tt's The Elsebo Way

Game Master therealthom

Never, you could full move to climb down and jump to the ground at the end. I think I said the trees were 35' tall. "If a character deliberately jumps instead of merely slipping or falling, the damage is the same but the first 1d6 is nonlethal damage. On a successful DC 15 Acrobatics check, the character avoids taking damage from the first 10 feet fallen and converts the damage from the second 10 feet to nonlethal damage."

LOrne is really good at supporting fire.

Zephyr moves over to Never and says, ”Hand me that glaive—the Dragonkin appears to be resistant to my laser. Let’s use the trees for cover and rejoin the others.”

Moving to the trees for cover from Farvenzi’s gun after getting the glaive: planning to retaliate with the glaive if the dragonkin gets into close combat.

At the end of her climb, Never attempts to fall gracefully to the forest floor.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

She manages to get the most out of her powerful frame and lands on her feet.

She looks at Zephyr sideways. "Can you fly?" Never asks in response to his demand. There's no way she's giving up her hard-won prize.

Jaeric moves up halfway between Lorne and Sparky's position to try and keep the pressure on Spinjack. "Just hold still you flying monkey!" he grouses as he takes another shot.

Ranged attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10 (clearly a miss)

”Not with this gear,” answers Zephyr.

Zephyr and Never join forces under the forest boughs. Lorne harries Spinjack, but Jaeric can't capitalize on the dwarf's tactics. Sparky meanwhile tries his rifle against the ryphorian. Sparks fly and strike Spinjack.

Spinjack touches down and opens up on Sparky. Farvenzi swoops to the east to set up a cross-fire on the ysoki. Sparky jokes back a groan, then cries out, "I need some help here!"

Initiative, you're all up.
Zephyr
Never (31 damage)
Lorne
Jaeric
Sparky (15 HP left)
Farvenzi (26 damage)
Spinjack (62 damage)

”Let’s move,” says Zephyr, moving quickly west and drawing a bead on Spinjack. Coming into range with his Artillery Laser, he releases a careful blast of coherent light at the injured foe.

Artillery Laser (120’ range) Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29
Penetrating (6) Laser Damage: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (8, 3) + 5 = 16

The action having moved away from Never, she scrambles toward her teammates.

Difficult Terrain, 2x move.

Jaeric moves up to cover Sparky, trying to cut off Spinjack's angle on the ysoki. He stands tall and fires another shot at the ryphorian.

Ranged attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13 (I'll assume that's a miss, too.) :(

Actually finally looked at the map . . .. Looking back over the posts, I see that I said Lorne crawled out of the speeder on the 29th, so I moved him out of the speeder to match where he should have been, and then moved him a standard move action (Difficult terrain) for this turn.

Lorne works his way toward the target, continuing his harrying fire.

Tactical Skipshot Pistol w/ Combat Tracking @ Spinjack: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 1 = 22

Zephyr lines up a shot on Spinjack. The android can take real satisfaction in seeing the ryphorian stagger and clutch at his chest where the laser penetrates his armor.

Spinjack is looking pretty tarnished and ragged now.

Never tries to close up ranks but it's slow going in this terrain.

Lorne gets off another shot while maneuvering to a new vantage point.
Lorne and Never, only the woods are difficult terrain. You might have a few extra squares of movement in the open ground.

Jaeric misses again, but manages to get between Spinjack and Sparky.

Sparky drops prone behind his rifle and sights in on Spinjack. The ryphorian takes another shot to the chest.

Spinjack switches targets and reels off two shots at Jaeric. One is wide, but the other catches the adventurer in the knee.

Farvenzi sideslips and fires on the eastern pair of Starfinders. Miraculously the long stream of bullets flies around and between Jaeric and Sparky without doing any damage except to the landscape.

Initiative, you're all up.
Zephyr
Never (31 damage)
Lorne
Jaeric (10 damage)
Sparky (15 HP left)
Farvenzi (26 damage)
Spinjack (62 damage)

Zephyr keeps up the pressure on Spinjack, loosing a pair of artillery laser shots at the foe.

Artillery Laser Full Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Laser Damage: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (5, 3) + 5 = 13

Artillery Laser Full Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Laser Damage: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (8, 4) + 5 = 17

"Hang in there, Sparky! Help's on the way!" Jaeric tries to encourage the wounded ysoki even as he winces in pain from the stinging shot to his bruised knee. "Aaaagggh! Son of a..." He then reaches down to touch his companion, intoning a soft prayer to Desna for healing strength. "No one's going to die on my watch, you hear?"

OOC: As a standard action, Jaeric spends a Resolve point to use channel healing on Sparky, restoring... 4d8 ⇒ (5, 5, 2, 5) = 17 ...hit points.

He then points at Farvenzi before the dragonkin can open fire again, encouraging his companions to bring down the flying beast. "Shoot that thing down!"

OOC: As a move action, Jaeric uses his envoy improvisation Get'Em against Farvenzi. That should grant everyone a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls against it.

Never hustles in the direction of Spinjack.

Run, 4x move. How high is he off the ground?

Lorne moves up, getting closer to the team, but is confused at Jaeric switching targets on him. Uncertain of what should be right, he tris to hit the designated target despite having the other marked.

Tactical Skipshot Pistol @ Farvenzi w/ Get 'em: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 1 = 7
Piercing: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Oh, COME ON! Too funny not to laugh, ain't it?
Still target locked on Spinjack

Zephyr laces a shot past Lorne that passes through Spinjack's hand clutching his chest and burns more vital organs. The ryphorian maintenance chief screams breifly and falls on his face.

Jaeric stops Sparky from bleeding. "Thanks, Jaeric!" The ysoki rolls away, pops to his feet and fires on the dragonkin above.

On the move and focused on Spinjack, Lorne can't find his aim at Farvenzi and his shot goes wide.
Laugh so you don't cry.

Never, Spinjack landed a round or two ago. Now he's really well grounded. Since Zephyr shot him before you posted, you can repost if you wish. Or maybe you want to knock him in the head to make sure he's not playing possum.

Never was still too far away before this current turn to do anything. Would have had to run to get where she is.

Never draws the dragonglaive while she runs toward the body of Spinjack. She knows not whether the ryphorian is alive or dead.

"Farvenzi! Surrender, or I'll cut Spinjack in half with your own blade!"

Farvenzi swoops down with incredible speed. "I'll kill you, soft-skin!" Never has no time to make good on her threat before the dragonkin lands nearly on top of her, tries to block the glaive with her rifle, and literally tries to bite Never's head off. No armor's perfect and a tooth scores a bloody tear near Never's temple. Clawed hands try to seize Never's arms.

Glaive's got reach. You're owed an AoO on the way in.

13 points of damage for Never. I guess everyone's up.

Seeing Farvenzi goaded into landing and attacking Never, Jaeric leaves Sparky to rush to her aid. As he moves thru the snow, he stretches out a hand towards the sky, calling upon Desna to deliver a sliver of starlight from the heavens to arm him.

OOC: Jaeric draws upon his solar connection epiphany as part of his move action to create a solar weapon in his hand, and then he sets up a flank on Farvenzi.

He looks for an opening in the dragonkin's flaring wings, trying to slash across her back.

Solar Weapon melee attack: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 2 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8 slashing damage

Bite attack! This thing never stops coming!

Never barely gets the weapon around before the dragonkin tries to decapitate her with it's teeth.

AOO, Dragonglaive: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 8 + 1 = 20 S&E so hits EAC?
Damage: 2d8 + 11 ⇒ (5, 6) + 11 = 22

On the plus side, she's never been told she has soft skin before, which feels like a compliment.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

Never catches Farvenzi's desperate call immediately before the attack.

"Let's finish this b%!%*! She's got reinforcements on the way!"

Never will hold her action until after her teammates go - any buffs or healing would be appreciated!

Never will hold her action until after her teammates go - any buffs or healing would be appreciated!

I've set you up with a flanking bonus on your attack. Sadly, I don't have much in the way of buffs...though I could do another Get'Em to grant a +1 attack bonus...and I can do a channel healing, but that'll only help your hit points, not your stamina.

Never Stormfox wrote:

Never will hold her action until after her teammates go - any buffs or healing would be appreciated!

I've set you up with a flanking bonus on your attack. Sadly, I don't have much in the way of buffs...though I could do another Get'Em to grant a +1 attack bonus...and I can do a channel healing, but that'll only help your hit points, not your stamina.

Thanks, that helps. I'll need the hit points soon enough. The bite attack can kill me in 2 rounds! I assume you also took the flanking bonus for yourself this round?

Also, I after two rounds of full moves + the damage taken, Never's Entropic Pool = 8. That's about to come in handy.

Realizing his Artillery Laser is of little use against the dragonkin, Zephyr races across the snow to join in the battle, but it takes all his effort to just get there, so he does not yet have an opportunity to attack (double move).

Bite attack! This thing never stops coming!

...

Hey you wanted her mad and fighting you in melee. Mission accomplished! :-)

You've still got to hit KAC with the glaive. The damage just gets split between the two types.

Never's strike with the glaive get deflected by the dragonkin's rifle, but she's knocked back. Her wings flail to regain her balance and they strike Jaeric's forearm as he winds up for his own blow, spoiling his attack.

Zephyr closes the distance. He's near enough to engage in melee.

Never still has her regular turn available. You'll get the benfit of flanking.

With her teammates surrounding the dragonkin, Never raises the glaive and brings it down on Farvenzi with all her strength.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 2 = 25

"Block this!"

She channels her entropic energy into the blow.

Entropic Strike Damage: 1d6 + 11 + 5d4 ⇒ (5) + 11 + (4, 1, 3, 2, 1) = 27 Acid

Entropic Pool: 3

The dwarf scrambles up the hill and gets into a better position to either shoot the dragonkin or heal Never if she gets really hurt.

I need a 12 on the die to Treat Deadly Wounds as a Standard Action . . .. Got nothing for SP, though, just HP.

Never's blow dashes the machine gun aside and crashes heavily into the dragonkin's chest.

I've got time to post now. In the interests of speeding things along I'll post Farvenzi, before Lorne for this round. Lorne gets 2 turns worth of actions next round.

Farvenzi sidesteps away from the approaching Starfinders and closer to Spinjack. She grabs at Never again to hinder the vanguard's strikes. She twists her head, opens her fang-filled mouth and snaps at Never again. Her jaws close on Never's neck. The vanguard can feel her armor buckling, squeezing on her throat.

Cautious step to avoid AoO. The whole grabbing thing is just description -- no game mechanics. 16 points of damage from bite.

Sparky doesn't dare take a shot through Jaeric and Zephyr. The ysoki takes her cue from Never's warning and looks around for the reinforcements. "Behind us!"

Indeed behind you three Frozen Trove security guards struggle to cross the explosion-created ditch. One gains his feet on your side.

Initiative, you're all up.
Zephyr
Never (60 damage, 34 hp left)
Lorne (2 rounds of actions)
Jaeric (10 damage)
Sparky (32 HP left)
Farvenzi (53 damage)
Spinjack (down)

Heh. Must have posted while you were typing. The scramble was a double move, so, that was a full round's worth of actions.

Lorne reaches into his bag, pulls out a medpatch and places it across Never's exposed skin on her neck, since he has an elevated position compared to her, trying to perform a quick, professional repair of the mechanics.

Medicine (Treat Deadly Wounds) DC 25: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23

FAILS!

Zephyr circles around behind Farvenzi and uses his powered armor fists to pummel the dragonkin from behind.

Powered Armor Strike: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 10 + 2 = 23
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d10 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Never takes a guarded step of her own to keep flanking with Zephyr.

"I've been waiting for you to get in my way," Never continues to taunt the dragonkin even while it tears at her. She has absolute faith in her teammates - if she can just stay the focus of Farvenzi's wrath long enough...

"Let's see how you like the cold, fire breath!"

Never opens her mouth and blasts a jet of super cold air over the dragonkin.

Dragon Gland, Wyrmling (Cold): 3d6, 15 ft. cone, Reflex Save/half at DC15

Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 4) = 13

Point of origination of the cone is upper-left, aiming north. The cone will hit Farvenzi and Spinjack but not Lorne or Zephyr.

With Never and Zephyr now engaging Farvenzi directly, Jaeric evaluates his options. He notes Lorne's failed attempt to treat Never with a medpatch and holds off on trying to strike the dragonkin so he can focus the power of Desna once more. "Keep us all in the fight," he prays as his mind mail armor manifests a butterfly symbol near his neck.

OOC: Jaeric spends another Resolve point to perform a second healing channel as a full-round action. This should heal all his allies within 30 feet...which should get everyone, I believe?...while excluding all enemies. The effect heals... 4d8 ⇒ (3, 6, 7, 1) = 17 hit points.

Sorry, I keep forgetting. Never has a Mk1 Electrostatic field, so Farvenzi should be taking damage when she hits in melee.

Electrostatic field: 1d6 ⇒ 2

You mentioned it earlier. I forgot too. Farvenzi hit twice.
Electrostatic field: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Figures when I roll damage against myself...

Lorne tries to heal Never, but the medpatch must be old. It doesn't work.

Zephyr circles left to get behind the dragonkin and punches her in the kidneys. She whips her head back to look at him and tries to snap, but mher jaws close on empty air and she turns her attention back to Never.
I think you moved 10' to get there. That will fetch you an AoO.

Never unleashes her cold breath. Even at these close quarters, the big dragonkin is nimble enough to twist her head and neck out of the way. She avoids the worst of Never's breath...

... This should heal all his allies within 30 feet...which should get everyone, I believe?...while excluding all enemies. The effect heals... 4d8 ⇒ (3, 6, 7, 1) = 17 hit points.

Excluding all enemies? Man, that's almost like cheating. :-(

... then Farvenzi rears back. Never can see light streaming from behind Farvenzi's teeth. Then the dragonkin thrusts her head forward and opens her mouth, but not to bite. Fire spills out and over Never and Lorne.
Wow, only 18 points of damage. Ref save 15 for half.

Sparky meanwhile engages the approaching guards. His gun sparks twice.

The guards are all across the ditch and moving up. Their guns spit fire back at Sparky.

Initiative, you're all up.
Zephyr
Never (12 SP, 39 hp left, save pending)
Lorne (save pending)
Jaeric (0 damage)
Sparky (42 HP left)
Farvenzi (84 damage)
Spinjack ( stone cold down)

Reflex Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8 Ouch!

Never is properly doused in flame, her eyebrows are singed clean off. She slices at their deadly foe with the dragon glaive again.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 8 + 2 = 11

But this time she is woefully unbalanced and misses badly.

Farvenzi steps inside the glaive's blade, hampering Never's swing. She draws her head back for another bite....

Perception check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Jaeric looks around at the sound of gunfire between Sparky and the approaching guardsmen, trying to note their positioning in relation to the current melee and the cover provided by disabled snow-dragons. He's torn between aiding the ysoki or keeping the pressure on Farvenzi. Finally, he decides Sparky should be able to hold off the guards at least a few moments, so he continues supporting Zephyr and Never against Farvenzi.

"Hold them off, Sparky! Everyone else...take this dragon down!"

OOC: As a move action, Jaeric uses his Get'Em envoy improvisation to once again give everyone a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls against Farvenzi.

He then steps forward and takes another swing with his divine blade.

Solar Weapon melee attack: 1d20 + 4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 4 + 2 + 1 = 23
Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

(Yeah, since Farvenzi moved out of Zephyr’s reach last round, he used a move action to circle around and reengage. If the dragonkin has reach that would totally provoke an AOO)

Still flanking the dragonkin, Zephyr unleashes a full attack, battering the dangerous foe and hoping to make him choke on the fire he just spewed.

Armored Smash Full Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 2 = 21
Damage: 1d10 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

Armored Smash Full Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 = 11
Damage: 1d10 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

Are those three chasers the same ones that Never scared off earlier? If so she's gonna have to make good on her promise, but she'll warn them first.

Never winces as the fangs descend on her again. "This is gonna suck!"

Reflex DC 15: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

As the miniature dragon opens her mouth and spits fire, Lorne instinctively ducks behind the closest obstacle, Never.

Then he switches his Combat Tracking Tag to the dragon before trying to shoot it, this time. At this range, even Lorne can hit, apparently.

Tactical Skipshot Pistol w/ Get'em & Combat Tracking: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 26
Piercing: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

The Starfinders close in around an increasingly desperate Farvenzi. The dragonkin snaps at Jaeric as he lunges in, but that doesn't divert his blade. It plunges into her side.
AoO 15 damage

Lorne rests the butt of his pistol and hand on Never's shoulder, sights down the barrel, and fires into Farvenzi's face at point blank range. The gun goes off painfully next to Never's ear. Bones splinters and blood spatter the vanguard. The dragonkin's wing ward off one punch, but Zephyr drives another mechanically powered blow into her back.

Too angry, mean, or stubborn to die gracefully, Farvenzi roars, draws Never in and at bites at Never one last time. Then the dragonkin sags to the ground. Her jaws still clamped on Never's shoulder drag the Starfinder to the ground with her.

The guards and Sparky exchange shots, but when they see that Farvenzi's dead, one dashes into the woods to the north and the other two go south.

End of combat.

"Motherf@*!er!"

Never pries the teeth out of her shoulder, then raises the glaive high in the air and brings it down with resolute force, decapitating the dragonkin.

She slumps to one knee and looks around. "Who's next?"

Down to 16 hp

Zephyr takes a defensive stance in front of the heavily-injured party members and switches out the battery for his Artillery Laser. ”Next is a medic for you two. Anything else comes our way I’ll put a hole through it with my laser.”

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Jaeric kneels down, clutching at his own wound from where the dragonkin savaged him. "Keep your eyes up for reinforcements," he encourages everyone even as Never makes sure Farvenzi stays dead. His eyes look over at Spinjack, surmising they should keep him alive for interrogation and a source of information for Doctor Monsylkis, assuming they could even convince her of what happened here. "Lorne?" he asks, "Can you make sure Spinjack is secured?" He moves over next to the ryphorian and places a hand on him to assure he'll survive.

OOC: Jaeric casts stabilize on Spinjack.

He then looks around at the rest of the party. He and Never seem the worst for wear, so he touches the butterfly symbol on his armor again and calls for Desna's aid.

OOC: Jaeric uses another Resolve point to channel healing as a full-round action, giving... 4d8 ⇒ (1, 5, 5, 7) = 18 ...hit points back.

"Sparky? If you can make it to the ship, get her prepped and ready. Be stealthy about it. I'll call you in if we need you. The rest of us can take Spinjack back to the administrative building. We need to explain everything to Monsylkis before even more guards are unleashed on us. For now, we use him as a hostage, if need be, until we can determine where things go from here..."

After scanning for any approaching foes, Zephyr strips Farvenzi of any useful gear and looks for any data pads or other electronics that might give some clues as to why they attacked the party. He also confiscated any electronics and weapons from Spinjack, just in case he wakes up and wants to try something rash.

"Uhhhhh . . .. Okay?" Lorne looks about for a bit, trying to find something to serve the purpose, and then he stops, looks at the scrapped vehicles and smiles.

"Cin Ah get a little help?" He goes to the crawler he had been driving, pulls a seat out of it and a section of the track, uses some of the cabling from inside the crawler to secure the seat to the track, and some more to secure the dragon to the seat. Then he pulls cabling out of the next crawler over, and makes two harnesses for pulling the makeshift sled, and secures them to the track.

"So, who's pullin'? Not it!"

Sparky heads for the ship.

It doesn't take long to secure the comatose Spinjack.

Farvenzi's Gear: elite defiance series armor, thunderhead dragonglaive with 1 battery (15 charges), tactical X-gen gun with 40 heavy weapon rounds, cryo grenades I (2), credstick (1,314 credits)

Spinjack's Gear: estex suit III (jetpack), corona laser rifle with 2 high-
capacity batteries (40 charges/ and 10 charges), LFD pulse gauntlet

No sign of the three guards who fled.

Behind you on the ridge the weather tower crackles and miniature lightning jumps into the sky.

Ahead of you lies the research base and a discussion with Dr. Monsylkis.

"Alright, claim any weaponry here that you think might make a difference in the event we're accosted again," Jaeric suggests, "We'll leave Farvenzi's body here...but bring Spinjack with us. Nice job on the sled, Lorne. Never? How are you feeling? Think you can drag that thing with Zephyr and his power armor assisting? Let's bring him to Monsylkis so he can explain himself."

If everyone looks ready, Jaeric will lead the way towards the research station, eyeing the weather tower as they pass. He reaches up to touch his comm unit to confirm Sparky is still okay. "You there, Sparky? How's the situation look at the ship? If you're able to board, make it secure and let me know when you're good. I might need you to come get us...or, depending on how these next negotiations go, you might need to blast that weather tower. Just be on standby...and be safe...thanks."

Never scowls. "Drag the sled?? No. Let him lay there for the natives. I'll take this instead."

She grabs Farvenzi's decapitated head by the neck and drags it behind her as they walk to the base.

Spinjack was not only knocked down but then also hit with Never's breath weapon. Is he really still alive?

I don't know. Jaeric cast stabilize on him there towards the end...but that probably came after the breath weapon, assuming he was caught within it? I was hoping to save him for interrogation and corroboration of our story to Monsylkis.

"Fine. I'll drag it. No need to bring the head. I'm pretty sure everyone here knows we killed her by now since those guards fled." He moves into place and grabs the cabling so he can drag Spinjack thru the snow. Then, he pauses and leans down to check the ryphorian's vital signs.

Medicine check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

”I will pull the sled,” says Zephyr. He starts pulling and says, ”I still don’t understand why they attacked us unless they somehow knew that we had discovered their deleterious effects on the planet’s ecosystem and didn’t want the scientists to hear about it…”