GM Zoomba's SFS 4-09 Through Sea & Storm (Inactive)

Game Master Zoomba

Troivayan seems to perk up when he hears Gab mention mutations. "Yeah, I was on that mission too! Took so many rads I'm lucky to be walking."

"And likewise, I have a lot of medical supplies too, advanced medical kits and stuff to keep us upright"

Before departing, Jim ensures the parts to repair the core of the ship are ordered.

He also spends time going over 'Big Jim One' and prepping it for the mission ahead, ensuring the aphelion artillery laser mounted in the nose is operational, ensuring that there are a few airsickness bags, and ensuring that there are fresh bags of nuts and bottled water for each seat. He then slots in his virtual assistant and briefs them on the party members, their permissions, and what to do in an emergency.

Miniaturised T3 computer with an artificial personality, vehicle controls, and planetwide comms.

Gab looks it over. "Nice ride ya got here, Jim." He munches on a few nuts while waiting for take-off.

Maverick, enthusiastically helps Big Jim prepare his enercopter for flight.

He takes a walk around the copter checking for any loose panels or unsecured weapons.

"I prefer a faster ride, but this one will do for now."

Properly outfitted and with the repair order for the Hornet placed, Big Jim One is ready for takeoff!

The enercopter lifts off of Anduwar's docking bay and begins its journey out into the atmosphere of Pholskar. Elthel was able to send over a slightly updated map to your datapads once she learned you would be traveling via air. The approach should take some time off of the journey by being able to move more directly to sunken Talgradur, though she suggests trying to stay somewhat close to the coastlines as erratic air currents and storms can occur above the open seas. Even by copter, the trip out will take several days.

Descending a bit from Anduwar below some of the cloudline, you get your first good view of Pholskar as you fly. The oceans visible to the vehicle's left west-ish are a deep dark blue as large and swift waves hint at a turbulent sea. Occasionally pods of some strange serpentine creature burst undulate along the surface before descending back down below. Through the open side of the copter on the right east you're able to look at the craggy far-off coastline. While there are trees and vegetation on the earth, now are particularly lush. the flora that seems to survive here is tough and rugged, mostly brush and short grass. Deep crevasses cut into the landscape frequently, and uneven collections of rubble and boulders are a common sight. In the distance you pass a few structures and towers as you go, as well as something the looks like a mining rig of some sort. Every now and then movement catches your eyes and you can faintly make out small groups of giants moving along the surface, most of the time with several large woolly quadrupeds resembling rams moving with them.

Unfortunately, while Big Jim One is helping you move along quickly and with relative style, the copter's starboard side is open-doored Or the port-side if you'd prefer Jim: it's your copter, which model did you buy?, and its only an hour or so before your skin begins to feel tingly and irritated.[/ooc]

the irritation is from the causicity level of the atmosphere. If you put on your environmental protections you'll be ok for now.
Meanwhile, what are you all doing to pass the time/man the craft on your trip?

Maverick, activates the environmental protections on his armor. Sitting in the co-pilot seat of the copter, he gives Big Jim navigational updates on the course their taking and keeps an eye on the radar for any contacts.

"Anduwar control, this is Big Jim 1, we are airborne."

Starboard is fine :)

"She wasn't kidding, need to keep those environmental protections on this atmosphere isn't real nice. This place is no Vesk 2"

Keeping the enercopter at a cruising height of half a mile, Jim plots the location of habitated structures as waypoints into his and the enercopters GPS, "Always good to know where help might be able to be found if we're in a hurry out of somewhere"

"Anyone feel like identifying what the creatures we're seeing are?" Jim points them out "...those snakes on the plain"

Is this suggesting the ground dwellers are pretty much low-tech space-goat herders?

Gab flicks on the environmental protections of his armor. He glances around. "Anybody got a chemalyzer on them? I didn't think to pick one up, but it might be useful to take some atmospheric readings and soil samples while we're in the area." Just for safe measure, he double checks that his radiation badge is activated and hanging on the front of his armor.

Jim tosses Gabbers his Chemalyzer "Got you covered there, let us know what we're dealing with" - he also hands over a broad spectrum scanning kit.

Data puts up his environmental protections. Bad air, tell me about it, I really really don't want to rust due to bad air.
Z Data Z cleans his body to make sure it ain't rusty.

"No problem, I got plenty of supplies - we can get you a grease and oil change and have you running like new" Jim jests "but seriously, if anyone sees anything of note, or knows anything about the creatures or peculiarities of the location then holler, it is all good factoids for the kids at home watching Jim's Jams, kids love hearing about the five stomachs of some beast, or some mildly-grusome eating habits of a giant spider"

It's not Castroval either says a sleepy looking Katrina in the back of the enercoptor. What's Vesk 2 like? I've read about it, been meaning to visit but I haven't been yet.

She had been sleeping in the back for most of the ride but had just woken up when her skin started itching so she too activated her environmentals in the clearweave II armour she was currently wearing.

Apart from purchasing a chemalyser, all her shopping had been done on Absalom Station before hand including a Kalo modified Pilot Handcoil weapon to use underwater a true-frame camera scanner, and a glameur projector armour upgrade. Unfortunately none of the armours on offer that she could use didn't have any drawbacks that made them better than what she currently had. Besides, both the new weapon and the camera were ... rather expensive. Also, she had made sure everything was fully charged before leaving the ship.

Speaking of the camera, she sheepishly takes it out and starts taking pictures of the landscape below.

Good idea Gab she says. I got one for that very purpose - and to analyse the water before I get in it.

Also, when she found out that the only snackfood on board was nuts, she raided her emergency stash of chocolate bars.

life sciences: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

I usually take the pictures then let the experts argue over what they are but, yeah - I guess they're some sorta herd animal. Similar to sheep by the look of them

I thought you said Jim's Jams was a home improvement show? Speaking of which, I got this place in the Puddles that's a bit of a fixer-upper - at least according to my sister.

"Vesk 2? Beaches, beaches for miles. Beautiful sunsets, warm waters, it is a piece of sub-tropical paradise. No moon so you tend to get very little tidal change, so it is ideal for some water sports, but not so great for the really exciting ones. With that said, if you want a spot to kick back in a hammock with a cocktail you can't beat the place. The Itjikri had made it their home before the vesk arrived, but there was some sort of civilisation before them based on some ancient ruins scattered about. Itjikri and vesk have pretty good relations so there isn't any hassle, and aside from tourism the other export is from the Defrex farmers"

"You are correct, Jams is very much a home improvement and DIY mechanical repair show, however if we can also showcase the exotic location and tell the viewers back home about it we can get those imaginations flaring. Watching a show about repairing a propulsion system is kind of cool, but a show that is about repairing the propulsion system of a flying city on a planet of the giants whilst avoiding some rare face eating slugs - now that is showbusiness"

"On a personal note though, I started to show to help people see that vesk are more than just the militant structure of the veskarium, we also have artists, thinkers, musicians...handymen. We like to create and build. Whilst that message is aimed at Pact Worlders, some of whom have understandable reservations since the end of the silent war, the message is also aimed at some of my fellow vesk who have that yearning to be more than just doshko-wielding devotees of Damoritosh set on battle and conquest. It's ok to put down the doshko and pick up a wrench, or a paint brush"

"Let's check out your sisters house when we get back - the Puddles is a gigantic fishtank, I reckon we could come up with some fancy ideas"

Data is intrigued by Big Jims story. Wow, Vesk 2 is paradise for almost any race, not just Vesk. I want to go to Vesk 2

"It's as close as you'll find for most people. A great place to get back to basics... a fair few Green Faith'ers have settled there to live with nature. It isn't all beaches though, there are some cities on the bigger islands, and some of those islands are really large - most are a bit swampy, but some are arable and temperate - suitable for farming, and there's even some mountains"

"The ruins are the only iffy part though, the Itjikri really don't like them and regard them with deep suspicion. The Veskarium found matching ruins on Vesk 5, but they are still very much a mystery"

I've been meaning to mermaid in the waters of Vesk 2 .. hopefully once we're done here ... I'll see if I can convince Selene to come with me and explore the place. She needs to get out more I think ... she sort of got traumatized a bit after all those years being chased by Jinsul behind the GodShield.

As for our place, we both own it. It's a split level place, top half dry, bottom half submerged. I'd like to reclaim part of the bottom floor to the dry so Selene can occupy the top floor and I'll have my own space on the bottom, part dry, part wet. Plus she wants to convert part of the top area into her business for dream interpretation.

Vesk 5? Isn't that a gas giant?

Yes, the ruins are on moon 5.3, on the whole Vesk 5 and its moons are not a tourist destination by any stretch"

"That's a tricky remodel, given that water always likes to settle at the lowest point, but anything is possible with enough silicone and perspex I suppose"

Or transparent aluminium

"Sounds like a nice planet to go on a long motorcycle ride on. I'm planning on picking one up when we return from this mission. I've got the exact model picked out."

Gab tries as best he can to take some readings of the atmospheric composition from the chemalyzer.

"Let's see... Not my best area, but I know a few tricks ..."

Physical Science: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 5 + 4 = 18

The atmospheric readings show abnormally high amounts of deep-earth minerals, ash, and sulfur dioxide present in the atmosphere. Such substances are commonly found in the air released during volcanic eruptions, but it seems Pholskar has so much sustained geological activity that enough of those particulates linger constantly in the atmosphere. At these ‘default’ levels they would likely not do much more damage than cause some itchy eyes and sore throats, but closer to a seismic or volcanic event the concentrations could quickly spike to life-threatening levels.

Meanwhile as Katrina takes plenty of photos she observes the larger sea creatures with some curiosity. They seem to slightly resemble an eel, but with a much wider and flatter tail, and a flatter face. Due to how they swim and move along the surface occasionally she suspects they are some type of aquatic mammal, likely an omnivore based on their mouth structure.

And while not all surface dwellers, at least some of them seem to be herders or farmers. Speaking of…

As the sun begins to lower in the sky near the end of your first day’s travel, you start to look out to see if there might be a good place to land and recharge. Steering a bit closer to the coastline, the six of you notice through the open door large stretches of fields littered with boulders. Deep ravines and cracks just into a still-partially grassy hilly landscape. Up ahead, your sensors ping several dozen lifeforms clustered together nearby – as you get close enough to get a visual you see a group of stone giants spread about. Several seem to be working on overturned and heavily dented vehicles, while others are gazing nervously down a crevasse. Many of the giants sport deep bruises or limbs in makeshift slings and braces, and on the whole they appear in a bit of disarray.

Interested in stopping by, or continuing to fly on?

"Whoah, looks like we got some folks in distress down there.... How about we see if we can help them out." He looks at his medkit. "Although I might need some bigger bandages if they need medical aid ..."

We should help them out. Or at least ask them what happened here.

Agreed. And by the way they're looking down those crevasses, I'd say something's fallen down that needs retrieving

"It can't hurt to stop and find out what's going on."

You find a safe place to land a short distance away from the giants. The stone giants look surprised as you approach them, but one male wearing some leather plate over a cloth outfit and whose skull is decorated with vibrant green tattoos strides towards you. Off-Worlders! Hello! he booms, arms outstretched. We see few of you here. When your ship approached we thought it a patrol fighter from the sky-cities come after the quake. It caught even us by surrpise; this area is normally as stable as can be hoped for.

He grimaces a bit and rubs his shoulder. Up close you can see it seems to have only recently been re-set. I am Rigeth. What brings little ones like you so far from home?

Image for Rigeth coming tonight once back at computer.

"Looks like you've got a bum shoulder there, friend. You mind if I take a look at it?

Maverick, removes his advanced medkit from his null space chamber.

Medicine: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (17) + 20 = 37

We're Starfinders ... erm .... explorers, and we got permission to have a look at one of the fallen sky cities

So, Rigeth. What happened here? And is there anything we can do to help?

Data was about to say it and Katrina beat him to the punch. Yeah, that about sums it up.

Once they have set down and dismounted, Jim sends the enercopter back up to conduct patrols over the area.

rolls camera

"Howdy, yes we're explorers taking in the sights and hopefully some of the old ruins. Looks like you are in a Jam, how can we help here?" Jim watches Maverick at work, happy to see such a fine display of prowess.

"Unexpected earthquakes, eh? Right as we're arriving ... Great. Just our luck." Gab takes a quick reading of the atmosphere here, trying to run comparisons to see if there's any increase in volcanic activity that he can detect.

Physical Science: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 4 = 12

He squints at the display. "Is that the pH? That doesn't seem right." He hands the chemalyzer off to Buddy the space goblin. "Can you double check this for me?"

He shrugs and turns to Rigeth. "Need some help righting your vehicle there? We could probably rig a couple of cables up to the enercopter and help pull it upright ... I'm sure that's the sort of Jam that Jim here would be into, eh?"

Buddy pulls himself out of mischief for a moment and examines the Chemalyzer intently through the hole in his decorative eye-patch, and then looks around at the scene of destruction around him, then remembers his job as workplace health and safety adviser.

"If you are going to tinker, you need to be careful! 'Safety first' kids!" Buddy exclaims enthusiastically like some overly-zealous show mascot.

Physical Science 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (20) + 18 = 38

Neither Jim nor Gab sense or detect any ominous signs of a volcanic eruption. The recent quake seems to have been set off by a shifting fault line: so many fun and different ways for Pholskar's environment to try and hurt you!

Oh, If you would like Rigeth says to Maverick, kneeling down so that the human can actually reach the limb he is examining. I was not hurt as badly as some of the group. When the quake arrived, toxic gases rose that poisoned some of the others, and through the cracks underground beasts crawled through as well. We slew and drove them off, but in the chaos some of our vehicles were damaged, our supplies fell into the new rents, and much of our upando have been scattered.

You are visitors, and small ones. We would understand if you do not, but we would be in your debt if you could help us get re-organized.

So each of you can pick a way to try and help these stone giants if you'd like. You could use Medicine (to tend to the sick and wounded), Bluff/Diplomacy (to provide companionship and calming comfort), Engineering (to help repair the giant's low-tech vehicles), Athletics/Engineering (to haul scattered supplies from the new crevasses), or Life Science/Survival (to help track down and recover the missing upando herd animals that fled). A relevant Profession for one of these situations could also apply.

(Maverick, your Medicine check above could work for this, and seems to be successful at contributing to help their injuries)

Data will repair the vehicles. engineering: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27 You mean poison affects stone creatures, wow.

diplomacy: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (17) + 19 = 36

Jim tries to help fish things out of the crevases.

(Assuming we can't take 10)
Engineering 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (3) + 21 = 24

Not his day though.

Maverick, starts moving amongst the giants conducting triage.

"Take two of these and call me in the morning," he says as he hands out some painkillers.

"You giants sure can make a mess," mutters Troivayan as he starts cleaning up the site.

Profession (maintenance worker): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13

There actually isn't anything preventing a 'take 10' - the situation doesn't seem actively dangerous anymore. Since you brought it up I will assume Jim would have.

Rigeth laughs loudly at Data's comment and responds with a smile.We may have tough skin, but are made of flesh, not rock. Just as you androids are alive and not machines to be plugged into batteries and charged.

Data manages to do a decent job as trying to re-set and temporarily patch the crawlers and carts damaged by the quake and small landslides that came of it. The sheer comparative of the things makes the work frustrating, something Troivayan relates to even more as the temporarily does his best to pick up the area. It's slow going when every tool or item being recovered and organized is as big as you are.

Jim goes over to the crevasse, where several giants are working to set up some pulleys to bring up several crates of food stores that fell deep down onto jagged ledges below. With cameras up, the vesk is able to help calibrate and improve the designs. You're veiwers get to see how the basic principles of physics and tools can be applied at any scale!

Meanwhile, Maverick continues his medic work on some of the other stone giants, while Katrina tries to calm them to quell any panic. They all appear dressed in neutral-toned woolen clothing. Many sport bright tattoos on their skin as well, though none quite as vibrant as Rigeth's. Chatting with them, Katrina learns that this group is a nomadic community. They travel about, herding upondo and trading wool and meat with the sky cities in exchange for tech gear and supplies their not set up to make themselves.

Gab walks through the group of giants, providing what comfort he can and telling some jokes to lighten their mood.

Bluff, holding expertise die for Convincing Liar: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (18) + 21 = 39
Will keep that and add expertise: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 for a total of 47 on the Bluff check

Mood very well lightened.

The recovering group of giants run the risk of causing another quake of their own from their loud laughter. HA! Scaled-based species are cold-blooded, and a bar is an unexpected place for that to come up!

After a bit of time - and helped greatly by your efforts - the giants are tended to and are able to recover most of what was lost. Rigeth thanks you warmly for your aid, and offers you to sit and eat with them for the night.

You said you go to explore on of the fallen cities. Then it is good to rest. You should be at your best before going to a place of bad omens. So many of the cities fell sharply down from the sky. None of our group were alive to see the tragedy, but many stone giants who chose to live above lost their lives in the crash and calamity. There are few of our kind who have set foot on a flying city since.

A concerned expression washes over the giant's face. Still, if your heart pushes to explore, one must follow it. Here: take this. A token of the aid you have given us. Perhaps it then may aid you.

The giant leader offers you an Adaptive Energy Shield weave-mesh to fits along one or your armor.

I'd happily use the Adaptive Shield

Jim asides to his companions "Makes sense I suppose, rest up, learn what we can, and depart in the morning"

Katrina will agree with that.

Maverick, is content to enjoy a good night's sleep before facing the possible danger the team is about to encounter at the fallen sky city.

Gab pulls a two foot long cylinder out of his null-space chamber. He sits it on the ground and pushes a button. The cylinder der exrends out until it becomes 6 feet long, then splits it half, the top have flipping on hi get to create a 12 foot swmi-cylinder. It splits again, lengthwise, and expands out to create a 12 foot wide rectangle on the ground. The fabric begins expanding, as it inflates up into a large tent, which you recognize as a mobile hotelier. "Made it myself. Houses up to 8, so we can give our armor protections a bit of a break this evening."

Troivayan nods, doffs his maintenance overalls and hangs them up to air out, and finds a corner to crash in. Once, in the night, he wakes up screaming, but refuses to talk about it and quickly falls asleep again.

The giants look approvingly at Gab's tent as they set up their own. Thier nightly lodgings are not quite as refined as the ysokis, but the local atmosphere also does not appear to bother the tough-skinned stones giants quite as much, and throughout the night several giants take turns keeping watch to be alert for any more sudden seismic shifts. Though they are startled for a bit by Troivayan's yells. Are you all right little off-world one?

The next day, Rigeth and the giants bid you a cheerful farewell and good luck as you load back into Big Jim One and take off again. The day's travel is much the same as the last, though the further north you get the land below seems to get a bit greener. In the mid-afternoon, you're treated to a front-row seat of Pholskar's instability as a sizable earthquake shakes the land below. Two deep crevasses open up in the ground, with bubbling green fluids bubbling up from the newly created cracks. The atmosphere near the rifts quickly becomes filled with concentrated toxic fumes and Maverick steers the enercopter further away to avoid the deadly air. As you veer away and continue on you notice a trio of massive beasts also crawling up from the rent on the earth. Resembling a six-legged rhinoceros, each of their sharp horns drips with a sickly green substance, and the burrowing creates seem unharmed by the acidic substances they move through.

Life science might ID these. However there is no need to actually fight them, as you're all in a fairly qucik moving vehicle well-off the ground, and the giants you just left as a day's land travel away so they're not in danger from these either. Combat avoided!

You need to land and rest twice more over the course of the long journey, but on the fourth day of travel you see up ahead along the coastline a large military checkpoint. Shortly behind it are several parking stalls for vehicles - currently all unoccupied - and then a rocky beach. In the sea just off the coast, a large hunk of metal juts out from the water at a sharp angle.

Gab uses his wrist computer to scroll through his library files on various species, to see if he can identify these creatures.

Life Science, library chip: 1d20 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 4 = 13

"Hmm... Not sure what those are."

He points down at the military checkpoint. "Looks like that's where we're headed ... Should they have someone at the checkpoint? Did they mention an abandoned military checkpoint?"

Data is amazed at what he learned about these giants, he didn't know they were made of flesh and blood. And is grateful they can help us out as much as we help them.