GM Dennis - SFS #4-10 The Way In - Table 1 (Inactive)

Game Master Dennis Muldoon

Please dot in and delete your post.

It’s been two weeks since you left Absalom station aboard the Starfinder destroyer Best of Intentions, travelling through the Drift accompanied by a fleet of smaller vessels. Today, however, the monotony of the journey has been interrupted: Ixthia the Unbreakable, acting leader of the Exo-Guardians and commander of the fleet, has requested that you meet with them regarding the upcoming mission.

Arriving at the conference room Ixthia has co-opted as their fleet command center, you find that several other veteran agents have been summoned as well. “Welcome Starfinders,” Ixthia says, looking up from one of several display screens in front of them. “Please take a seat. We’re only a few days from our destination, and there’s still quite a bit to do. First, however, please take a moment to get to know each other; you will be working closely together in the days ahead.”

Please take a moment to introduce yourself in character. We’ll move one once everyone has had a chance to post.

Oddman is sitting on a chair in the corner, partially hidden in the shadows - nobody can quite remember if he was already there when they arrived, or if he came in silently without anyone noticing. If addressed, he answers his name, but otherwise just grunts or nods. He looks like just any other kasatha.

A bright a perky young woman in a all-too-short "SMC #1 Fan" cut off t-shirt collapses into one of the briefing chairs.

"Hi!" she says brightly.

"I'm Gunnz! And I'll be your pilot today!"

I kind of picture her personality wise as a bit Harley Quinn, but without the insanity and cruel streak. But totally living in the moment

She offers a poke to he kasatha in the next chair. "b[]How about you, big guy? You look kind of familiar. But then again, most people do. Maybe you took in one of my shows? Gota keep morale up on a ship like this![/b]"

A winged, insectile humanoid flits into the briefing room. "HI EVERYBODY!"

He is dressed in impeccably tailored high-end armor, and he exudes charisma, flamboyance, and charm. "I just came from the galley. A few of the crew and I were singing some old Castrovelian sailing shanties. I think I learned at least TWO new songs I can add to my act back on the station when we get back! The others were probably just a little too RANDY for me to perform at the restaurant."

He takes a seat. "So...where are we off to today?"

Think of Teleemo as a cross between Liberace and Elvis. He is both flamboyant and masculine in his persona. Of course none of the traditional masculine/feminine roles mean much to him. He's a ghibrani, from halfway across the galaxy, and back on Elytrio they have a very different outlook on those sort of things in their day-to-day lives.

A kasatha wearing a white suit with bell-bottom trousers, black shirt, and black heeled platform shoes struts rhythmically into the room.

"Hey y'all..." he says, greeting everyone with confident eye contact.

"My name is Fuunk and meeting you is my pleasure.
"I'm a dancer both professionally and for leisure.
"But when the society needs to bring the heat,
"I've got the tools to render our enemies dead meat!
"So when the laser fire starts rippin' every which way,
"Git behind me and down you stay.
"In between you and harm is where I'll be...
"And together we'll crack our enemies - jus like Humpty!"

"Ya dig??" He gives everyone a friendly, knowing wink.

Gunnz leaps to her feet. "No Way! Dance Party!" she almost shrieks.

A flick of her wrist turn on external speakers that must be hidden somewhere.

"Dance off big boy!" she calls out as the latest SMC track starts to reverberate through the room. With a surprisingly agile wiggle she starts to Strut her stuff.

prof(dancer): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (8) + 16 = 24

Croaker walked down the corridor towards the briefing room. He was wearing newly acquired Ysoki refractor suit and a suitcase with hellknight logo on it. It container a weapon that he got from them, a past favor that he called upon.

He stands at the crossroads of corridors "I think.... left now."

He takes a turn, he is carrying a military uniform without any emblems off them, very common for mercenaries. On his arm is a medic patch, on his belt he carries knife. His snout is long and covered with dark fur.

"Where is it?"

He opens a door to the left, but sees Kasatha singing and a female dancing so quickly closes it. "That is some rehearsal, what a waste of time" He looks at his comm unit just to see that this is the place. He sighs loudly and thinks for a moment about the War Wagon that he just bought, maybe they mount there some speakers and play music on the battleground.

Once again he opens the doors and looks at the others. All of the assembled are taller than him, it does not surprise him. After all he is only 3 ft.

"Hi, My name is Spike, but from when I was 10 others called me Croaker. When you fail to find cover during the battle I will be the one trying to stitch you back."

He puts the suitcase on the ground and takes a sit.

I will use boon Contractor’s Respect (Hellknights) to get a weapon for this scenario => the suitcase

The android Kat5e enters the briefing room last to the dancing and the music. Her eyes flash from one person to the next, her security subroutines and exocortex taking in all the data being presented to her. She pauses for a moment longer than her size up would normally take, with a quizzical look that shifts to a smile. ice has been broken already, off to a good start with this crew, other than my apparent tardiness.

I am Kat5e, most just call me Kat. Pleasure to meet you all"

Kat is lean and muscular, with organic skin and muscles that are completely covered in the tattoo-like patterns of android circuitry, as well as ink. The designs spread across all her exposed skin, even her face and scalp. She is sporting her signature mohawk, battered leather jacket and trusty old laser rifle.

Please excuse the lateness of my intro, I was called into a work emergency

“Very good. There’s much to do, so let’s get started. Recently, a team of Starfinders obtained data that gave us some insight into our robotic foes. Using that intel, we’ve been able to locate a large number of their ships here.” With a tap on the data pad in front of them, a holographic projection of a star system, dominated by a large, ringed gas giant, springs up from the center of the table. “This is the Cantlah system. Not much of interest, really; no inhabitants, no signs of anything unusual. For reasons unknown to us, however, our enemy has decided to use this system as a staging ground for their fleet. We don’t know exactly what we’ll find when we arrive, but our hope is to sneak into the system undetected and do a bit of reconnaissance before launching a surprise attack. As some of the most experienced agents on this expedition, you’ll have a big part to play in whatever comes next. Do you have any questions?”

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You might know something about these robots already:

Engineering: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24

Having never faced the robot menace, Kat links wirelessly to the datasphere and searches for the relevant information, then reports what she can find in .24 seconds.

She directs her first question to Ixthia. "Do we have any objectives for this suprise attack? Or will we just be searching for targets of opportunity to weaken their forces?"

"Has anyone fought these things before?" Kat asks the group.

Her questions are quick, cold and calculating, as if she is processing the variables for their mission and it's possible outcomes.

"Our primary objective is to destroy or disable their fleet in the system, if at all possible. However, this scope may change once we are in-system and have up-to-date information."

diplomacy: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (1) + 17 = 18

Let's just get that out of the way right now...

"These robot come in a wide variety of sizes, and while some are older models, they almost all have upgraded components."

You may look at the first two spoilers.

Earlier...

As Gunnz throws down a dance challenge, Fuunk obliges without hesitation!

Profession (dancer): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

"Girl you've got moves!
"The audience should pay a fee...
"Cuz your grooves...
"Are even better than me!"

Fuunk shows obvious admiration at Gunnz's dancing ability.

------------

Currently...

Diplomacy: 1d20 ⇒ 6
Fuunk listens to the briefing with no additional information to contribute nor questions to raise.

Gunnz offers Fuunk a high-five, doing a little leap to reach his rather taller hand. "It's all about attitude my friend. " Dancing over she hurls her somewhat sweaty form into the nearest chair to listen to the briefing.

"I was there in the Lorespire when the robots first attacked." she admits.

"Not pretty, not pretty at all." She offers a wave to Spike "Kind of wish we had you with us there. Suffered all kinds of beating, and not the sort that CPTIAN*CARMINE puts out."

engineering: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18

"Questions... how many of us are going out? Is the Master of Stars coming?"

Then, hopefully, "Can I drive?"

"Unfortunately the Master of Stars will not be with us. Fitch is mid-retrofit on the computer system, and until she finishes it'snot well shielded enough from the virus to risk arming it. The Best of Intentions here will serve as our fleet's flagship. As for whether you can drive," they say, glancing between Guunz and Fuunk, "I'll leave that up to you to figure out. Your team here should choose a vessel from the hangar, however, and get everything calibrated to your liking. You'll probably have need of it before we're done."

Any other questions? Also, please settle who's in what role (I see at least two dancing Ace Pilots, for instance) and place your name in the matrix on slide 2. Also, choose what ship frame you'd like (Pegasus, Drake, Azata, any other you have access to).

Gunnz offers Fuunk a squee of delight and a hug.

"I love piloting. Get horribly space-sick if my hand isn't at the controls." she admits.

And then, batting her eyelids at Ixthia. "This time I'll take it back without a scratch. Promise!"

Finaly, turning her beatific features on the rest of the group she hopefully asks "We taking the Pegasus?".

"I mean, scouting... right.. Fast engines, low profile, good sensors. Did I mention fast engines and tight turning circle?"

Returning her attention to Ixthia she adds "So... recon... anything else you can tell us about the system, the planet.... the capabilities of the ships we are likely to face?"

"We'll know more when we arrive in system. We're aiming to take up position ont he far side of Cantlah-4 when we arrive. Provided we arrive where intended--and that the enemy fleet is still where our scouts reported them--we should be shielded from their scanners by the planet and its metallic rings. Of course, that means they'll be shielded from us as well, but I have the beginnings of a plan. I'll share more when we arrive and see the situation."

I'll jump us forward a couple days to in-system tomorrow.

Croaker listens to the briefing

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12 and he stays quiet when others are exchanging information about the attack. He did not participate in that, was far away and simply saw reports.

"Before we jump on the whole Pegasus vs Drake discussion. Look in the past, the enemies attacked Starfinders targeting our computer systems. I even read a mission report that said about ships being crippled and crush without even one shot being fired in their direction. My merc squad did a gig around Eox, I used some of my bornie points to secure a ship from the corpse fleet."

He makes a move at his comm unit to present an image of Crypt Warden And again the Crypt Warden stats keep in mind that it is tier 7 compared to pegasus/drake tier 6 -> so all rolls dependant on tier will be a bit tougher.

"The ship is slow, but packed with solid armor and heavy gunnery. On top of all that, it uses different software and networks. If the enemy has more hackers able to attack our ships, this one could surprise them."

And again I am not trying to sell you on this! Just presenting it as one of the options. As well as I found an angle to present it ;)

"No questions, commander. It shall be done." Oddman says, simply.

Kat regards Croaker. "The corpse fleet vessel is definately more my style, aesthetically... I defer to our pilot. Whatever you give me, I'll try to keep in one piece."

Having had the mission parameters laid out as best as possible, Kat nods and rises from her seat. Although she is the least experienced agent amongst the group, she still carries herself as a battle tested veteran. She's ready to move as soon as they are able.

"I'll jump into the captain's seat. DON'T WORRY! I won't be too harsh of a master!" Teleemo's tongue is, of course, firmly implanted in his cheek.

Does a ghibrani even have a tongue?

Hmmm. No engineer. That could be bad.

Kat is your engineer and science officer.

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After several more days of travel, the Starfinder fleet arrives in the Cantlah system, coming into the system positioned behind Cantlah-4 just as Ixthia had hoped. Shortly after arriving, the Exo-Guardians leader once again requests you join him for a briefing.

“Thank you for joining me,” Ixthia says, looking up from a display terminal. “We’ve reached our destination, and so far our presence seems to have gone undetected. However, our scans indicate that the enemy fleet routinely sends out patrols throughout the system, and one is due to pass near our current location in about two hours. I’d like you to select a ship, which our mechanics will outfit with a special transponder. Your job is to intercept the patrol while it’s cut off from the fleet on this side of the planet and take their place. The transponder is programmed to mimic the patrol ship’s signal, which should allow you to complete its patrol route undetected. As you near the rest of the enemy forces, you will have a limited window in which to scan them, hopefully gaining us invaluable intel about the composition and capabilities of their fleet. I can’t stress enough how important your assignment is to the success of our mission, and I’m confident that you have the skills necessary to accomplish the task before you. Good luck, Starfinders.”

We’re going straight into Starship combat, but feel free to ask Ixthia any questions you had about the mission. To start off round 1, those of you acting in the Engineering and Helm phase may post your actions. Pilot, please roll a piloting check for initiative.

Posted in the wrong thread. This is a cut and paste from there. Left the original in as it has the roll.
The sweet,sweet sounds of SMC start echoing around the ship as Gunnz puts on her "space-combat" mix. As the crew settles into place, she reaches under the dash of the pilots console and rummages around for a moment or two, before subtly removing what looks like a fuse.

"Discovered where the "don't red line the engines" fuse sat a few expeditions ago." she explains to anyone who wanted to listen.

"This makes flying *so* much more fun!"

And with that she kicks the Pegasus into full drive!

init, node, pegasus bonus: 1d20 + 20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 20 + 3 + 1 = 40

Fuunk struts to the gunner station, sits down and straps in.

"With a pilot like Gunnz...
Everyone strap in!
Cuz if not, our lil buns...
Will be all o'er the bridge flyin!"

And once Gunnz kicks the ship into full drive, Fuunk remarks, "Groooooovy!!!!"

Magic Officer for this round

Oddman drops a bunch of black rocks on top of a computer console and tries to interpret the information:

Scrying: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (7) + 14 = 21

"This functions as the scan science officer action, but you attempt a Mysticism check instead of a Computers check."

Well, crud

Croaker does not like the decision, but he is a Mercenary, he does not like plenty of decisions but still rolls with them. He makes a call to send the Crypt Warden back. In the hangar, he jumps into his truck and begins to drive it to the pegasus hull. As he barely gets it there, he begins to secure the vehicle by special gravitational clamps.

Then from the back of the wagon he pulls a box out which he takes towards the turret. Very quickly he disassembles the turret aiming mechanisms and reroutes the cables through his device. Then he turns on the gun and begins to turn it with his mystical powers. "That would do."

Croaker sits in a gunner seat and locks the buckles. "I hope you can outrun their lasers Gunnz, as the armor on this ship is as soft as baby rat's skin."

Kat takes her position on the bridge at the science officer station. She discreetly tunes the audio filters in her ears to eliminate the sounds of SMC from Gunnz's station. It's nothing personal against the pilot, Kat just thinks they're so mainstream and prefers bands noone has ever heard of.

TL;DR, Kat is acting in the helm phase for round. Here is Kat's computer roll for the scan if we close withing10 spaces for our medium scanners.

Computers, Scan: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22

Seeing Croaker magic-ize the turret, Fuunk says,

"Woah man that's outta sight!
I'll fire the other weapons when in a firefight!"

Spooked by your sudden appearance, the enemy ship loops around to face you, its attempt at evasive maneuvers not particularly deceptive. You easily won the init roll, and I have taken my movement. Go ahead and move, take pilot actions, and gunnery phase actions. Remember in your movement that you were warned not to stray too far from the ring (more than 20 hexes), which essentially means don't go off the top edge of the map.

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Starship Combat

Round 1:

Acceleration pushes everyone back in their seats as Gunnz flatlines the engines to try and keep the Pegasus outside the enemies forward firing arc.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she calls out as she throws in a couple of, possibly unnecessary, jinks and jives.

evade DC19 (can't fail unless we take damage to engines): 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (2) + 20 = 22
Burns the bonus space combat RP to add 50% speed

And with absolutely every warning light on the console on full she turns the pegasus into a tight turn as it absolutely zips through space. "FULL POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screams, her voice matching the unfortunate pitch of the engines.

"Fuunkk you can fly with me anytime. For some reason, most people don't come back for seconds." she comments as she changes the music.

Then, game voice on calls out. "Firing solutions ahead and port, go wild!"

Gunnz, I think you're still in the middle of moving the token at the moment but I assume you'll point the fore of the pegasus at the enemy ship? In which case.... Fuunk fires the forward twin lasers!!

Gunnery: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32
Twin Laser Damage: 5d8 ⇒ (5, 3, 2, 5, 2) = 17

Yes. Assuming the fore of the ship comes about and faces the enemy vessel, Teleemo will encourage Fuunk. Otherwise, he'll encourage whoever is using the turret.

Teleemo steps very close to Fuunk, even to the point of invading his personal space. In fact you might say he SIDLES up to him. "Fuunk, I know you've got it in you. Take that enemy ship down!"

diplomacy to encourage: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (10) + 17 = 27

I might recommend that we put our rolls in spoilers. Obviously in this case, Fuunk probably hits, but Teleemo doesn't know that yet, so he would still encourage him.

Gunnery, turret: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23
Light Particle Beam: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 5) = 8

Croaker makes few symbols that keep the magic present, he reaches to the lines of power flowing through the space, nad begins to aim with turret at the enemy ship. When they are in range, he takes a shot

I'm going to guess that the blue arrow was meant to indicate direction, and have rotated your ship accordingly.

-----

Scanning/Scrying Results:

Gunnz twists and turns the Pegasus, trying to keep the drop on the automated opponent.
init, pegausus, node: 1d20 + 20 + 1 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 20 + 1 + 3 = 44

"Lets see how it tries to twist and turn this time..." she says as she changes the music again

Kat will likely act in the engineering phase from now on. I will focus on keeping our shields powered unless anyone else needs anything.

"Diverting auxiliary power to shields"

Computers, Divert DC 19: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

5% of 200 PCU is 10 points to shields, returning us to full.

Precognition: Mysticism DC 19: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (4) + 14 = 18

"On a success, you grant the pilot a +2 circumstance bonus to their Piloting check at the beginning of the helm phase to determine piloting order."

Great

The automated ship once again loops around, seemingly trying to bring its forward weapons to bear. While it tries to take evasive maneuvers as it goes, they seem to somehow make it easier to track!

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Starship Combat

Round 2:

Singing along loudly and out of tunely Gunnz pulls the Pegasus into a tight turn to Starboard before tucking the Pegasus in right behind the sophisticated drone.

"There she is, dead ahead!" calls out the pilot, putting in an almost needlessly violent jink to avoid a possible missile.

evade DC19: 1d20 + 20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 20 + 1 = 25

Fuunk again fires the forward twin lasers!!

Oddman, you can swap to shot turret for next 2 rounds, Croaker will be Magical Officer then

Don't we have exactly the same bonuses?

Teleemo paces the bridge. This time he turns to Fuunk, getting right in his face. He reminds him of his potential, and the great things that are to come. Occasionally, what Teleemo says is awkward and cringey. Oftem his grasp of Pact Worlds HISTORY is simply wrong. Still, it's apparent he is trying to convey a positive, upbeat environment where the crew knows they'll be successful.

diplomacy to encourage: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (11) + 17 = 28

Croaker is thrown off by Gunnz's fancy moves. Fuunk, however, guided by Teleemo, lands a perfect, center-mass shot that easily pierces the partial shields on that side and blows a large hole in the enemy ship! That's three critical thresholds, two from hull point damage and one from the crit!

1d100 ⇒ 32 Weapon glitching in the...
1d4 ⇒ 4 ...port arc
1d100 ⇒ 5 Life support glitching
1d100 ⇒ 47 Weapon glitching in the...
1d4 ⇒ 3 ...aft arc

Meanwhile, the enemy unleashes another laser beam at you, but is unable to connect!

Light laser cannon vs. forward arc: 1d20 + 10 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 10 + 3 = 20
Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4

Another hunk of magnetic ore comes spinning out of the ring toward...

(1) PCs, (2) enemy: 1d2 ⇒ 2
Attack vs. TL: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

...the enemy ship! It hasn't yet reached it's target, though!

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The enemy piloting system seems to be regaining its footing, but it still can't keep up with Guunz! Its evasive maneuvers seem much more effective this time, though. I rolled much better on init this time, but not quite well enough to beat you. I've done my movement.

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Starship Combat

Round 3:

Gunnz tracks the drone, sticking closely on its rear end. This time she gives it a little space, slightly worried about the presence of the new asteroid that was heading for the drone.

"Lets hope there isn't too much debris when it hits" she mutters.

"If it hits, it'll be like...."

And here she moves onto the next track on her "action stations" mix.

Dynamite!"

That said she puts the Pegasus through what one might argue was a needless set of rolls, and a true music fan would note as the Pegasus trying to "dance" to the soundtrack.

evade DC19: 1d20 + 20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 20 + 1 = 28

"Hey guys... You using the targeting routines on the computer? You know the Pegasus has heaps of processing capacity, and even I can only use so much of it at once."

"Oh Gunnz you're so so right!
"I'll use some of that capacity for this fight!
"BOOM! Oh yaaah... Dyno-MITE!!"

Precognition: Mysticism DC 19: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27

"On a success, you grant the pilot a +2 circumstance bonus to their Piloting check at the beginning of the helm phase to determine piloting order."

"Shields are at maximum, sending excess power to the weapons!

Engineering, Divert to Weapons, DC 19: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

Failed