"Clever move," says Navasi. Seeing no other way to take a shot at the opposing ship's aft while also staying out of their weapon arcs, Navasi warns her crewmates, "Hold on, we're going in for a flyby!!!"
Navasi brings the drake in close to the opposing ship and finds an opening, allowing the gunners to fire forward arc weapons (including the turret) at the Pouncer's aft arc!
"Make the shot count!!"
Additional +2 if Delia attempts and succeeds precognition action during engineering phase.
”Great flying!” exclaims The Specialist, lining up the coilgun on the Pouncer’s aft.
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It is possible one can sense the Pouncer captain's rage and annoyance as your ship flies by and batters the aft of their ship. It's is also rather obvious that they had rotated their shields out of aft, presumable to forward as both your weapons rip into their ship.
What rear shields there are, are completely obliterated and much damage is done. (-31). Three critical thresholds are passed.
And they still can't fire back.
Round 6 - Pouncer.
"No telling where they're gonna go. I'll try to put some distance between us to keep them to our aft so that we still have a chance of keeping them within firing arcs..." says Navasi. Then she grumbles, "...nearly forgot this darn'd ship doesn't have weapons to port or starboard..."
Navasi guns it and attempts to go evasive but apparently shaken by the enemy getting the drop on her this time, her attempt at evasive maneuvers fails badly and instead opens up the drake to the enemy!
Additional +2 if Delia attempts and succeeds precognition action during engineering phase.
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[ooc]Botting the Specialist on the other Coil Gun[/dice]
Both coil guns hit. The first one eliminates all the shielding they had managed to put into the aft and tears a hole in the hull, the second one makes the hole bigger. (-53)
This is followed by a MASSIVE explosion as the smuggled weapons detonate erupting in a tangerine-coloured cloud of protoplasm that completely destroys the smugglers’ ship and takes several weeks to dissipate.
Brigadier Tassada Kor is overjoyed. Good work! she applauds the PCs. ... and I don't think you even got your paintwork marked. We shall crush the insurrectionists beneath our durasteel boots yet. You’ve done the Veskarium proud!
Later that day, your vessel receives its clearance papers. In addition, Tassada includes tickets to see SkitScratch Dreams, a skittermander jazz band, at a local cantina. The music is, sadly, awful. After the concert, Tassada remarks, You know, Starfinders, those little creatures have six hands each—you would think that they could find the right notes sometimes.
"Or in the hands of the unskilled, it means a three-fold increase in the amount of incorrect notes!" says Navasi with a wink.
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Later that day, your vessel receives its clearance papers. In addition, Tassada includes tickets to see SkitScratch Dreams, a skittermander jazz band, at a local cantina. The music is, sadly, awful. After the concert, Tassada remarks, You know, Starfinders, those little creatures have six hands each—you would think that they could find the right notes sometimes.
"You should hear oma music. This is perfection in comparison," says the Specialist.
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What is ... oma music? asks the Brigadier.
"Oma are gigantic space whales that float through the rings and atmospheres of gas giants. They sing a... weird, mournful song telepathically straight into yer brain," says The Specialist with a wistful look on his face. "Anybody that hears 'em is nostalgic for the sound, but nobody's ever been able to decipher them."
"And of a blind date I was on once..."
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"Aquatic mammals? In space?" Sir Feighnswelle inquires upon hearing the description of the oma.
The walrus-like morlamaw then whispers to Navasi, "I was unaware that you were into dating the kin of your fellow agents. My nephew is quite the beachmaster. If you are interested, I could put in a good word for you."
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Even though this talk of space whale music and Navasi's romantic encounters are really interesting, it is time for you to head off for Vesk 6 for your final mission. ((see Handout 4))
Upon arrival you meet with your contact, Reha Nacar (female pahtra) in the Cultural Alliance's archaeology storage warehouse.
In a room crammed with towering shelves full of artefacts, a pahtra hunches over a workbench dusting fragments of pottery. She straightens and brushes away the fine layer of dust that accumulated on her black fur. Welcome to Voyedris, she says. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting such a promising-looking bunch. Starfinders, are you? I am Reha Nacar, an advisor with the Voyedris Cultural Alliance. Looking at you now, I predict that you might just get out of the valley alive. Her tone is reserved, and she chooses her words carefully.
My job here is simple. I repair, catalogue, and store cultural artefacts. It’s the retrieving part I don’t handle. Usually, the military assists us with patrols to aid in retrieval and keeping off-world looters at bay. But a patrol sent to recover the latest batch of artefacts went missing recently, and a replacement won’t arrive any time soon. That’s where you come in.
I need you to retrieve two artefacts from a ruin once called the Azure Sanctuary. One is a blue gemstone beetle that rests above the entranceway to the ruins. The other is a polished stone pipe that rests atop an altar honouring a lizard spirit that once protected the Sanctuary.
Please keep your eyes open for our patrol while searching. You should have already received coordinates to their last known location from Naiaj. Feel free to ask your questions now—communications aren’t reliable in the valley. Reha crosses her arms and stands waiting.
"What type of dangers are usually encountered? Agressive flora and fauna? Also, you mentioned off-worlders? Any groups or people in particular or all sorts?
"Are you aware of anything protecting these ruins? Magical curses perhaps? Or traps?
"As for the patrol, what can you tell us about them? How many people? Were they all vesk? How heavily armed were they? And is there any code word or other signal we can provide to them to prove we're friendlies and not foes (assuming we find them alive)?"
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((My bad - fixed))
Our ancestors who created the sanctuary deeply respected individuality, just as much as modern pahtra do. As such, the ruin features a puzzle which you can solve in different ways. Trust your own instincts, but think before you act.
Many terrors could kill you on Pulonis, but this particular ruin is just north of one of the most dangerous. We call it the Shriek, and you must avoid it at all costs. My worry is that the soldiers may have walked straight into it.
The Shriek? When magnetic storms rage on Pulonis, they fling razor-sharp metal, glass, bone, and unexploded munitions from a lost vesk destroyer across the planet’s surface. Two to three times a day now, the Shriek rains death over the valley.
"And about that missing patrol. Any info about them you can share?"
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She tells you the patrol consisted of two Vesk soldiers and a military vehicle.
The Azure Sanctuary is located within a valley of ruined stone structures, roughly 3 hours’ ride in an overland vehicle from Voyedris. These decrepit buildings are now all that remains of the bustling pahtra city that stood for centuries until the brutal war of vesk conquest.
Your coordinates point to a a vault flanked by broken pillars. Though the area conceals a trove of known artifacts, its true historical significance is lost to time. Only part of this structure still stands; the entryway (area D1) has a 15-foot high ceiling and is dimly lit. The exterior stone walls are carved from marble. The entrance leads to a valley of debris and collapsed foundations.
On the outskirts of the jungle stands a stone entrance way overgrown with moss. Stone-carved lizards encircle an empty socket in the gray stone. A constant low rumble emits from within, as slowly swinging pillars move over a floor inlaid with sapphire beetles. A pair of muddy boot prints leads into the ruins’ entrance and down the corridor.
((Perception checks to examine the boot prints))
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(Perception 20+) You notice they lead to a pillar, now removed from the structure and leaning against a wall in the middle of the corridor.
Heavy pillars tethered to the ceiling by ropes swing through the corridor in a predictable cadence. Engineering check to determine how to disable or remove a swinging pillar or Acrobatics to dodge the pillars or Perception to notice another alternate method.
And if Navasi doesn't spot anything of interest, she exclaims, "Geronimo!!!" and dives forward to dodge the pillars.
"Hey guys! Try crawling under them!" yells Navasi, pointing out what she observed.
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Delea wriggles her way through while the Specialist studies the swinging pillars and realises that the method to remove a swinging pillar involves waiting for the pillar to reach its highest point, then holding it up against the wall so its anchoring mechanism unlatches. This would require two entities to achieve, one holding it up with an Athletics and another performing the Engineering.
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Between The Specialist and Sir Feignswelle the pillar is locked in place, clearing the way. Upon getting through ...
This once-pristine valley bears dreadful scars of its turbulent past. Trenches in the soil expose layers of bedrock, revealing preserved bones of giant fauna. Radioactive fluids collect in pools and emit toxic gas that clings to structures like mist. Only the rubble littering the ground hints at the ruins that once stood here. Parked between the massive rib bones of an ancient megalith is an abandoned military vehicle.
The rubble covering the ground mostly consists of splintered tree trunks, smashed pillars, and jagged chunks of ceramic. Judging by the state of the area, the destructive event that recently reduced the other ruins to debris likely didn’t leave the stone pipe intact. As you search the valley, you discover two vesk soldiers pinned beneath a fallen tree.
((Athletics or Engineering to lift the tree - map is up))