GM Jhaeman's "Dawn of Flame, Chapter Four: The Blind City" (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

Zharis watches the elf shoot randomly around the room, and she gets angry and lashes out, hoping that his careless blind gunfire hasn't harmed Otlo or any of her friends.

Attack (Claws): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Slashing Damage: 1d3 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

Unfortunately, she times it badly, trying to slash before he was quite done shooting, and has to dodge at the last minute or get a bullet in the face.

Luckily the night vision lens on the camera wasn't all that great, so it might have looked heroic anyway.

Hani has no trouble seeing in the dark.

At the signal, Hani rushes forward, his gauntlet glowing with energy.

When he gets to...this terrorist...he attempts to pound them with his fist.

to hit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
damage: 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Zharis and Hani try to seize the moment, but, despite being temporarily blinded, Amaldriel fends off their attacks!

Even with the Blind condition, both of those attacks miss.

Jin, Tulgram, and (with the lights back on!) Xylian are up.

Engineering?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

I want to untie Otlo and drag they to Nib. I'm not sure if a dice roll is necessary, but here it is. I also not sure how it will be according to action management - so up to GM .)

Likewise, Jin would like to grab the hostage and drag him out of the room - he can still carry 17 bulk without being overburdened. I guess a move action to get to him and another one to pick him from the floor?

Whence the lights return, Xylian fires upon the elf trying to disturb his scientific mission.

Combat Tracking. Overcharge and shoot.
Ice Carbine vs KAC (Ignores up to 4 AC from Cover): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
P + C Damage: 1d8 + 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (8) + (5) + 6 = 19

Tulgram and Jin cooperate to try to rescue the sedated Otlo! And as the ceiling's lights flicker back into operation, Xylian fires a supercold blast of energy at Amaldriel. But now that he can see again, the foe ducks just in time!

Tulgram succeeds on getting Otlo free of the restraints, and Jin is now holding the orocoran in his arms. (Jin, I've moved your token to the closest square to Otlo and the door, but if you want to be somewhere else, you're free to adjust).

Xylian's attack misses.

Amaldriel sprints across the room and sprays the room with more disintegrator blasts! "You'll regret this when the Incandescent Doom consumes your homeworlds!"

Amaldriel's movement will provoke AoOs from Zharis and Hani, though he does have the Mobility feat and will be hard to hit.

Amaldriel is activating his haste circuit so he can move and still do a full attack, and he has Triple Attack so he'll get three shots off. One will be on Hani, one on Zharis, and one on Jin.

Zharis, you get hit and take 18 A. Jin, you get hit and take 12 A.
The attack against Hani misses.

Initiative (Round 2)

Amaldriel
Jin (holding Otlo)
Tulgram
Hani
Zharis
Xylian

Bold should go!

Zharis slashes at the elf as he dances away.

AOO Attack (Claws): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Slashing Damage: 1d3 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

Then she moves closer, trying to hit him again.

AOO Attack (Claws): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Slashing Damage: 1d3 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

A shame the elf did not go to an active hospital to treat his mental illness.

Move. Overcharge and shoot.
Ice Carbine vs KAC (Ignores up to 4 AC from Cover): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27
P + C Damage: 1d8 + 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (3) + (4) + 6 = 13

Jin moves outside the room and drops the gooey NPC on another bed.

Arrgh! Beating the big-eared ones! Just like in the good old days! What the hell could be better?

Merciful Capture Pole: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 281d8 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17 (piercing vs KAC; non-lethal dmg)

Grabbing the capture pole in two hands, Tugram hits the elf's shoulder with great force and fury. The syringe resting inside the pole comes out at the moment of impact and makes a small injection with huge consequences for the central nervous system of the cultist, leading to impaired reaction and coordination.

Basic Inhibitor: -2 AC for 9 rounds (as usual)

Zharis can't land a solid blow on the agile elf, but an icy blast from Xylian wipes the smug look off Amaldriel's face! Tulgram's ready to add insult to injury by dosing him with the same sedative used on Nib and Otlo, but confuses Amaldriel's holographic clone for the real thing!

Meanwhile, Jin manages to rush Otlo to safety in the next room.

Zharis' attacks missed.

Xylian hit, though the purple force field absorbed a little of the damage.

Tulgram "popped" Almadriel's one holographic clone.

Due to the error noted in the Discussion thread, Zharis and Jin can remove the damage from Alamadriel's attacks this round.

Hani is up.

Hani charges in for another power-packed punch, but can't land the haymaker!

Botting Hani as doing a pulse-gauntlet attack. The attack misses.

Hani's attack vs Amaldriel: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
damage: 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Amaldrel sprints across the room and lands on the bed with a stunning flip, turning just in time to shoot Zharis in the back! "You're lumbering brutes compared to the swift predators of Castrovel I faced as a child!"

Amaldrel is doing a Trick Attack. His Uncanny Mobility means that Zharis won't get an attack of opportunity, but Hani still can.

The trick attack works. Zharis, you take 47 A. Amadrel's purple force field charges up a little at the end of his turn.

Initiative (Round 3)

Amaldriel
Jin
Tulgram
Hani (+AoO)
Zharis
Xylian

Bold should go!

Jin moves to block the door to the hostages and superchages his doshko.

Tulgram goes forward and hits the restless elf...

Merciful Capture Pole: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 121d8 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19 (piercing vs KAC; non-lethal dmg)

...But he stumbles over something with swearing and misses, unable even to hit an image.

Having rushed the second hostage to safety, Jin returns, ready for battle! Meanwhile, Tulgram's stumble throws his swing way off target.

Tulgram's attack missed.

Hani(+AoO), Zharis, and Xylian are up.

Zharis carefully steps in, careful not to slip on something, and stands over her backpack and its contents to make sure that the crazed elf can't actually get to the tablet. She slashes at him yet again.

Attack (Claws): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Slashing Damage: 1d3 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

She misses again.

Sorry everyone. I worked this weekend (I typically do one weekend a month, and this was it. Work really kicked my tail this weekend.

Hani swings as the elf moves past him (AoO.)

to hit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Righting himself after that embarrassing miss, Hani steps forward to bash the elf terrorist.

to hit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

damage: 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Xylian almost seems shaken by the elffffs nimbleness, but no... Xylian is never shaken...

Ice Carbine vs KAC: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

Guess we die.

Ducking, weaving, and parrying like a holo-vid hero, Amaldriel foils all the attacks against him! He drops down low, grabs Zharis' pack from the ground, and dumps it out--revealing the tablet! He snatches it in his free hand and starts raising his disintegrator towards it. "Too clever by half, fools!"

I'm going to consider that two move actions--one to dump the contents of the bag, one to grab the tablet.

Initiative (Round 4)

Amaldriel
Jin
Tulgram
Hani
Zharis
Xylian

Bold should go!

Try to get the hell out of here, ye bloody blasted big-eared a%!*#@*, growls Tulgram. Saliva bursts in all directions and his gaze is truly frenzied. It seems he really doesn't like elves. Or this situation. Or both elves and this situation.

Merciful Capture Pole: 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 11 - 4 = 271d8 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14 (piercing vs KAC; non-lethal dmg)
Merciful Capture Pole: 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 11 - 4 = 181d8 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14 (piercing vs KAC; non-lethal dmg)

UPD I'm not sure how many holograms are still left. In any case, I may have removed two holograms, even with the second attack, if his AC is not higher than 23.

PS -2 AC as always if I finally hit him.

@Tulgram: He only had the one clone (poor roll) and that was already popped. The nat 20 of your's is a crit, so you can roll extra crit damage (and let me know if a crit has any other effect with your weapon).

Crit DMG: 1d8 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19
+ Basic Inhibitor: -2 AC for 9 rounds (as usual)

Thanks! I didn't notice about the number of clones. My crit effect doesn't work here: +2 to the DC of the substance I'm delivering. But inhibitors have no saves. This is my second crit in this lab and the second time I think that some kind of suitable rune is needed for such situations .)

PS Maybe 18 hits his AC -2? Just asked ))

UPD: I'll add dazzled condition to my inhibitor effect (in addition to -2 to AC) via Spark of Ingenuity (an ability that I can use once per day and that I have never used yet).

Duergar smiles maliciously when a strong blow caused the elf to bend in pain. His smile widened when he saw how elf now reeling from the wave of chemistry that overwhelmed the nervous system. Grey dwarf knew what it was like. Circles before the eyes, impaired coordination... Oh yeah. What ye need for this big-eared flea.

Ye'r not so cocky anymore, are ye?

Jin walks back into the room and strikes the elf:

Aurora Storm Doshko vs. EAC: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26
Supercharged electricity damage: 2d8 + 13 + 4d6 ⇒ (1, 5) + 13 + (3, 3, 4, 5) = 34

With a furious frenzy, Tulgram sinks the jaws of his capture pole deep into Amaldriel's bicep, eliciting a cry of agony! The elf's pain only deepens as Jin gets into the fray and lands a supercharged doshko swing to the back of the head!

Tulgram's crit does good damage, and the two inhibitors (-2 AC and dazzled) are now in effect for some quality debuffing. (even with it, Tulgram's second attack just misses).

Jin hit. Ouch!

Hani, Zharis, and Xylian are up.

Xylian draws his sword and attempts to knock the tablet away. "I will decide what is to be done with our discoveries. "

Draw Tactical Dueling Sword. Disarm tablet. Catch tablet if successful. What a depressing day to have never bought an operative weapon :p
Disarm (flanking) vs KAC + 8: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 7 + 2 = 27

Forgot Xylian already has his sword out. Prob move away with the tabo if the disarm works.

Hani slowly circles the elven terrorist, hoping to finally land a damaging blow and end this.

Doing a guarded step to move as shown on the map. This probably gives Hani flanking.

to hit vs. KAC, includes flanking: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 7 + 2 = 29

damage: 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

and...there...you...go!

extra crit damage: 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Xylian can't quite knock the tablet free of Amaldriel's grasp, but Hani finally lands that haymaker, sending the elf flying!

Even with the inhibitor lowering ACs by 2, Xylian's attack didn't hit KAC+8. This guy has high defenses!

But Hani's power-punch certainly landed. Another blow like that could take this guy out for good. A thunderstrike pulse gauntlet has Knockdown as a critical hit effect, so Amaldriel is now prone.

Zharis is up.

Zharis can't believe that the elf was able to get the tablet from her when she was actively defending her bag... without even touching her armor. He might as well be a superhero. She doesn't have much hope anymore that she can do anything useful, so she shuts off the camera, and pointlessly slashes again with her claws.

Attack (Claws): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

As predicted, she fails, and is glad that the camera is off. If the bad guy destroys the tablet, that's on her, and she might as well pack up and go home.

Amaldriel rolls to avoid Zharis' attack, and then rises to his feet. "You'll thank me for this someday!" the wounded elf shouts triumphantly as he throws the tablet in the air and blasts it with his disintegrator pistol. But instead of of turning into a ruined mass of slag, the tablet seems largely unaffected by the blast! It falls and *thunks* solidly on the ground! "No!!!" shouts Amaldriel with panic in his eyes.

Getting up from prone was a move action (which doesn't provoke in Starfinder) and shooting the tablet was a standard action. I'm ruling that the acid damage would bypass the mystical horacalcum tablet's hardness in this case, but it has a lot more hit points than Amaldriel was expecting and hasn't even reached the "broken" state.

Initiative (Round 5)

Amaldriel
Jin
Tulgram
Hani
Zharis
Xylian

Bold should go!

The tablet is now at Amaldriel's feet.

Amaldriel has Uncanny Agility and is actually immune to flanking, so don't add that in to any attacks. (Operatives get all the nice things!).

Tulgram clearly ran out of comments after this scene. This elf seems to him so stupid and unlucky that it is almost difficult for duergar to be angry with him. One thing he knows for sure - the removal of the DNA material of this individual from the gene pool of the universe will be a clear boon.

Merciful Capture Pole: 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 11 - 4 = 141d8 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14 (piercing vs KAC; non-lethal dmg)
Merciful Capture Pole: 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 11 - 4 = 251d8 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16 (piercing vs KAC; non-lethal dmg)

The twin prongs of Tulgram's capture pole tear more flesh from Amaldriel's biceps. The elf's eyes dart toward the door--it's clear he's about to make a run for it!

Tulgram's second attack hits.

Jin, Hani, Zharis, and Xylian are up.

Zharis regains a bit of hope when the tablet doesn't disintegrate, and she claws the elf, hoping that she can still salvage the situation even though she let the tablet escape from her protection.

Attack (Claws): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Slashing Damage: 1d3 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

Zharis' claws come away bloody as she rakes Amaldriel like a savage Castrovellian jungle cat! He staggers and almost falls!

Zharis' attack hit. Amaldriel is in single digit HP.

Jin brings home the bacon:

Aurora Storm Doshko vs. EAC: 1d20 + 12 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 12 - 4 = 13
Electricity damage: 2d8 + 13 ⇒ (3, 5) + 13 = 21

Aurora Storm Doshko vs. EAC: 1d20 + 12 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 12 - 4 = 23
Electricity damage: 2d8 + 13 ⇒ (8, 2) + 13 = 23

Hani tries to finish off the elf.

to hit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
damage: 1d6 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Jin hits high and Hani hits low, and even a cultist as fanatical as Amaldriel can't stand resist the pressure! He crumples to the ground.

Good work! We are off Initiative.

Well, we learned a lot today. For example, not to trust the elves.

Zharis retrieves the tablet and kicks Amaldriel's body a couple of times, then loots him.

After, she retrieves her backpack, and puts everything back in. Then she grooms her face a little, and turns the camera back on, finally ready to smile again and get back to acting. She almost lost it there for a minute, but the show must go on.

"He really had no plan to escape. He..." For perhaps the first time in his life, Xylian is at a loss for words. What an unintelligent use of a clearly skilled elf. Xylian shakes his head. "This is why you do not follow outer gods."

Zharis strips the fallen foe of valuables.