Pulling himself out of the pilot's chair, Zephyr is banged up a bit but not severely injured. He goes to put on his powered armor and asks, "How bad is the damage to the ship? It was somewhere between a hard landing and a crash, but I'm sure we will have to excise the virus before we can take off again, even if there is little damage."
Harlan pries a piece of the engineering console aside from where its pinning his right leg. "We ain't paste. That's something." From his tone, it seems he was certainly expecting better performance.
He exits the ship and takes a look around. "Hell of a scene." Then he turns to check over the team's own ship to evaluate its chances of taking off again.
"I'd say we go check for survivors, but chances are looking slim. Instead, how 'bout we look for how to stop whatever was broadcasting that damned virus?"
"Ten minutes, give or take an hour Never." Harlan goes to stick his thumbs in his belt, only to remember he's in his armor. "We're going to have to wipe out whatever's broadcasting first though, or we'll take another tumble. Who wants ta bet its in that smashed up ship with the open cargo hold?"
Now suited up, Zephyr says, "Let's get moving." He heads to the airlock and looks outside, preparing to make his way to the open cargo hold.
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The cargo hold seems empty. You step inside. Nothing happens. SO you start to explore.
If you were six years old, you might enjoy this. It's like a giant 3-D playground, or cave. There are climbs, drops, and tight places to squeeze through as you move from ship to ship. You squeeze through a hole between hulls and drop into a larger, relatively undamaged ship. Zephyr identifies it as a AbadarCorp Collier class bulk freighter. The Society had a number of them converted for use as orbiting exploration bases. The pilot and engineers must have been really good to land this huge ship that was never meant for atmospheric flight without it turning into a molten pile of slag, let along retaining some structural integrity.
You step into a large bay. Across the bay from you is a loose group of humanoids, a kasatha, ysoki, dwarf, and android. Their gear looks familiar, Stationwear and AbadarCorp Travel suits, various pistols and odd tools.
They all turn together to face you.
Harlan doesn't like the vibe of encountering this group in the crashed ship graveyard. While Never tries to hail them, he flicks a piece of ash off the face of his pocketwatch. If they turn out to be undead, infected, or just plain crazy, he's got more flames where the last ones were.
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Feeling the need to supplement Never's unusually friendly greeting, Jeoric steps forward, a hand held out in greeting. He doesn't even utter a phrase, before the Starfinders attack. Their mouths fly open in silent screams. Their motions are jerky, erratic, and forced.
The lashunta to your right raises and hand and three tiny glowing missiles fly toward Never, striking unerringly.
lashunta 1, light blue: 18
Never: 17 (12 damage)
android, red: 13
Zephyr: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Kasatha: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Harlan: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Jaeric: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
lashunta 2, dark blue: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
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Never's lash bites deep and the lashunta caster staggers back a step.
The android draws a bulky cryo pistol and advances toward Jaeric, and Zephyr, stopping about 25 feet away. The pistol points at Zephyr, then suddenly swings to point at Jaeric before erupting in a stream of supercooled frost.
Thinking the enemy was going to engage on Droid on Droid violence, Jaeric is caught off guard. And takes the full brunt of the pistols damage.
...
....
Zephyr notices the spellcaster is currently behind Jaeric, so he orients on the android that just fired and sends out a pair of heavy laser bolts at the droid. ”Their movements are strange, as if they are animated by something external,” observes Zephyr.
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Zephyr lances a laser beam into the other android who staggers, and the second shot goes wide.
The kasatha takes up a large-long-handled axe with a semi-circular blade. He stalks forward, and as Zephyr unloads his second shot, the kasatha rushes forward and the doshko sweeps toward Zephyr. And connects with painful result.
lashunta 2, dark blue:
lashunta 1, light blue: (-23 damage)
Never: 17 (12 damage)
android, red: (-18 damage)
Zephyr: (-28 damage)
Kasatha:
Harlan:
Jaeric: (-20 damage)
...
"Hmph." Harlan sneers at the red android "One tiny little step away from bein' ash, you are." He rubs his fingers together and snaps closed his pocketwatch. The moment he does, a fireball erupts around three of the puppet-like Starfinders.
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Zephyr notices the spellcaster is currently behind Jaeric, so he orients on the android that just fired and sends out a pair of heavy laser bolts at the droid. ”Their movements are strange, as if they are animated by something external,” observes Zephyr.
"You may be right, Zephyr. They might not be in control of themselves," Jaeric agrees.
Meanwhile Harlan toasts three of the marooned Starfinders. The lashunta collapses, but the android and kasatha fight on.
"But they're attacking us. Try to take that one alive. " Jaeric continues. The half-elf draws his pistol and fires lazily at the android.
Never's opponent produces a tactical baton and takes a swing at the vanguard. Somehow the pathetic little stick gets past her guard.
....
lashunta 2, dark blue: down
lashunta 1, light blue: (-23 damage)
Never: 17 (19 damage)
android, red: (-56 damage)
Zephyr: (-28 damage)
Kasatha: (-38 damage)
Harlan:
Jaeric: (-20 damage)
... B)
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The android, still screaming soundlessly, twists. His gun swings unpredictably from target to target. On it's way from Jaeric to Zephyr, it goes off almost accidentally, showering Harlan with freezing cold.
red shaken 3 rounds
...
....
Demoralize
As a standard action, you can use Intimidate to cause a creature within 30 feet of you to become shaken for a number of rounds. This is a sense-dependent ability. The DC of this check is equal to either 10 + your opponent’s total Intimidate skill bonus, or 15 + 1-1/2 × the opponent’s CR, whichever is greater. If you succeed, the target is shaken for 1 round. The duration increases by 1 round for every 5 by which the result of your check exceeds the DC.
Shaken
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 277
You take a –2 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks while you have the shaken condition. If you are already shaken and then become subject to an additional effect that would cause you to be shaken, the duration of the shaken condition increases by the duration of the second effect
”Aye Captain,” says Zephyr. He takes a guarded step towards the red Android as his massive shoulder-mounted laser indexes up and out of the way. Zephyr then uses his powered armor to deliver a powerful (nonlethal) smash at the red android!
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Zephyr lays out the android.
Left to fight alone, the kasatha twists the axe so that its blade is parallel to the deck. They try to lower the axe to the deck, but their fingers won't release it. The blade comes back up, sweeps through a guard position then circles in a roundhouse at Zephyr's neck.
Zephyr barely manages to duck.
...
”They are struggling against the control making them attack us. Let us knock out this one and try to stabilize others that might be saved,” says Zephyr, unloading a pair of carefully-aimed powered armor fists at the kasatha!
Unfortunately, trying to not kill the foe and swing quickly throws Zephyr’s attacks far off the mark…
"Knock out?" Harlan audibly sighs over comms "Yer takin' away all the fun."
He stares at the kasatha "You hear that? Yeah you. You've got 'til five to lay down your weapon or I'm running out of patience."
"One..."
Harlan sighs and draws a rather unimpressive knife from a boot sheath. "Don't make me start waving this around, yeah? I ain't any good at it and someone might get hurt." He steps in toward the remaining foe.
Frustrated, Zephyr continues to pound at the Kasatha nonlethally, hoping to get a lucky shot in. He knows he could probably kill it with a laser blast, but that would be counterproductive if the rogue starfinder were being forced to attack unwillingly.
Bleeding. Zephyr changes tactics. With the foe stepping away, he aims for a nonlethal shot with his laser while commanding his internal nanites to start repairing the damage.
Harlan, annoyed by the controlled kasatha's persistence, flicks his hand at the remaining foe "You're gettin' on my nerves, you are."
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The kasatha slips away from Never' taclash again.
Zephyr manages a shot that somehow bleeds away vitality without structural damage to the kasatha.
Harlan goes back to his tried and true. With structural damage to the target.
"Stay on him. I'll try to slow him down." Jaeric concentrates, weaving mystical energies.
The kasatha shrugs off the spell. While Never draws in her lash for another strike, the kasatha sweeps his axe toward her in the lash's slipstream. Never has to twist awkwardly, and her knee buckles while dodging.
...
Finally getting a bit of success, Zephyr fires at the Kasatha nonlethally once more, hoping for the best.
"Kasatha, they make 'em pretty tough, eh?" Harlan sends another and hopefully last volley into the kasatha, assuming it's needed.
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Never is having unusual fortune in combat against this foe.
Harlan contributes another brace of magic missiles.
Meanwhile Zephyr has become quite adept at non-lethal laser wielding.
Jaeric urges the others on, and tries his spell again.
The kasatha whirls the axe high, and brings it down again, but this time it slams into the ground beside Never's foot. Off-balance, the kasatha half-stumbles, half-shifts slightly toward Harlan.
...
Zephyr moves to check on the downed Starfinders, hoping to stabilize them if possible.
Harlan has no medical knowledge to speak of, so he leaves it up to Zephyr. "Smells to me like they got mind-jacked. Bad augs, ye think?" He checks to see if there's any evidence among their gear or any tech built into their bodies that would indicate the virus that brought down the ship is also responsible for this.
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Jaeric helps Zephyr out with a healing spell. The kasatha slips into a regular breathing rhythm while remaining unconscious. The android and Never's lashunta are also unconscious. But the lashunta that went down in Harlan's explosive blast is dead.
You're able to secure the survivors and continue exploring. It's not much later that you make an important discovery. Dozens of Starfinders are comatose and held in secure stasis chambers.
Zephyr takes a quick rest while the “enemy” starfinders are being stabilized and before heading off to search for the others. His healing nanites do some work and he recovered his stamina, but he is still somewhat wounded.
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Never checks to see if the lashunta she beat up is still breathing.
"Oh hey, don't move them yet. In this condition they could die or be permanently damaged. Best to stabilize them and keep looking around for now."
She collects all the weapons from the Starfinders they encountered, just in case one of them wakes up with dumb ideas.
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Never finds loot: business stationwear, frostbite-class zero pistol with 2 batteries (20 charges each), tactical baton, flashlight, laser microphone, manacles, personal comm unit, tool kit (hacking)
: casual stationwear, static arc pistol with 2 batteries (20 charges each), manacles, personal comm unit, tool kit (hacking)
: silver AbadarCorp travel suit, advanced doshko, red star plasma pistol with 4 batteries (20 charges each)
"Stasis chambers? Odd that." Harlan tries to recall if any starfinder missions would have involved sending a large portion of the crew into stasis, or if this was something done to these Starfinders after they crashed. He also checks if there's a safe way to deactivate these stasis chambers without injuring their occupants, so they can escape.