, 4, 1, 3, 4, 2) = 34

Ending Entropic Pool: 3

The flames have made her extra focused, and she scores another brutal hit on Loomarch. "You did not just mock the Starfinders and then get your ass whipped again!" she shouts over the hissing of the emptying fire suppression canisters.

Never's whip finds the gap between helmet and breastplate. The armour bound devil's helmet tips backward, releasing a gout of flame that reaches to the ceiling. He lurches back, grabs his helmet in both hands and returns it to the proper place on his shoulders.

Yikes! Another crit. Never is rocking!

Status/Initiative Round 5 after Never : Lorne and Zephyr are up.
Purple Hound (-31)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-10 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+8 HP)

Loomarch (-63)

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-2 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-18 SP) (-11 HP)
Never (-25 SP) (-2 HP) (-4 RP)

Geez, he's still standing. GM, you've got Never's HP and SP switched around. She should be at -27 SP out of 33, and 25 HP.

"Hey Jaeric, can you spare one of those talented fingers of yours and hit me with some healing?"

The unhappy dwarf takes a guarded step away from the dog, wishing he had a bigger weapon, before turning and firing at the extinguisher reservoir again.

Bookcase provides cover. Right? I hope so. If not, well . . ..

Tactical Skipshot Pistol: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Piercing: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Cover 'til it chases you. Zephyr's up.

Lorne's shot hits the ceiling beside the cryo-tank.

"Hey Jaeric, can you spare one of those talented fingers of yours and hit me with some healing?"

"All I've got left is a medpatch and a healing ritual they taught me at the Desnan monastery a long time ago," Jaeric laments, "And, unfortunately, both take a lot longer than a simple spell." He clutches his side as he tries to catch his breath. "But...on the bright side...if you manage to bring him down and fall comatose in the effort, I can at least stabilize you and save you from dying."

OOC: In game terms, Jaeric has spent all his Resolve points on healing channels and all his spell slots for the day. He can still do a healing touch, but it'll take 10 minutes.

Zephyr takes aim at the fire suppression unit over the most fiery books and shoots!

Artillery Laser: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11
Penetrating Laser Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

(See question in discussion for Zephyr's preferred target if available)

Jumping over the smoky channel, he comes up behind Loomarch and threatens him with his sharp bayonet!

Athletics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-1 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 2/10

Zephyr's shot also goes wide. It vaporizes a small bit of ceiling next to the chip from Lorne's slug.

The hellhound bounds after Lorne. It rises up in a lunge toward his face.
It's jaws snap at his throat. They don't close on the jugular but a long canine snags on the collar of Lorne's armor and ploughs a jagged red furrow in his flesh.
9 hp

Status/Initiative Round 6 after Hound : Bold are up.
Purple Hound (-31)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-10 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+8 HP)

Loomarch (-63)

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-2 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-18 SP) (-20 HP)
Never (-25 SP) (-2 HP) (-4 RP)

With Loomarch having edged around the bookcase, Jaeric rushes back upstairs, leaving the trench and circling around on the other side to keep it between him and Hellknight. He then fires a shot at Loomarch.

Ranged attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

"Bloody H***! This ain't goin' well o'er here!"

Jaeric's shot is wide.

Veda's gaze follows Zephyr to the right while the android engages Loomarch. Lorne's call yanks the vesk's eyes back to the left. She lumbers forward to help the dwarf and fires point-blank at the burning dog. The plasma bolt slams directly into the dog's side, causing the creature to yelp, and twist away from Lorne, but the damage isn't as extensive as Veda hoped. The hound snarls at the vesk.

In twisting away from Jaeric and Never , Loomarch ends with his back to the bookshelf. His eyes flash left, attracted by Zephyr's motion and Veda's bulk. He swings his weighty gauntlet backhanded Zephyr's head, but the nimble android ducks. The gauntlet gouges the metal shelf where Zephyr's head had been.

Status/Initiative Round 6 after Loo : Bold are up.
Purple Hound (-38)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-10 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (+0 SP) (+8 HP)

Loomarch (-63)

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-2 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-18 SP) (-20 HP)
Never (-25 SP) (-2 HP) (-4 RP)

Figuring another solid strike will separate Loomarch from his mortal coil, Never goes for the kill.

Full Attack 1: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 - 4 = 4 Damage: 1d4 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
Full Attack 2: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 - 4 = 17 Damage: 1d4 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Ending Etropic Pool: 3

Zephyr grits his teeth and shudders at the near miss. Stabbing straight ahead with his bayonet, he tries to pierce the hellknight in a crease of the fiery creature’s armor.

Bayonet Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Bayonet Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-0 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 3/10

Never's whip scores the end of the book case. (That's v KAC, correct?)

Recoiling from his missed strike, Loomarch bats aside Zephyr's bayonet.

Remember fires inside the light blue rectangles have been extinguished.

Never's whip scores the end of the book case. (That's v KAC, correct?)

Nope, Entropic Strike targets EAC. For what it's worth - and I have not been doing this - I can choose to have the damage dealt as either acid, bludgeoning, or both, if it matters, and it probably does. It's also considered magical.

Never's second attack cracks open the flame devil's armor. A plume of flame shoots upward and mushrooms on the ceiling. It leaves Zephyr startled. A little singed, but unharmed.

The dwarf takes another guarded step back away from the flaming mongrel. "Thanks, Veda. Cin ya dance wit' him for a minute? Please?"

Lorne points his handgun at the dog, again, wishing this would be easier than it has been.

Tactical Skipshot Pistol: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Piercing: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

With Loomarch going up in flames, Zephyr pivots and fires at the fire suppressor over the most of the flaming books, saying, "Nice work, Never!" He then runs over to try and help Veda with the hellhound.

Artillery Laser attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19
Penetrating Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Zephyr's shot punctures the staorage tank and the pressure of the contents splits the rupture wide. Blue cryo foam explodes across the room, dousing fires and freezing our heroes.

2 points of cold damage to Lorne, Zephyr, and Veda.

Re-adjusted Zephyr's position to have line of sight to the extinguisher. Added another light blue box showing extinguished fires.

Had some trouble with Paizo. Please replace last post with this one.

Loomarch's armor falls in pieces to the floor. Zephy readjusts quickly and his shot punctures the storage tank and the pressure of the contents splits the rupture wide. Blue cryo foam explodes across the room, dousing fires and freezing our heroes and the hound.

2 points of cold damage to Lorne, Zephyr, and Veda. Added another light blue box showing extinguished fires.

The hound snarls and launches itself at Veda. Its jaws clamp on the vesk's arm near the armpit. Blood spurts from between its teeth. Veda goes down and the hound looks up and snarls at Zephyr.

Status/Initiative Round 7 : All are up.
Purple Hound (-41)

Jaeric (-21 SP) (-10 HP) (-2 RP)
Veda (briefly in dying protocol,-- stable and unconscious )
Loomarch (so dead)
Zephyr (-27 SP) (-4 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 1/10
Lorne (-18 SP) (-22 HP)
Never (-25 SP) (-2 HP) (-4 RP)

Stepping protectively over the bleeding Veda, Zephyr says, "Sometimes you just have to put a mad dog down," and jabs at the last foe standing.

Bayonet Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Bayonet Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Zephyr (-27 SP) (-1 HP) (-3 RP) fast healing 4/10

Seeing that Loomarch is out of the picture, Jaeric dashes around the trench and past the control room rubble until he catches sight of Zephyr defending Veda's lifeless body from the attacking hellhound. He draws a bead with his hand gun and fires from a few feet away.

Ranged Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

With the dog otherwise engaged, Lorne finally has a chance to set his exocortex for target lock . . ..

Tactical Skipshot Pistol w/ Target lock: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 1 = 25
Piercing: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Well, at least he hit the darn thing this time!

Never advances and throws her singing disk at the last hellhound.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20 Damage: 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9 sonic

Then she calls it back to her hand.

Zephyr's bayont thrust serves to fend off the hound, but nothing more. Worried about hitting the android, Jaeric's shot is wide to the other side. Less conservative, or maybe more desperate, and Lorne puts his slug in the hound's side. It twists to face the dwarf and snarls again. Then Never's disk crashes into its head. It tumbles to the ground, dead. IT's flames begin to consume it.

Noises behind you. The clump of metallic boots. The whoosh of small gas fire extinguishers. The Lore Wardens have arrived.

Lorne looks about, before sitting down against the bookcase. "Gimme a minute. I need to rest a bit before we go running off for the next surprise. If you can get me up ta go, I mean."

Never rushes back to Loomarch's pile of armor. She attempts to cobble it together and drag with her, and will fight anyone who tries to take it away from her.

Zephyr immediately kneels and pulls out a serum from his belt, feeding it carefully to Veda in an attempt to save her life.

Serum of healing: 1d8 ⇒ 1 hp back to Veda.

Jaeric crosses the trench to join Zephyr in looking after Veda. "I can lend a hand," he offers, "A healing ritual maybe for her and Lorne to help mend the worst of their burns. I can tend you, as well, if you like...

Jaeric uses his healing touch ability, taking 10 minutes for each of his companions to restore 10 hit points apiece.

"Thank you Jaeric, I am fine. My nanites are repairing my systems as we speak. I could use some diagnostic time to reset my servos, though," he replies, though he moves to help put out any remaining fires before he turns to rest and listen to the arriving Lore Wardens.

The first Lore Wardens on the scene continue their fire suppression activites. Soon all the flames are extinguished and they turn to salvaging fragments from the ashes, very gently lifting each scrap and laying them on some kind of polymer sheeting.

Several minutes later, Albryan arrives with Royo and different model of warden. This one has medical supplies and is capable of aiding medical treatments if mundane care is required.

The ysoki scholar has news. While researching more information in the Tower of the Oma, Royo discovered that one of the dispatched relics would have entered the system where First Seeker Jadnura first discovered it.

Royo believes he’s traced another object that hurtled into a distant star system in the Vast. He apologizes that any other objects of a similar design appear to be untraceable based on the available records. Still, this is a major find for the Society and a huge leap for uncovering the mystery of the Scoured Stars. Royo posits that finding another of these objects could help the Society enter the currently inaccessible system.

Albryan thanks the PCs for their assistance in defeating the Order of the Pyre a. As a token of appreciation, he waives the entire fee for the research mission and provides Royo with a sealed tome containing instructions on how to visit the Athaeum in the future. Similarly, the Curators recognize the Society’s likely need to reproduce this information to rescue their lost agents, and grants the Society a measure
of immunity in replicating the key data they need in order to complete their ongoing mission.

As a final, somewhat cryptic statement, Albryan confides that Athaeum hasn’t seen Starfinders in many years and that the Curators hope to continue working with the Society now that they’ve decided to return from their long silence.

The Curators are most grateful. Royo has a clue for a future adventure. Full points on victory conditions. Well done.