Dwinite just shrugs
"Be on your toes, gang." Sem whispers to the group.
"What package is it? We are in a mad rush, so we could perhaps help you so we can get back on track quickly." she approaces Kardyn, trying to get some info.
Nuya nods in agreement with Sem. "Yeah, we'd be happy to help, as repayment or the ride." She glances at the computer, trying to get a sense of where they are going. Another asteroid?
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About an hour later, the Saint of Anger approaches an enormous derelict vessel with the name R. S. Shelter written across the side in bold block letters. It has clearly been abandoned for some time based on the state of its disrepair, such as holes in the hull and various scorch marks. A smaller starship featuring a large insignia of a fire-breathing mastiff is docked in one of the Shelter’s empty bays. Kardyn brings the Saint of Anger into an adjacent bay and
shuts off the engine.
Kardyn stands from the captain’s chair and makes their way to the ship’s airlock. They open a locker and grab a flame doshko, which they point threateningly. “Suit up, kids, and don’t forget to grab your weapons. You’re coming inside with me. I want you to meet my friends.” As Kardyn makes ready to cycle the airlock they say, “Remember that I’m your only chance of getting to that gig, so either come inside or kiss your show goodbye.”
The two docking bays are devoid of gravity and connected by a large open door. Both are full of floating debris and empty supply crates. A group of well-armed individuals stands near the black ship, and one of them motions everyone closer. A comm unit crackles to life. “Well, Kardyn,” says a deep voice, “I hope you have the data module. I see you picked up some strays, though I don’t think they’re going to be any help here. Just hand it over, and we can call everything settled and go about our way.”
Kardyn grunts and steps to the edge of the doorway. “No sudden moves, Morwal,” the vesk calls out as they toss over a small device.
“It’s about time you did something smart, Kardyn,” Morwal says and laughs.
Morwal takes the device and connects it to his suit. Immediately, a small explosion sends him flying back with a scream of pain. Kardyn ignites their doshko and begins to charge at one of Morwal’s associates but is hit with laser blasts from another. Kardyn roars as they drop their weapon, grasping their wounded leg. “Alright, kids,” Kardyn yells out. “I guess we’re done here. Get me back to my ship. I’m the only one that can pilot it, so you better keep me safe!”
Status, bold may post
Dwinite
Nuya Pei
Sem Syletar Salumin
Zhgane mellu
Baddies
To summarize: a character can’t move in zero-g unless they have some kind of propulsion or can push themselves off something (which requires a move action). When a character starts moving, they continue to move in the direction until they collide with an object or another character. If that occurs, the character must succeed at a DC 20 Acrobatics or Athletics check or gain the off-kilter condition. Remember that all manufactured suits of armor have boots that allow the wearer to anchor their feet to a solid surface in zero-g (activating this functionality is a move action).
Off-Kilter: An off-kilter character can’t take move actions to move
their speed, crawl, or take a guarded step. They are flat-footed and take
a –2 penalty to attack rolls. They can end this condition by righting
themself with a method of propulsion or grabbing a stabilizing object
as a move action.
Kardyn is unable to move themselves due to their injury, so it is either drag or push him.
"You've gotta be kidding me..." She grabs drifting materials and begins forming them into a rough form of cover in front of her. "Sem, put all those muscles to work and see about getting Kardyn toward the exist. We'll try to stall them." Her exocortex implant flickers as she looks toward the enemies, gauging threats and calculating combat trajectories.
"Sure thing, but in zero-g this is a job for anyone!
Sem takes a move action to propel herself towards Kardyn using the floor, and a second move action to anchor herself as she immediately comes near him.
Dwinite lets loose a volley of magic missiles at Morwal
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Nuya quickly puts up a barrier - long experience keeping rowdy crowds at bay turns up useful on derelict space wrecks it seems.
Bolts of magic then thud into the spacer in yellow armor
Status, bold may post
Zhane Amellu
Baddies
yellow - 10 damage
Sem Syletar Salumin - tethered to Kardyn
Nuya Pei
Dwinite
Zhane sees what is going on and fellow allies have already started on yellow He points. This distance is only 55 feet Get Em! and you notice bullets and objects that near miss him within a quarter of an inch curve towards him as if he was a weak magnet.
He then draws his static arc pistol
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The three mercs open fire on the band. They are not happy
Two of the band get winged, and one of you more than just a flesh wound!
Dwinite even finds himself on fire. A painful experience in zero gravity and no atmosphere. The man in yellow who he hit with a magical missile shouts in delight.
Status, bold may post
Sem Syletar Salumin - tethered to Kardyn
Nuya Pei
Dwinite 20damage, burn d6
Zhane Amellu 9 damage
Baddies
yellow - 10 damage
Nuya pulls an incendiary grenade and throws it toward the group of adversaries.
Zhane digs out one of the nanite pills and then eats its.
6=30 temporary hit points.
Sem grabs hold of Kardyn and propels themselves using the floor towards the exit. She uses a second move action to stop right before the vesk slams against some cylinder.
Dwinite spends the entire round putting himself out.
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Dwinite tries to put himself out.
He is out!
The mercs continue to fire at Nuya and Zhane
The group can't help but think there has to be some lyrics here about putting it to The Man, but are a bit too busy to come up with any... at just this moment.
Status, bold may post
Nuya Pei 10 damage
Sem Syletar Salumin - tethered to Kardyn
Zhane Amellu 22THP; 9 damage
Dwinite 20damage
Baddies
yellow - 10 damage
blue - 6 damage
green -9 damage,
Zhane looks at them all. Hah, you can't get rid of me, with these wonder drugs, I'm virtually invincible. He looks at his allies. You all alright, you should have bought some wonder drugs like I did.
He points towards yellow again Getem
and fires his static arc pistol at yellow range 2 vs EAC electric
Through gritted teeth Dwinite replies I ... Don't ... Do ..... Drugs!
before fireing more missiles at Yellow.
Sem uses a move action to move Kardyn behind her, and another move action to propel themselves towards the south wall.
They smack against it, but she manages not to gain the off-kilter condition.
"What are you waiting for, get back in here!" she calls her party, not trusting Kardyn to be left alone in the ship...
Nuya nods to Dwinite. "I'll cover you. Get a move on." She pulls her semi-auto pistol, and a shimmering energy field manifests around her. "I'll give you some cover and then follow..."
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The yellow merc swears as multiple attacks target him "They got me!" he screams, as the three try to take down the "invulnerable" wonderdrug kind of the band
Three shots slam into him, as the singer joins the keyboard artist in finding the music a little too hot!
Even in his drug addled stage, Zhane can feel the burn!
Status, bold may post
Nuya Pei 10 damage
Sem Syletar Salumin - tethered to Kardyn
Zhane Amellu; 16 damage; burning d6 (ref DC 12)
Dwinite 20damage
Baddies
yellow - 20 damage
blue - 6 damage
green -9 damage,
Nuya fires at the blue-armored ruffian.
"I hate guns," she mutters as she kicks herself off the cover she's created, aiming toward the exit.
Dwinite does the mental math to calculate the optimum trajectory, grabs Zhane by the collar, then propels both of them back towards the exit. If he can, he'll send two missiles out to cover the retreat, one on Blue , and the other on green
Hey, Dwinite, I'll move when ready
Zhane will aim at yellow again and fire vs EAC electric
Then as a move action, Zhane will push off the edge of the block he is next to, to move south in the zero G gravity.
Oh right, end of turn, so vs burn.
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Zhane puts himself out as he offers a parting shot to the merc in yellow. From the sound of ongoing pain, it looks like he hit.
The rest of the troop over their own parting volleys and make for the ships doors.
The mercs...do something. But you are not too sure what, as your eyes are all on your escape route.
Status, bold may post
Nuya Pei 10 damage
Sem Syletar Salumin - tethered to Kardyn
Zhane Amellu; 16 damage;
Dwinite 20damage
Baddies
yellow - 23 damage
blue - 6 damage
green -9 damage,
Sem propels herself and Kardyn to the exit and uses another move action to stop.
On the next round she pushes the vesk inside the ship and draws her azimuth laser rifle, ready to cover for her crew's escape.
Guys, if we run, they will just chase us, we should wait for him at the south wall.
Dwinite continues moving to the exit. Hopefully they can make a quick getaway. As he does, the song 'Bat out of Hell' comes to mind.
I guess Zhane will continue to doublemove, going half speed each time, so he moved 30 feet south, once he his the bottom edge of the wall, he will have to push off so he moves east and then grab onto the edge.
Sem will wait for the rest of the group to escape into the ship, and enter last.
Nuya activates her boots to "land" on the forklift. She positions herself to launch off the forklift toward the exit.
Dwinite is taking the opportunity to run, erm, dive for the exit.
"Don't you ever let a chance go by oh lord, don't you ever let a chance go by - Bob Hudson - The Newcastle Song
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Lasers fly around the docking bay causing all types of damage to the huge derelict hulk. The band hustles back to the Saint, who looks particularly angry at just this moment. As the mercs float around the corner the doors shut and Kardyn collapses into the pilots seat. "Hold on, this might get bumpy"
With no thought for safety protocols, a cacophony of blaring warning sirens, lights and electro-telepathic messages, the Saint exits at full throttle. Kardyn silences the sirons, turns off the warning lights and ignores the telepathic warnings, eventually finding a button that turns them off too.
"Well, that didn't go quite as planned." snarls the vesk. He keeps checking his monitors for signs of persuit as up ahead the River Between slowly starts coming into view.
Suddenly, klaxons begin to sound again on the Saint of Anger’s bridge. “Bad news,” announces Kardyn. “Morwal probably ain’t too happy about the stunt I pulled. It looks like he brought his whole damn smuggling ring to the party.” Scanners reveal almost a dozen starships closing in behind, all of them with their weapons armed.
“Hold on, kids!” Kardyn shouts as they take evasive maneuvers to avoid incoming fire. The Saint of Anger shudders as a particle beam scores its hull. They steer the vessel toward the nearby dust cloud, yelling, “We’ll lose ’em in there!”
As the ship slips into the dust cloud, Kardyn sighs in relief but then lets out a pained groan and holds their wounded leg. “While we wait out the Diamond Tashtaris, I need to patch myself up real quick,” they say as they make their way toward the rear of the ship. Through a viewport, a flash
of electricity illuminates the mystical River Between in the distance.
A few moments later, the Saint of Anger shakes. It’s been hit! An alert on the ship’s computer reveals the truth: the ship’s escape pod has launched. A voice comes through the ship’s comms. “Sorry, kids,[b]” says Kardyn. “[b]I can’t let the Diamond Tashtaris catch me. But relax—they’ll probably
go easier on you than they would on me. Good luck! You’re on your own.”
Just as the message ends, the ship buckles again as a sheet of electricity from the dust cloud courses across the hull, taking out most of the systems. Auxiliary lights flicker on, but the Saint of Anger engines aren’t working. It’s only a matter of time before Morwal and his Diamond Tashtaris arrive.
There are some obvious (to the band) strategies here, assuming you still want to get to the station on time with all your fingers intact. Well, apart from Sem, obviously.
Search the dust cloud for a way out (mysticism or physical science check) - try to use the energy from the cloud to get you to the station.
enter the river between (acrobatics, athletics, pilot) - adjust trajectory to roll it closer to the waterway and let gravity take hold.
reroute power (computers,engeineering) reroute power from life support to navigation/engines and limp to songbird station.
Ride the wyrm (athletics, ranged attack). Your (poorly working) sensors detect a diaspora wyrm nearby. The saint has a manual grapnel for emergency docking that you could use to try and latch onto the wyrm for a ride...
Have a chat among yourselves about which approach you might want to try.
Nuya shakes her head. "I can't believe that guy ... Can we open a channel to the the Diamond Tashtaris and let them know that jerk is trying to sneak away in the escape pod?" As she speaks, she begins trying to dial down the life support to get more power to the navigation and engines. "Dwinite, see if you can find us a route through this dust cloud ... I'll get these engines fired up. Zhane, once we get a route out of here, can you pilot us out?"
Phew, I can take a breather now and he does
He will enter the river between
Aye Aye Cap'n Dwinite replies .He sings as he works.
And I'm looking for an asteroid named Rest Stop
Relief driver damn well better be waiting for me there
Cuz after fifteen hours of bussin'
Third class cargo and riders cussin'
I just might drive to blazes and not care.
((Asteroid named Rest Stop - Julie Ecklar))
"Well, he spared me the effort of tossing him through the airlock - good luck getting away with an escape pod out here!" Sem comments.
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Nuya encourages you all to put up your environmental protections as she reroutes all power to the engines. The ship shakes, and ice quickly forms on the various control surfaces where there had been moisture.
The Saint of Anger surges forward, lurching from the cloud in an inelegant set of fits and starts and various circuits burn out. Still, that is Songbird station dead ahead. Real question is .... what type of entrance will the band make?
Nuya grabs the controls. "Strap in ... Let's see if we can land in one piece."
As such ...
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Nuya starts toward Songbird station, trying to nurse the battered ship to a soft landing. Things start to go wrong just as the gravity well of the station takes a hold and the Saint plummets down.
Luckily a passing Starfinder ship notices, hails you and captures the Saint in a tractor beam, gently lowering the smoldering hulk into the middle of a busy docking bar. The whole thing is captured on local video! The battered ship covered in laser fire and asteroid impacts... not to mention the band emerging - full of their instruments.
It's *very* Rock and Roll.
"Whoah ... that was a crazy ride." Nuya glances around. "Did we make it in time for our set?"
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As station security push away adoring fans (or anyway, fans who are just keen to be fans of any up and coming band), you quickly check out the vid-screens. The first group has already hit the stage!!!!
You have a hard time admiring the beauty of the temple as panic wells up within you. Crafted from a material that resembles shining, opalescent marble, the temple boasts streamers of rainbow-colored energy that wave magically above the structure, shining through the darkness of the surrounding void.
Security do a quick scan of you, check you are on The List, and issue you your passes before ushering you through the crowds and into the back-stage area - along with your equipment. While you make it there before your set is due to begin.... you only *just* make it there on time. And it is there that you sit an officious snag in the way of making your (rock and roll) dreams come through.
The android stage manager holds up a hand. “Hey, there’s already a band ready to go. I can’t let you up on the stage.” She looks at her datapad. “Oh, I see. You’re Neon & Noqual? Well, here’s the thing, Neon & Noqual—you weren’t here for the sound check, and Snowfall Renaissance was. Rather than slow down the show, I expanded their slot. I honestly don’t care which of the two of you go out there next, so sort it out between yourselves.”
She motions over to the band waiting at the stage steps. “That’s them. But do figure it out quickly. One—and I mean only one—of you needs to
go on in five minutes!”
Nuya looks over Snowfall Renaissance, then leans in close the band. "What's the play here? Sounds like we can't play together, so we've got to convince them to back out. Zhane either has to sweet talk them, or Sem ... talk them out of it not so sweetly. Alternately, I guess Dwinite or me could mess up their equipment, maybe with Zhane causing a distraction. Or we could just bribe them. I think between us we have a few hundred credits we can offer." She begins ticking plan ideas off on her fingers.
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Snowfall Renaissance is a hydro-core band based out of Triaxus. The ryphorian musicians play specialized instruments contained within hydro-fields to give their music an underwater sound. The band has a particularly large brenneri and morlamaw fanbase, in addition to a shirren contingent, as their music has a unique depth notable to creatures that can sense vibration.
Their lead singer is called Remia.