[SF] Fly Free or Die AP - GM Ewok

Game Master EwokBanshee

Yeah yeah, in a minute! I just want to see what this does underwater...

He aims his grenade launcher just past the nearby jelly.

Let's see if this makes noise underwater!

[standard] attack (frag grenade ii)
merc nil grenade launcher attack vs AC5, P damage: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 242d6 + 5 ⇒ (3, 6) + 5 = 14
15' radius, DC17

"Peanut butter? Naw. Radioactive jalapeño."

• Swift Action: Call Weapon
• Move Action: Combat Tracking Teal
• Standard Action: Overcharge

Called Blaze Agitator vs EAC: 1d20 + 7 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 7 + 2 + 1 = 12
Damage (F): 2d6 + 5 ⇒ (2, 2) + 5 = 9
Overcharge: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Akh shakes the vibrations out of his body, then carefully swims forth to start reducing the jelly in front of him into health-conscious portion sizes. He slashes with his claw...

Entropic Claw vs EAC: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19 Damage (A, force): 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

"Peanut butter? Mixed with wet jelly? Seems interesting, but we have to actually take them down first."

Akh strikes out at the closest jelly, spreading gelatin into the surrounding waters.

Thanks to the power of Guess?'s insults, Melissa is able to strike at the other jelly. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Strek, whose microwaves boil more water than jellyfish. Also thanks to the Captain's cruel jabs, the underwater creature is far too distracted to dodge Jaraduk's underwater explosion.

Reflex, DC 17: 1d20 + 9 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 9 - 2 = 16

The goblin keeps up his verbal and physical attacks, further wounding the targeted jelly. Both jellies move closer, glowing bodies undulating slowly. Their tendrils lash out as fast as Akh's whip, slapping against the larger members in your party. Del's natural grace serves her well, helping her deflect this blow.

slam @ Akh: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23
B Damage: 1d6 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

slam @ Del: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16
B Damage: 1d6 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

Round 3! Everyone is up!
Guess? SP 30/30, HP 27/27, RP 6/6
Akh SP 24/50, HP 39/39, RP 4/4
Melissa SP 31/31, HP 33/33, RP 5/5
Del x2 SP: 25/25, HP: 29/29, RP: 5/5
Strek SP 40/40, HP 36/36, RP 5/5
Jaraduk SP 40/40, HP 41/41, RP 5/5
Red Wavecutter, 40/40 HP
Teal Wavecutter, 40/40 HP
Black Submersible Tour Boat, 24/24 HP

Red Giant Jelly, 11 Damage
Teal Giant Jelly, 40 Damage, FLATFOOTED, -2 SAVES

Yeah! It worked. It made a cool sound though, more "blub blub" than "boom". Here, listen again...

[standard] attack (frag grenade ii)
merc nil grenade launcher attack vs AC5, P damage: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 182d6 + 5 ⇒ (3, 3) + 5 = 11
15' radius, DC17

Guess? again attacks teal, yelling, "Jelly-ve it or not, they’ll crumble under pressure! Why? Cuz they’re spineless!”

Stunt and Strike (Bluff) vs CR: 1d20 + 17 + 4 - 20 ⇒ (2) + 17 + 4 - 20 = 3 or below is flat-footed
12-atm extrusion rifle vs KAC: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29 (Manual sight reduces range and AC cover bonuses by 2)
Damage (B), crit: 1d10 + 5 + 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 + (10) + 5 = 29 flat-footed to all and -2 to saves if Stunt and Strike succeed

Nelissa winces at that pun but alas. Cannot fit guess into the shot

"Get em! Akh just hold it off, it'll eat the other one as soon as we pop it... "

bzzzt eac: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 9 + 1 = 11
damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

She hits the sub and POOOOFFFFS her fur up despite the water.

Akh mitigates the hit, reducing the impact of the tendrils. He ravages the jelly with his claws, only just barely resisting the urge to lick between strikes. He can't help but remember some weird saying from this old role - something about curiosity and goblins...

Entropic Claw vs EAC: 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 11 - 4 = 24 Damage (A, force): 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Entropic Claw vs EAC: 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 11 - 4 = 25 Damage (A, force): 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Jaraduk softens up the jelly with an underwater burst, then Guess? pops over the submarine with a well placed sniper rifle bolt directly into the giant jellyfish's nerves bunch up. The hydrozoan's tentacles separate and slowly fall into the depths. Just a second later, the jelly's sack appears to explode into thousands of tiny glowing hexagons that obscure your vision. The second jelly twitches in place, attention split between defending itself from Akh and the feast right beside it.

You run back to your ships and speed off. The Giant Jelly lets you go, content to feed on it's fallen companion's children.

COMBAT OVER!
Guess? SP 30/30, HP 27/27, RP 6/6
Akh SP 29/50, HP 39/39, RP 4/4
Melissa SP 31/31, HP 33/33, RP 5/5
Del x2 SP: 25/25, HP: 29/29, RP: 5/5
Strek SP 40/40, HP 36/36, RP 5/5
Jaraduk SP 40/40, HP 41/41, RP 5/5
Red Wavecutter, 40/40 HP
Teal Wavecutter, 40/40 HP
Black Submersible Tour Boat, 24/24 HP

Red Giant Jelly, 34 Damage
Teal Giant Jelly, 75 Damage

Within a few more hours of travelling through the depths, you arrive at Terra 5. Adjacent to a large, brightly colored coral reef, a well-lit underwater structure of steel and transparent aluminum perches on large articulated legs that allow it to crawl slowly along the ocean floor. The structure is not moving, it's form listing toward a deep trench that disappears into the inky depths. A portion of the hull is over the trench, looking as if a stray current could knock the entire thing over the edge. Flurries of white and green foaming bubbles stream from various ruptures in the metal. Red emergency lights pulse intermittently along its perimeter as a water-dampened alarm faintly sounds through the water.

It's quite obvious that something is wrong. A collection of large adamantine shards are lodged into the station's hull in a circle above and around the drill. The site where the drill was working on the reef has been blown apart by an explosion, with some small streams of bubbles still drifting up from the spot. None of these are as concerning as the breathable air leaking from Terra 5's surface. That can't be a good sign for the air breathing employees within.

engineering: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27

"The doughnut hole for a drill thing is kinda cool, but did they strike an adamantine load and not slow down or did some eco terrorist strap enough C4 to that thing to make it a flying saucer? "

Profession miner. has uncle delvar ever messed up THAT badly..1d20 + 1 + 3 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 1 + 3 + 4 = 23????

She's going to jab a healing potion down the shobads throat to her elbow, just to make sure it doesn't take a left at the lung

BE HEALED: 1d8 ⇒ 8

"We're forgiving and forgetting the you trying to kill us thing. You fix stuff under water. This under water thing is busted and people are gonna die. Here's your stuff. Cap , Shan could be in there and your uncle with the pawn shop pays us nothing anyway " She looks at the android "Not sure what you can do. Start by shoving " ptooh "This healing potion down the throat of the guy ion taped to the wave runner. "Savior of corporate employees and property" is gonna be a lot better for your chances than "shot in the chitter and left for the crabs". How are you at fixing stuff? "

" Alright strek we got a semi skilled labor pool here. Whats the plan? "

Just think, if any of those spores gets away and grows up, we're basically jelly-daddies!

DC17 Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

At the approach Jaraduk points at two segments of the structure.

We can enter there, or there. The moon pool or the observatory.

Guess? replies to Melissa, "I'm not objecting to your plan of imposing forced, unpaid labor upon them. I hadn't even thought of that! RESPECT!!"

"We should definitely lock down our vehicles though so that only we can operate them. We wouldn't want these laborers to take one of them and depart."

Looking over the entry points identified by Jaraduk, Guess? says, "It seems to me the moon pool is the better way to go!"

Per Melissa's sucessful engineering check, we have to: 1) prevent more water from coming in, 2) pump the existing water out, and 3) reinforce the support struts. Do we have a sense of how to do this or do we take liberties and come up with our own RP story and roll some relevant skill checks? It seems to me that #1 and #3 have to be done from the outside (possibly by the shobhad and the android?) whereas #2 has to be done while inside, correct?

Guess? replies to Melissa, "I'm not objecting to your plan of imposing forced, unpaid labor upon them. I hadn't even thought of that! RESPECT!!"

"Your approval can fill me with shame after we stop that thing from filling with water."

Akh hastily scoops up a few dozen fruit gushers jelly hexagons into his maw before fleeing the scene on the waveskimmer. He tries them along the way, but quickly becomes somewhat disappointed in the way they taste. "Not sure what that other jelly was getting so excited about, really..."
----
I'm assuming "a few more hours" is less than four, as that's how long Akh's swimming elixir lasts. Let me know if that's not the case.

Akh looks excitedly at all the adamantine shards. "Did you miss all that adamantine? Once we find Shan, we'll be rich just from gathering all these pieces up. And even better, they won't spring to life and attack us, unlike most of our cargos." Otherwise he nods at the suggestion of the moon pool "The most important thing is to not flood the place more while we go in. So the observatory is a definite no. We open that door and we'll be along for the ride. Maybe the moon pool has an airlock?"

Yepp, Akh has about one more hour on his swimming elixer.

Melissa is pretty confident she's never seen a mining accident like this before. This has the hallmarks of an underground air pocket explosion but... explosions underground tended to be quite a bit more avalanchey than underwater. After discussing what you see, you're pretty sure that you can reinforce the support struts from outside, but to stop the water leakage and remove the water that has already invaded the facility you'll have to go inside. Want to start with the struts, or head indoors?

Watching the air bubbles flee from the cracks in Terra-5, you know time is of the essence. Every PC's dream situation.. you're up against the clock!! Once you either reach the struts or enter the building we'll be in quasi-rounds.

"Lets get the struts. If it fills with water there should be air hatches or at least armor they can use to breathe with to buy us a little bit of time. If it goes off the trench there everyone's gonna get squished. also we're here to rescue an otter they can hold their breath for like, how long? "

No one her age should have that kind of familiarity with the cold math of rescue triage but hey... this dragon works a lot like her old bosses.

"Or we could split. Me, Akh, and our two new recruits Get the Struts while the rest of you head inside, we'll join you when we're done. "

GM Ewok, does the shobhad and the android seem willing and able to assist? Guess? would suggest sticking together to tackle these challenges but if those two can provide some legitimate assistance, then Guess? would support the splitting up idea.

Jaraduk nods at Melissa's plan.

We should head inside pronto and get to work in case it's too late for the struts...

He turns his wavecutter towards the moon pool.

Brrrrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr #motorboatNoises

I have garbage strength and no technical skills worth mentioning, so I won't be much good at the struts.

Akh points to the struts "You're saying those are going to give way or something? I'd rather not be there when they break and the whole facility sweeps us down into the ravine." He nods "I like Jaraduk's idea instead - in and out quickly."

OhMyGosh that comment about fruit gushers was SO accurate, Lol

"I say we split up. And each group takes half of the new hires," he says while gesturing to the Shobhads and Android.

"You guys want us to take you back, you gotta earn your ticket."

I would say split up. This seems like the classic "The book assumes we won't" but we have good skills and (maybe?) some NPCs we can pressgang into doing rolls for us.

"I definitely wanna make sure we don't all drop down that gorge, at least. I'm good with struts. Not so much sealants."

"Del, Strek, Akh, and 2 shobads on the Struts. If we live through this I'll learn your names. That keeps your overly large keisters out here from slowing us down. Keeps some muscle on the struts, and Akh can beat up the muscle if they get out of line. Del may be able to use the vehicles to pull or push stuff gently. ish. "

Me, Cap, Jarduk, Romeo, will head inside. Even if the halls WERE built for large folks before they may have collapsed some. Synch up on channel 19

She'll switch to an open channel "HEY. We got some help for you out here. Can anyone in there say anything more useful than "HEELLLP" or "Gurgle" ? "

Heading for the moonpool it looks like.

Sounds good to me. Let's get Shan outta there!

Akh bemoans the idea of dealing with the struts and getting crushed, but agrees to join Del and Strek to keep the shobhad in line. "If the struts look like they're going to give way, don't worry, we'll make sure to let you know you're doomed."

Does anyone have telepathy? Doesn't matter now, but it might later...

No one her age should have that kind of familiarity with the cold math of rescue triage but hey...

oof, that hit hard

GM Ewok, does the shobhad and the android seem willing and able to assist? Guess? would suggest sticking together to tackle these challenges but if those two can provide some legitimate assistance, then Guess? would support the splitting up idea.

With your Sense Motive bonus, I'll just give this to you. The Android has lots of Envoy-like skills, but would betray you at any opportunity. The shobhad is grateful to be alive and wants to get back to his normal life. But he has few useful skills, only Athletics and Profession (Welder). So...

The (you only had one shobhad, the others died or fled) shobhad and android nod along with Melissa's plan, ready to go along.

I'm seeing Jaraduk & Akh voting for everyone going inside and Melissa, Guess?, and Strek voting to split. Since we're on a weekend, and you just got a little bit of new information, I'll wait one more day to see if there are any other inputs before going with the highest vote.

Melissa's call over the public comm gets a few responses. The responses are difficult to hear, as someone immediately begins hyperventilating. Their rapid gasping breaths fill the channel quite effectively. Someone asks a question in the background, but you can't quite make it out.

Jaraduk wasn't necessarily voting against a split, more just urging whomever is going in to get in because it seems like time is ticking down.

I always vote against splitting :), but Akh will acquiesce to sending part of the group to the struts.

Guess? speaks to the android, "I know what you're thinking... The moment you get a chance, you'll screw us over to save your own skin and try to ingratiate yourself with the Reisora sister who actually wants nothing to do with you. But I'll warn you now. If I even THINK you're about to do anything, then I'm gunna straight up shoot you in the head. Cooperate with us and you'll live."
Intimidate: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25

Guess? will attempt to jerry rig the android's suit to shut off all environmental protections upon radio command from any party member.
Engineering: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Is this allowed? Will being deep underwater without environmental protections hurt an android considering they don't breath? Perhaps the high pressure from being deep underwater is potentially fatal? Guess? is basically looking for a way to press a button and disable the android should he betray the party.

If this isn't viable then perhaps we don't even need to give a suit of armor back to the android while he's helping us out with the current situation...

Guess? then says to the shobhad, "I know you just want to live. Work with us, help us get our friend out alive and we'll make sure you get out of this situation alive. You have our word."
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

FYI, Guess? fully intends to keep the shobhad alive but after this thing is over, Guess? still plans to take all of the shobhad's gear.

But he has few useful skills, only Athletics and Profession (Welder). So...[/ooc]

Considering we need to pick up a large shard of adamantine and use it as a temporary/the worlds most expensive strut those are VERY useful right now...

Melissa has that "oh my god I'm the adult" moment heading over towards the sub. Its not the first time she's had that thought, but never with regards to something this serious. People actually seem to respond as if she knows what she's doing...which she realizes she just might. Between the bi monthly mine collapses and the weirdness magnet that is the Last Chance she's had to do this HOW many times? The adults seem to be listening so...

"If you are articulating a question move to channel 1092 hz. If you are panicking please stay on the line. We have a rescue team out here. Please put on your armor seals or grab a breathing device for yourself before attempting to assist others with theirs. " She figures anyone that can't switch a radio frequency is probably too freaked out or generally inept to be useful at the moment...

She taps the androids com unit "You've got that "everything is fine" monotone going on, see if you can get them down to just a near panic. "

Switches channels and listens for the questions on the way to the moonpool

I always vote against splitting :)

heh heh heh

Guess? successfully Bullies the android, whose expression shifts from Wow, I can't wait to stab these guys in the kidneys to I guess it'll be easier to go along for the next 1d6 × 10 minutes. Do you have any abilities that extend or augment the Bully action? He, despite his skill and earnest, is unable to outwit the armor's natural anti-tampering functions. However, you decide that the android could assist without armor just fine. The shobhad is much more obliging, nodding earnestly. "Sure, I'll help. Nothing dangerous, but I'll help. Let's just get this over with and get back to safety."

Unfortunately, it seems Melissa's (very smart) call to switch channels went unheard by the others on the line as Channel 1092 is silent as the sea. So, with time ticking, you split up. dun dun DUN!

Strek, Del, Akh, and Shobhad #4 hop into the tour submarine and scoot down to the failing support struts. Four massive articulated struts, bubbles hissing from their joints, support Terra 5; each glows with area lights and access panels. Two of the struts have taken serious damage, and the remaining two groan with the stress of carrying more than their share of the weight. Terra 5’s support and mobility structures are accessible only from outside the base. As you approach you see a morlamaw woman desperately swimming between them. She slows up and greets you, using a crude hand code to tell you what private channel she's on. "Hey, look like you're here to help. Glad to know the distress signal got through. I'm Birshae, the station's chief mechanic. Well, if I'm able to save this mess." She takes a deep breath in, steadying herself. "I'm trying to shore up the failing systems, which is, well, all of them. I've been focusing on patching major holes so far. If there's no oxygen, half my crew is going to die. But these damaged struts are looking worse by the minute."

When you offer to help, she directs your efforts. "Well, there's two chances I see. The struts have self-driven repair processes. Unfortunately the Company's recent cost-cutting meant no AI to activate them. If you can activate them manually, at the access panel on each strut, then you might be able to buy us some more time to evacuate before they fail." Her pudgy face looks grim. "Unfortunately, these struts are pretty damaged. At the current rate of flooding, I don't think the repair bots can fix them in time. Not with how much water is leaking into the Station. Maybe we could head inside and stop the station from fully flooding... but I certainly can't do it myself. Not fast enough. The only other chance we have is... risky."

"You see, each strut has a manual release lever. Big ugly things, hard to move. But when they engage, the strut will slowly collapse and safely lower the base to the sea floor. If we do that on both of the more damaged struts, on the north side over there, then the station will be completely safe. Off-kilter, but safe. There's still the flooding and non-water breathing crew problems, but one thing at a time." The morlamaw looks at each of you, eyes questioning. "I was planning on starting the repair bots on all four panels then going back to patching holes. But now you're here. The Company sent you, you take the lead. What should we do?" She has Engineering as her main skill, and will follow your direction until the Struts are dealt with.

Melissa, Guess?, Jaraduk, and the Android assassin ride the Wavecutters down to the small circular airlock above the room marked Moon Pool on your map. You cycle the airlock and the water drains before allowing you into the next room, which is dry.

Time to introduce a new mechanic that will definitely not-at-all cause a TPK. Each room is going to start at a certain level of flooding, from existing leaks. These levels will increase over time, so there's the time component. When you open the hatch into a new room, the water in your room will equalize with the new room. (if there room is really high, your water level will instantly increase, or vice versa.) I'll mark the water levels on the map as you open doors. Levels range from 0 to 6. As the chief engineer just revealed to the other half of the group, if the total water level in the station increases to an unknown amount then the entire thing collapses into the horrifying trench and everyone inside dies horrible deaths with basically no way out or chance of survival. No pressure.

The interior of this wide, open room appears awash with glowing rivulets of light that reflect off the large, round pool of water at its center. Along the water’s edge, a steel grating supports an assortment of diving equipment. On the northern wall, wet suits and heavier aquatic gear hang in open lockers, each accompanied by a name stenciled above it. Soft, red warning lights pulse along the edge of the room. Six names appear above the aquatic gear: Shan, Dev, Righteous, Zivix, Brishae, and Kaia—the usual occupants of this station. Shan and Brishae's lockers are nearly empty, with only a few pieces of equipment. The others are full, but the contents are not valuable - just run of the mill aquatic gear. Each is fairly heavy, weighing a few bulk. However, there is another locker with no name that contains a fully charged suit of personal, submersible powered armor plugged into a charging bay. Below it is a bank of 10 batteries and 10 high-capacity batteries, all waterproofed and compatible with standard technology, sits on a rolling rack, all fully charged.

Alright, everyone! We're going to count actions in rounds, but unless you're in an emergent situation you can post more than one round at once. Just be a dear and note how many rounds you're using. There's four doors from this room, which one do you want to go through?

culture: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20 + scent?

Melissa doesn't have time for dignity she doesn't have and gives each locker a sniff. "Shan Oil and fish. brenneri, Dev and Kaia ..blech.. urea based cooling system, humans. Righteous Silicone and wd40. android; Zivix copper ichor and a different perfume every day....Shirren. Brishae Inside of a psychedelic sock...morlamaw. Hey, who do you have on your end, and which way is the shirren? I'd like to go shirren human human breneri androids Mormalaw " "

" ZIVIX. If you can hear me, which way are you from the center of the pool? I can get you all out but it would work better if we were all together in the same place. Can any of you carefully move to the moon pool? " She's slightly worried that they Haven't....

Baring any answer, melissa would prefer to work from the east side (away from the trench) and would move east not knowing that room isn't.. well a room.

So, Shan is indeed here. Somewhere...

Jaraduk also not knowing which way is which backs up Melissa and follows behind her.

No, Guess? doesn't have any special bully skills, aside from the ability to bully a target without a common language due to his vampire voice, which isn't applicable here. But that's a great idea! Perhaps something to look into for Guess?'s future character build!!

1d6 ⇒ 5x10=50 minute bully

-------

Guess? also follows along behind Melissa and Jaraduk but insists the android stays in front of Guess? so that Guess?'s rifle is at the ready, always pointing at the android from behind.

Guess? will say on comms, "Guys! There's a submersible powered armor suit in here! We've gotta keep that for ourselves, amirite?!?"

For each round, are we taking actual standard and move actions? Or will it be a bit more abstracted? If abstracted, I think our first round is to move to the eastern door, open it and move in to see what we find - assuming we can fit all of that into the first round.

"steal it after we use it to rescue people and I won't care."

Sort of... in non-stressful rooms, you can just say what you want to do in and we'll just estimate about how many actions/rounds it would have taken. So we'll say looking at the lockers then moving and opening the door were two rounds.

Since nobody wants to wear the power armor, you decide to leave the heavy treasure behind for now.

Inside Group: Round 3
We'll see how long I can move the groups at their own pace before this gets too confusing...

As you open the door, a small wave of water pushes past your legs into the Moon Room. Both rooms are now at Water Level 1, and are difficult terrain. An extremely loud and massive water pump fills this room, connected to the ceiling and floor with thick steel conduits. A small walkway leads around its edge. Smoke pours from vents along the top of the straining pump. Some of the conduits are separated from each other, with small rivulets of water leaking into the room.

Engineering: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (7) + 14 = 21

This probably shouldn't be on open coms... "Someone here smashed the pumps. We got a problem. Or a state worker. we need to bend these things back into place. That Gonna mess up anything you got going on outside? "

"no time for anything fancy. We need to bend those pipes back into place. Getting it right on the first try would be nice. Jarduk, you feeling beefy or you want to put on that armor on for a little extra muscle? "

Melissa has scurry, can squeeze into tight places, and hasn't been skipping tail day. Can she get in there as another set of hands? Either way I think she's as likely to assist as anyone else.

Meanwhile at the struts:
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

Akh eyes the struts, then the morlamaw, then the struts again. "Hmmmmmmm..." He follows by taking a long look at the cold, dark abyss that the damaged underwater station is probably going to slide into. "HMMMMMMMM..." He stays silent for a while as he ponders.

"Yep. I think this place is doomed."

"None of us here are any good at pushing levers. And we weren't sent by the Company. In fact, I think they're probably just trying to kill you here." He nods "At least you're outside so you'll be safe when the inevitable catastrophic failure arrives. In the mean time, maybe Del or Strek, you two could get the repair bots working? I'll go join the guys inside."

Melissa prays the Moperope stays on the private channel. And if she's wrong she should hear the screaming in 3...2..1.....

"If someone puts on that powered armor, it might give a nice strength boost. Any of us except Strek will have trouble moving around though..."

Sadly, lack of proficiency comes with a bunch of penalties...

Jaraduk approaches Melissa to see what pipes she's referring to.

How many? These pipes? I got yer pipes!

Strength: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 Uh oh...

Jaraduks hands slip off of the pipes.

You didn't have to grease them up on me!

Strength: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

"I have long fur and I'm under water. I borrowed a page from the breneri and used a LITTLE fur oil ok?""

assist the second time : 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (3) + 0 = 3

ACKS and slips off on a little product....

trying this again as the board went wonky even by board standards.

Engineering: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (2) + 16 = 18

Strek nods along with Akh. "I give it 50/50. S'pose that's better than our usual luck.."

GUMBI then spits out an analysis over the comms: Lowering just one strut will put too much strain on the other — this has a 50% chance of causing catastrophic failure. Successfully lowering the struts within 6 seconds of each other prevents danger of collapse.

Struts require a medium Strength check, with up to two Aid rolls. The struts are about 35 feet from each other, so you'd need two different people/groups to take them down in the required time.

So just to clarify: our ONLY option here is Strength?

I'm really missing the Hero Point mechanic of PF2 right now..

From the way I read it Strek, strength solves the issue, but we can also kick the repair robots into gear with Engineering, which will buy time for the inside group.

Can we get an idea of how strong the Shobhad and Morlamaw are? I can drink my Aquanaut Elixir (and I think we established Akh's is still going), which would allow the Morlamaw to do one check, the Shobhad to do the other, and with our 40 foot Swim Speed we could both Aid on both of the struts.

Otherwise, yeah, we might just have to buy the other team time and race up to help them.

we are so going to race to our inevitable demise before you! Ha...wait a minute...

Outside Crew, still Round 1

The shobhad makes a flexing motion, but their armor completely devalues the effect. The shobhad has a +2 to Strength, the Morlamaw is a -1. You look around, seeing he might be the only one able to work the struts. Yeah... unfortunately without Jaraduk you're missing that key second Strong Man down here. Strek looks at the struts with dread. Yepp, all you get is Strength. I'm fairly certain it's a mechanic to give big dumb, but strong, groups a chance to remove the worst of the consequences from the event. Having to get two successes in two rounds is a tough bar.

EDIT: Strek thinks he only needs to activate the repair bots on the struts that are most wounded. Like most digital problems, they can be approached with either Hard Computers or Engineering. Thankfully, EJ did something right this time. There's instructions beside each emergency panel, to allow a less technical person to take three rounds of fiddling with the controls to activate the repair bots. So you could have a second person work the other strut in case Strek can't do both within three rounds.

Inside Group, Round 4 & 5:

Melissa is confident the recent explosion caused the pump to malfunction. Jaraduk slips during his first attempt, making an unfortunate dent in the connection point. Thankfully, he is able to muscle through it and fit the pipe back into place.

Repairing these conduits stabilizes the pump and it returns to minimal functionality. Water moves through some of the pipes, but half of the motors aren't running. You're confident that to get it back to full capacity requires a Computers or Engineering check software restart and with running diagnostics.

"Lets see, proper shut down procedures or..." yanks a lever, runs the pumps backwards for a few seconds, and throws them forward.

engineering: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23

Wappa thuwnk wapawthrunk wappa thwunk....WATHOOOH.

"I THINK the pumps are going but that sea anemone caught in there will be having a bad day. "

Engineering, assist: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Guess? assists Melissa by pointing to a restart button with a label stating:
Warning! Clear all sea anemones before restarting