GM Cellion's Devastation Ark

Game Master Cellion

No they weren't! But that one nat 20 for Achlyss did a lot of good. You get bonus reassignments for significantly exceeding the DC!

GM, should we really be splitting the party here? I know time is of the essence and stuff, but it goes against every RPGamer instinct I have! D:

Up to you. At the very least it's not an instant loss to separate in this situation, though as with everything there are tradeoffs. If you think you can't risk separating, you can try to provide advice remotely to each of the operations (which obviously wouldn't be as effective as being there in person).

I'm banking on the AP not being written to suddenly force the GM to run four separate solo games :grimacing:, and so I figure each of these tangents resolves simply enough before we rejoin to see how bad the overall situation is.

I'm also feeling a little apprehensive about all going our own way. Should we give preference to an option that keeps us all together? I'm hesitant to go work on defense right now if there are offensive options we should all do together.

Whoops! Oh well! I do normally go against splitting the party, but it does feel like this section is going to have quite a few hard choices. And with our less-than-stellar skill abilities I figured we needed all the help we could get!

To get just a little bit meta, I think we should focus our rolls on the areas that we sent the most fleets to. If you think your skills would work there!

Achlyss raises an eyebrow at how intimidating Ajithu can be.

"Errr--I didn't know you had that in you," he says after some more than colorful words the mystic in the docks.

It doesn't come through often in our game, because we tend to not oppose a lot of humanoids susceptible to mental attacks, BUT Ajithu's background is that he was previously some manner of telepathic operative, which required him to be fairly assertive and "break" minds.

I had forgotten that! Maybe the return of the Sivvs will change that...

Getting the D-Suit V as loot was pretty great because that alone cost 244.3k (suddenly 250k isn't seeming so crazy).

/starts shopping list/
65k Aeon stone, silver lemniscate
70k Ring of resistance, mk4

GM, a ruling please:

218k ice carbine, absolute zero (level 17)

This item is from a book other than the Starfinder core rulebook, so your character level must be at least equal to the item level to purchase it.

Yay/nay?

That's a Society rule. In regular play, Absalom Station has a max item level of 20, so everything's up for grabs.

Excellent. Thanks! (still looking/deciding on things)

Here's what I've picked up so far (14,890 creds left):

Ruin Devastation Blade
Defending Weapon Fusion
Dimensional Disruption Weapon Fusion (Something I feel Arcalinte would have access to given his previous adventures and exposure to kishalee technology!)
Invigorating Weapon Fusion
Opportunistic Weapon Fusion
Forcepack (upgrading my jetpack)
Haste Circuit
Mk 3 Electrostatic Field
Mk 3 Ability Crystal Strength (upgrading the one I've got)
Mk 2 Synergizing Symbiote Dexterity (again, upgrading the one I've got)
Mk 1 Synaptic Accelerators Constitution (THIS one is new)
Climbing Suckers
Skin of the Chameleon
Standard Speed Suspension
Mk 2 Null-Space Chamber
Glove of Storing
Mk 3 Ring of Resistance

This is an FYI that I'll be away in nature this weekend, Sat 8/19 and Sun 8/20. I'll return very late Sunday and likely won't post again until Monday 8/21.

Ajithu, I like the way you think! I will also be away in nature this weekend! So no posts from me from Thursday to Saturday, with hopefully a late post on Sunday.

- 35k , Aeon Stone, Kaleidoscopic Icosahedron
-110k , Needler Rifle, Paragon
+ 1.8k , selling Needler Rifle, Elite
- 14.22k, upgrading Conserve fusion
- 14.22k, upgrading Potent fusion
-4.6k , 2 White Hypopens
-10.5k , 3 more Gray Hypopens
-11.2k , 2 Green Hypopens

That's 52,060 credits left...

-5.04k , 4 more Frag Grenade Mk3s
-15.6k , 3 Screamer Grenade Mk3s
-.41k , 1 Foam Grenade Mk 1
-2.8k , 2 Microbot Grenade, Mk 1

That leaves me with 28,210 credits remaining! And... I'm out of ideas. So I'll probably save that for some of those MASSIVELY expensive upgrades that will be coming in the middle and end of the next book. (Ring of Resistance Mk 5, I'm coming for you!!)

Still working on purchases--I'm going to look at what you all bought as ideas. I had been looking at perhaps one big purchase but it might be better to spread it around.

Absalom station isn't quite as big as a planet, so would "planet range" possibly get me reach to the Ark?

I'm wondering if Ajithu could use arcane eye (via Farsight) to get a little up-close intel on the Ark.

Separately, team: if we assume you allow Ajithu to telepathically bond with you constantly (which I presume is how he's constantly communicating that way rather than out loud), the whenever any of you scores a crit your foe may be confused via the link.

Whenever you or an ally linked by your telepathic bond class feature scores a critical hit against a foe, you can spend 1 Resolve Point as a reaction to confuse that foe. The foe must succeed at a Will save or become confused for 1 round. Whether or not it succeeds at this save, the target is affected by your sow doubt ability for 1 round. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Reference

Re-looking over his abilities since we're about to be much more likely to encounter foes with minds that he can affect :)

@Ajithu: I think that's a reasonable use of arcane eye. As a heads up though, a 10 minute cast time might be problematic right now. Absalom Station has some more immediate crises unfolding.

Good point. I'll hold off for now then but we'll see how the timeline unfolds.

[/ooc] Finally, she holds up the Ring of Resistance 5. "My Precious..." That we should probably roll off, since I imagine everyone wants it? What Rings does everyone have? I have a mk3.

Currently none. As I look now though he could afford a mk3 resistance and I suspect others could too. So whomever gets it, I think the remaining two should buy those to ensure we all have some level of shoring up in the saves department.

Other gear Ajithu has that might come in handy during these weird times: binoculars, laser drill, spy drone.

FYI: I'll be away this coming weekend starting Friday evening 9/8 through Sunday 9/10 (US/Pacific time). I will have limited access to post from my phone, so I may be able to keep up over the weekend but can't guarantee a post. As it is the weekend, I suspect this won't be very disruptive to the game.

I'll also be traveling for work until Wednesday next week - with some long international flights to boot. I may be able to get a couple posts in, but we'll see.

We're still waiting on actions this round from Arc and Achlyss. Keep in mind that the giant kami seems to have violent intentions right now, so you may want to take defensive actions while determining if you can defuse the situation.

I am at a total loss as to how to get this big guy to calm down...it reminds me too much of that big nanite dude from the Dead Suns game we couldn't calm down and had to kill. :(

And I'm not sure how to take defensive actions while flying.

Should we be making perception checks to detect some offending element in this park? Otherwise I agree and don't get how this isn't just going to lead to killing the upset spirit.

Exactly. I am a dense, dense boi who needs to be hit with the darn clue bat, no matter how high my character's INT score is!

I mean, it seems like we need one or both of these things to calm it down:

1. "recitation of simple ceremonial phrases, sometimes in the form of promises, referred to as sutras."
2. "other elements of ceremony that go into this act of celebration"

But we failed our knowledge checks to figure those out. And Arc told us that the kami "doesn't appear to be in full control of its own faculties." Putting my GM hat on, this feels like one of those situations where the author wanted us to fight a big cool monster that was really different than the rest of the Sivv creatures we'll be fighting the rest of this book. So this monster went crazy and his notes says something like "He's mad, so he'll fight to the death no matter what". Just a guess. But I'm a bit hesitant to hold back after getting backstabbed and wrecked by our bantrid/demon friend for several rounds in a row.

In interest of not being too spoilery: Yes, there's a way to resolve this without fighting. However since you haven't succeeded at any of the checks to work out how, you won't be able to unless you find some other resource to help you with the info you're missing.

While you're welcome to make perception checks, but they won't help you find the info you need.

was the check failure permanent, or can they be re-attempted as additional round actions?

Like any recall knowledge type check, they can't be attempted again until you take the time to learn more about the topic.

Makes sense. Had to ask :) I'll get Ajithu less timid next round and get more active in the fight now that we know.

Hey all,

I'll be on a road trip through Tuesday--catch up soon! Bot me as needed!

I'll be honest: it took me a while to respond because finding out we failed our roll to find a peaceful solution really upset me. I think it's the CRPG player in me, but situations like this where you can make a new ally and combat is a fail-state really get under my skin. Like Arcalinte said in-character, I'm reminded too much of that big nanite guy in the Dead Suns campaign where we couldn't talk him down and had to kill him. That failure seriously still haunts me to this day.

I know it's just a game and stuff, but I'd be lying if I didn't say how this made me feel.

Definitely a shame you guys missed the check. However the adventure has several ways to figure out what to do - the Mysticism checks are only one of them. You may want to think back to earlier scenes.

Thanks for the heads up Achlyss - before you leave, any particular way you want me to bot you until then? Also taking botting suggestions from the rest of the party if Achlyss doesn't get back to us.

Yeah, it is definitely a bummer! I guess we should have spent a few more skill points in Mysticism. :/ These skill check "challenges" feel a little tougher for four person parties with less diversity. Mysticism has always been our weak point.

Definitely a shame you guys missed the check. However the adventure has several ways to figure out what to do - the Mysticism checks are only one of them. You may want to think back to earlier scenes.

So you're saying there's another way to resolve this peacefully without the Mysticism checks?

GM Cellion wrote:

Definitely a shame you guys missed the check. However the adventure has several ways to figure out what to do - the Mysticism checks are only one of them. You may want to think back to earlier scenes.

So you're saying there's another way to resolve this peacefully without the Mysticism checks?

100%. There's specific ways to get the knowledge you need without succeeding at the check.

@Shocca: We're *really* starting to see the high level Starfinder problem with skill DCs here. I know I've seen chatter about it, but it's the first time I'm seeing it in action.

Different approach: is there a check to learn more about this spirit to find options to render it inert without destroying it (or its body) and/or communing with it? I suppose this may start out as a basic recall knowledge check.

Earlier I treated your Culture check as a check to identify the creature. You can certainly try a Mysticism check to ID to get specifics rather than cultural hearsay. Arc gave this Mysticism check to ID a try earlier, but it doesn't look like Ajithu ever did.

I forget, are Nat 1's on skill checks automatic failures or is that only for attack rolls?

Only attack rolls and saves. Skills are in the clear.

Whew!

Great, one of the languages Arc DOESN'T speak! :P

/me looks over the character sheets...

Shocca has Infernal and also Abyssal, none of the rest of us have either. I keep thinking Shocca is an envoy with that versatility :)

Also, I'm hoping that if a fight breaks out, Ajithu finally gets to assault some intelligent minds.

So basically they are talking to us but we don't know what they're saying--yeah?

Until Shocca translates.

An envoy who can't talk to people!

This is an interesting situation. These guys seem like they're doing fine for the station as a whole, and we might have bigger fish to fry. But it's hard walking away from people spiking corpses...

I will be traveling internationally the next couple of weeks with pretty full schedules. I'll likely not post much during this time. Feel free to bot my character.