And I have a confession to make - was looking at the wrong tier for the last round , what I get for running a 1-2 subtier as well as a 3-4 at the same time so ..... no evasion and no holographic clones which means ....
Red goes down leaving one ysoki left ((Green: -6))
She misses terribly. "Sturm, give them hell! These memories are just so... not right in very subtle ways. I mean look at that tail twitch, ysoki don't have that level of flexibility unless they've had work done!"
Cha'mon Cha'mon, engages his plasma guide's wireless telemetry guided and fires a plasma bolt that he directs through all the obstacles in its way until it reaches the final ysoki.
Plasma Guide vs. Red EAC:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20Guided allows the shot to ignore all cover bonuses. Electricity/Fire Damage:1d8 ⇒ 5
Sturmvanger draws himself up taller, his wings spreading, a pose of threat as the ysoki assaults Seggas. It's hard to tell if it was the verbal or physical assault that has angered him, though.
<Don't listen to him, *Bonded-who-has-an-excellent-tail-twitch-strangely-platonic-image-of-her-wa lking-from-behind*, he's clearly just jealous of your *strangely-platonic-image-of-her-walking-from-behind*.>
Female CN Tiefling Biohacker 3 | SP 21/21 HP 22/22 | RP 3/3 | EAC 18; KAC 17, 5 cold, electricity, fire resistance | Fort +4; Ref +5; Will +3 | Init: +8 | Perc: +10, SM: +8 | Speed 30 ft | Biohacks 4/4 | Fiendish Gloom 1/1, Applied Knowledge 1/1 | Active conditions: none
Seggas cocks an eyebrow, and retorts, "Dear, if you've had work done than I hate to see what your tail looked like before that. Hells, I could have done a better skin-coating with the contents of my bag and 200 credits and I don't even have the right color polymers on me."
She rolls her eyes at the prospect, and shoots the overconfident rodent. BioBolter ‘Bii’ (Castrolance) vs EAC:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17 Acid Damage:1d6 ⇒ 5
She glances up at Sturm and gives him a soft smile.
Sturm:
<Aw, that's sweet! You really don't have to worry about it though. Dealt with worse about my other features from a young age. Also *Detailed-breakdown-visually-of-all-that-is-wrong-with-the-tail* they really don't have whatever that is supposed to be right.>
A pile of attacks later and the last ysoki is down.
During the combat, whispers from the stands grow louder and utter the phrase The fangless cannot bite. This is phrase the passcode that the PCs were sent to find, and reveals that Datch passed this test through sabotage rather than combat prowess.
Once the acolytes have been defeated, the ysoki in armor reappears from the shadows. An inventive solution, he says with the smallest hint of amusement. You pass, Datch. With my blessing comes a new name befitting your talents. For you... He pauses before finishing his thought. Feint. Take this name and your lessons forward. Do not bother returning, as you shall not find me here again. But perhaps, if you keep your skills sharp, I will someday find you.
The memory dissolves, giving way to the bleached white paths of the virtual library world once more. With the passcode phrasein mind, you can now call for Grand Librarian Rethra to return them to the Hall of Records.
The sensation of falling forward snaps you back into their physical bodies. Any injuries sustained virtually do not affect your physical bodies. As Grand Librarian Rethra detaches you from the neural helmets, she says ...
Welcome back, dearies. Did you find the…wait, what was it you were looking for again? Clyment’s first meeting with the vesk, wasn’t it? Nasty bit of history, that is. She yanks a thick energy cord out from the server and rolls it up with practiced ease. Now then, visitor hours are nearly done, so it’s time to be on your way. She makes a slurping sound that sounds a bit like concerned tutting. I’ll see you out.
Grand Librarian Rethra leads you to the entrance of the Hall of Records, dismissing you with a kind pat on the shoulder. She also asks for your mailing addresses on Absalom Station so she can send you all home-knit sweaters.
As the ship exits the Drift, the planet Varturan comes into view. Its surface is mostly unmarred by industrialization, but orbiting the planet are two large moons with sizable bases built on them. The ship descends to the city of Gruddonar. Gruddonar’s buildings are suspended above the sea on massive stilts and connected by an intricate network of rope bridges. Though over 200 feet separate the buildings from the ocean, a damp crust of plants and minerals covers all but the upper reaches of the stilts.
((see Handout 4))
Gruddonar’s construction is a response to Varturan’s powerful tides, which cause the height of the sea to rise and fall by hundreds of feet every 6 hours. As the PCs walk through the city, they hear snippets of music emerging from many of the buildings. They have no trouble finding Dr. Mekkisan’s office.
Dr. Kyefi Mekkisan’s faculty office is full of books, aquariums, specimens and datapads, all neatly organized. He ushers some students out the door in preparation for visitors, wishing them well on their exams.
Dr. Mekkisan is a young brenneri, wearing comfortable yet waterproofed tweed and slacks. He greets his guests warmly. Ah, you must be the Starfinders! Perfect timing. Call me Kyefi; I don’t stand on formality. Have a seat, and a drink. He motions to seats around a table stacked with research materials, a colourful tea set, and a framed picture of his significant other.
Male N Ysoki Wild Warden Operative 3 | SP 18/18 HP 20/20 | RP 6/6 | EAC 15; KAC 16 | Fort +1; Ref +8; Will +4 | Init: +7 | Perc: +9, SM: +9 | Speed 40ft, Climb 20 ft, Burrow 30 ft. | Darkvision, Moxie, Trick attack (Survival +17) +1d8 | Klikharp mount HP 30/30
"Howdy, doctor. I hear you are Datch's people. She sent us here to get to her 'wet safe'." Gava spits on the floor. "I don't like the sound of it, but I wager you gonna help us. Isn't that right, doc?"
Female CN Tiefling Biohacker 3 | SP 21/21 HP 22/22 | RP 3/3 | EAC 18; KAC 17, 5 cold, electricity, fire resistance | Fort +4; Ref +5; Will +3 | Init: +8 | Perc: +10, SM: +8 | Speed 30 ft | Biohacks 4/4 | Fiendish Gloom 1/1, Applied Knowledge 1/1 | Active conditions: none
Seggas extends a hand, "Dr. Yakan. I see you have been expecting us. Well that should make this quick. Gava has mentioned why we are here already, but I'm guessing if you were expecting us, you'd know that, right?" She tries to hide her fluster over acting so smooth as she sits down and takes a sip of the tea, tasting for anything poisionous and curious what the researcher might think to serve.
Life Sciences:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11(-5 to DC to identify drinks or poisons)
After serving tea and biscuits, he lays out your mission: first, fly your ship to a raised landing pad. From there, you can board exploration buggies to travel across the Rindowak nature preserve to the tide pool at Datch’s coordinates, where you need to obtain a coral key.
He explains how to feed hypernutrients to the local corals to cause them to rapidly grow stalks in a complex pattern and create a key. The patterns for a given pool are always the same, but unique compared to any other coral colony in nearby pools and can therefore be used as cryptographic keys. He gives several packets of hypernutrients to you all.
He also believes that you are in for an awesome safari mission; in his words, the “intertidal zone is a real evolutionary pressure cooker.” He warns them to be careful because many pools are home to territorial beasts. Kyefi reviews satellite imagery of Datch’s pool and announces that it’s currently safe.
Before you depart, he warns you to get back to your ship before high tide, when the water level rises by about 200 feet, submerging the entire area.
"Silly? 'Evolutionary pressure cooker' is another way of saying 'a place where everything wants to and probably can kill you.' And nothing like dealing with that while on a time crunch where the end result is drowning," Sturmvanger comments.
He takes his nutrients and heads for the ship, as well.
Seggas:
<I wonder if you could 'forge' a key with the proper genetic manipulation or if it is a factor of the environment where the coral grows with each pool being its own micro-environment.>
Female CN Tiefling Biohacker 3 | SP 21/21 HP 22/22 | RP 3/3 | EAC 18; KAC 17, 5 cold, electricity, fire resistance | Fort +4; Ref +5; Will +3 | Init: +8 | Perc: +10, SM: +8 | Speed 30 ft | Biohacks 4/4 | Fiendish Gloom 1/1, Applied Knowledge 1/1 | Active conditions: none
Sturmvanger wrote:
"Silly? 'Evolutionary pressure cooker' is another way of saying 'a place where everything wants to and probably can kill you.' And nothing like dealing with that while on a time crunch where the end result is drowning," Sturmvanger comments.
He takes his nutrients and heads for the ship, as well.
Seggas bounces some in her chair. "Evolutionary pressure cooker sounds like the BEST place to get all sorts of new and interesting genetic samples! Samples that could allow me to do so many things! CHange Genetic CODES, FIX PROBLEMS, TURN BII INTO A LIVING NIGHTMARE! MUAH-" She stops mid evil laugh from a light tap of Sturm's tail strong enough to knock her breath and stop her from ranting but not enough to really do harm. A few deep breaths later, she seems to have calmed down.
Sturm:
<Sorry. I lost control there!>
"Right, this does sound like a great place to get some samples though... Even if things try to kill us!"
Sturm:
<I probably could 'forge' a key, but it'd be more time and effort than I'd like to spend on it. Also I'd need a complete copy of their genetic code and a full spectrum analysis of the conditions they grow in so at that point might as well just feed them the nutrients and collect the naturally made version anyways. But I can always try to take some samples if there's need to forge one later.>
As Seggas gasps for breath, Sturmvanger pats her on the back. It's meant to help but is hard enough that it actually makes things take longer.
Seggas:
<It's ok. *Casts-an-accusing-glance-over-at-the-bad-influence.* The key forging was more an idea for an experiment than a suggestion on how to address our current problem. They're supposed to be unique but I suspect *someone-as-wonderfully-talented-as-yourself* could figure out a way to make a duplicate.>
Female CN Tiefling Biohacker 3 | SP 21/21 HP 22/22 | RP 3/3 | EAC 18; KAC 17, 5 cold, electricity, fire resistance | Fort +4; Ref +5; Will +3 | Init: +8 | Perc: +10, SM: +8 | Speed 30 ft | Biohacks 4/4 | Fiendish Gloom 1/1, Applied Knowledge 1/1 | Active conditions: none
Sturm:
<Oh, doable, and probably not as 'unique' as people think, but impossible to do without visiting the site in the first place, and anyone with that level of access would probably not have need to forge one in the first place...>
Since the exploration buggies are four seaters, you take two across the rugged landscape. ((Who's in which buggy - and Sturmvanger counts as 2 people - and who's driving?))
The Rindowak landscape is mostly uneven rock, with occasional salt and mud flats. Massive tide pools with vibrantly colored coral dot the landscape. A variety of marine life dots the landscape. Although there are many large and dangerous animals, the buggies easily outpace them.
At the coordinates given by Datch, the landscape looks starkly different. There aren’t any animals to be seen on the ground; just a few lonely razorgulls flying overhead. Banks of desiccated barnacles slope downward to a pit where stony husks of dead coral are visible, devoid of any living polyps. Shallow puddles are filled with foul-smelling algae, and only a few deeper pools show any signs of life. The area is eerily quiet.
When you get close, the terrain becomes so steep that your buggies can’t carry you any further. It takes about 10 minutes to climb down to the lower level on foot.
The terrain’s ridges are not high enough to hinder movement. The deaden pools cannot grow a key, but the shallow, greenish water reacts to the nutrients.
Male N Ysoki Wild Warden Operative 3 | SP 18/18 HP 20/20 | RP 6/6 | EAC 15; KAC 16 | Fort +1; Ref +8; Will +4 | Init: +7 | Perc: +9, SM: +9 | Speed 40ft, Climb 20 ft, Burrow 30 ft. | Darkvision, Moxie, Trick attack (Survival +17) +1d8 | Klikharp mount HP 30/30
Gava pilots one of the vehicles, his kilkharp is riding shotgun - two more seats left on his buggy.
----
At the water:
"Heck of a trip. Ready with the fish food? I bet doc forgot to mention all the critters in the area love this thing, or something alike. I trust him as far as I could throw him."
Female CN Tiefling Biohacker 3 | SP 21/21 HP 22/22 | RP 3/3 | EAC 18; KAC 17, 5 cold, electricity, fire resistance | Fort +4; Ref +5; Will +3 | Init: +8 | Perc: +10, SM: +8 | Speed 30 ft | Biohacks 4/4 | Fiendish Gloom 1/1, Applied Knowledge 1/1 | Active conditions: none
Seggas pours in the nutrients, but first tries to take a small sample of the water to test its contents. "Well here goes nothing... I guess? Seems like we might need to wait for more water to come in before we get a fully formed key..."
Sturmvanger takes up the whole back seat of the buggy he rides in with Seggas and their driver. He keeps a wary eye on the predators in the area and a watch out for any terrain that might damage their buggies. The last thing they want is to get stranded out here.
He frowns when they get to the pools. "They look poisoned, don't they? I mean, all this other growth everywhere else and it just so happens the ones we need are all dead? Do you think we need to clean them out?"
As you are about to put the nutrients in and collect samples, two, of what you thought were coral heads suddenly start moving towards you in a threatening manner.
Cha'mon Cha'mon, spots the dire abalones first as he was monitoring the party's perimeter. He swiftly aims his plasma guide at the closest one and fires.
"Heads up, we've got company."
Bluff (Feinting Stunt):1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15If your stunt and strike skill check and attack roll both succeed, your target is flat-footed against all attacks until the start of your next turn. DC is 20 + the target's CR. Plasma Guide vs. Red EAC:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 Electricity/Fire Damage:1d8 ⇒ 3
Botting Seggas
Seggas prepares Bii and fires at Red.
BioBolter ‘Bii’ (Castrolance) vs EAC:1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 1 = 7 Acid Damage:1d6 ⇒ 4
Red (-13) doesn't like being shot at and it double moves, on a wave of sticky sludge it continually excretes, up to the concentration of Starfinders. This might explain why this area is so devastated. As the sticky sludge laps around the feet of those Starfinders within 10ft, could they make a Reflex save or become entangled. You also notice this creature has ten foot long tendrils - all the better to hit you with.
Cha'mon Cha'mon, slogs his way through the sludge created by the anemones and falls back from the frontline. As he does so he takes a hand off his plasma guide and prepares to summon his needler pistol to his hand.
Female CN Tiefling Biohacker 3 | SP 21/21 HP 22/22 | RP 3/3 | EAC 18; KAC 17, 5 cold, electricity, fire resistance | Fort +4; Ref +5; Will +3 | Init: +8 | Perc: +10, SM: +8 | Speed 30 ft | Biohacks 4/4 | Fiendish Gloom 1/1, Applied Knowledge 1/1 | Active conditions: none
Seggas looks at backing up a step from the slime trails and raises Bii again, firing another shot at the mollusks in front of her. She also takes a moment to try identifying them and if there's any weaknesses she could take advantage of.
BioBolter ‘Bii’ (Castrolance) vs Green EAC:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 Acid Damage:1d6 ⇒ 4
If we were to try identifying them what skill should we roll?
