[SFS] 5-13 Finding the forgotten (Inactive)

Game Master Kludde

By order of First Seeker Ehu Hadif, the Starfinders are dispatched to find and establish contact with a missing colony in the Vast. Originally sponsored a century ago by the Pact Worlds, the colony has been erased from all official records and the First Seeker suspects foul play. While similar missing colonies have been tied to the past plots of Historia-Prime, the fate of this colony is seemingly unconnected and remains a mystery. It’s up to you to find the forgotten!

The dwarf looks around and doesn't say much, doesn't greet anyone. Mohawk hair, criminal-themed tattoos, attentive eyes with a squint. It seems to be a rather dangerous type who has not yet fully mastered the role of a Starfinder.

The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul erosion produced by high gambling a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension becomes unbearable, and the senses awake and revolt from it.

The tatoo like luminescent streaks of circuits that criss cross the dark skin on Umbro-187's face, not only identified him as an Android, but either shined brightly or gave off a muted glow matching his emotions.

Sweet smelling smoke from a vape stick swirled around Umbro's face as the slovenly Vesk sitting next to him at the 3-D baccarat table lazily exhaled the pent up vapor he had so greedily sucked into his gaping maw of a mouth just moments ago.

Absalom Station has a way of eating away at your soul if you let it. Just one more job and then it all ends...

A muted beep pulls Umbro's attention away from the 3-D baccarat table. Reaching his right hand into the inner breast pocket of his finely tailored jacket for his comm unit; he already knew who it was.

A slightly bedraggeled looking human hurtles into the briefing room.

Panting, and with a SMC #1 Fan t-shirt stuck to her, she looks around before gasping out. "Am I late?"

A moment to two later, her breathing returned quickly to normal, she offers a grin. "Hi! I'm Gunnz. I'll be your pilot for this mission."

Another mission start at the Lorespire complex. It's great, it's magnificent, and it's always a little bit further away than it seems.

“Great, you’re here on time!” Fitch remarks just before Gunnz rushes in slightly late, drawing 'the stare' from Fitch. “I hope you packed well. You’re heading out to the Vast for a while.” Ehu Hadif pulls up a holographic display of a single-sun solar system, zooming in on a green and blue planet. “Thank you for coming. I’m sure some of you know that one of my initial priorities as First Seeker was to investigate several Pact World- sponsored colonies that seemingly disappeared from everyone’s records. Most of these colonies, of course, were connected to Historia-Prime.”

Ehu shares a meaningful look with Fitch, then continues. “Kortus IV was not.”

“The Pact Worlds sent a colony ship to Kortus IV approximately 90 years ago. The timeline is shaky, but within a few years of its founding all records of the colony were erased. It’s as though someone was trying to hide its existence. As far as we know, there’s been no communication between the Kortus colony and the Pact Worlds since. We have no idea what happened to these settlers or if any remain in the area.

Travel to Kortus IV, determine the fate of the colony and its inhabitants, and locate any survivors. If the colony still exists, find out if they need any assistance from the Starfinder Society or from the Pact Worlds. We’ll send you with food, medicine, and construction supplies to provide them.”

Fitch cuts in, looking serious. “You need to be on high alert for this mission. Things went bad the last time I led an expedition to a lost colony. Real bad. A lot of good people died. We have no reason to expect danger on Kortus IV, but we didn’t before, either. Watch out for each other. If anything feels off or you find yourselves outnumbered, come back and report in. I’ve also got a few gifts to help you out.”

I've got an APL of 8.4 to put us in HIGH tier

Fitch gives the PCs three incendiary grenades III, a kasatha microcord IV, and an aurora arc rifle.

This is a scenario with the starship tag, which means you get to select a starship, which can be a Drake (the Thunderbolt), Pegasus (the Spitfire) or Azata (the Bumblebee), or any ship you have a boon for.

There's also the possibility now to make a Culture or Diplomacy check to gather info

"Oh... exploration. We definitely should be taking the Spitfire. Best sensors ever."

culture: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

She eyes up the Microcord and sighs. "It is not that fashionable..."
And this from someone in a sweaty SMC #1 fan t-shirt?

"But if noone else wants it, it may come in handy."

She starts checking through her music collection. Obviously that is top of her list for "packing".

"I prefer the Thunderbolt, we don't know what we are going to run into out in The Vast. I don't want to be under gunned if trouble comes looking for us."

Gunnz can be our pilot. Umbro-187 is a good gunner. I like the Drake, but I'll go with whatever the group wants. Has anyone ever used the Azata?

Theme music

The streetwise-looking Ysoki takes in the scene, reading the room and taking mental notes. He then hands over some business cards "Name's Roquefort..." the ysoki extends a paw to shake in greeting "Psychic Detective" he offers with a smile "If things go bump in the night with no clear cause, or if you want to know if your partner has run off with either the pizza guy or a forbidden cult of Urgathoa, give me a call" as he talks his eyes drift around each person scanning for weapons - "Always happy to have a few new faces around, we can only rehash the same old stories to each other to stave off the boredom of long flights before we run out of things to say"

"I'm used to missing people, this sounds like a missing colony. Should be one for the records"

"So Fitch, what brought Kortos back onto our radar? Anything happened of note that has triggered our interest?"

Roquefort scans his datasets for what information exists about Kortus or the region in general.
Culture (Recall knowledge) Take 20 = 41
Infosphere + Library Chip (Culture)

Wow, Booker, starring Richard Grieco. That is a deep deep cut.

"Aw" moans Gunnz.

"The Drake is like flying a bus."

Then, with a nod to the "scientific mission" she adds "And a bus with no headlights, radar, lidar or decent radio at that."

A short Ysoki wearing paramilitary outfit moves closer to Kathrina. On his arm he is wearing a medical patch and a rifle on his back. On his back he also has folded wings, that moves everyon now and then making him look more as a bat than an Ysoki.

"I am fine with whatever ship, you don't like firepower, lets go for agility. They call me Croaker"

Roquefort smiles at the arrival of Croaker "It has been a while, still got the war rig?"

"It's not a matter of not liking firepower. It's more a matter of having a ship with the speed and agility to not be right in front of the other sides firepower.." explains Gunnz.

"That and acceleration.... "

Some of your names are familiar. If you have flown with Gunnz before, feel free to provide a warning to others :-)

Roquefort smiles at the arrival of Croaker "It has been a while, still got the war rig?"

"Hey Roquefort, of course I still have it! Great to see you! What have you been up to, after that assassin ship that we got to?"

Croaker looks around he nods to Gunnz which which he saved Ziggy, as well as dive into that horrible sunken city with Umbro-187. He still did not get rid of the stench from all of the time underwater.

He greets Verrek. "A pleasure."

”Took up that offer to go back to the ship, the offer to train with them…and to add some kindling to that early flame - it was her eyelashes”

”A bit of diplomacy work, some skullduggery and data hacking, usual Society fare”

Forum ate my post... strange

Gunnz has some background knowledge, and Roquefort fills in the rest:

Starfinders dispatched by Ehu Hadif uncovered records on the lost colonies while on the library world of Athaeum. Following up on these colonies was part of Ehu’s platform for his election to First Seeker.

The library world of Athaeum contains only very rare information: everything there is the only copy in existence. For the records of these lost colonies to exist there, all traces elsewhere must have been erased.

The lost colonies were connected to the Historia-Prime, a Starfinder who committed countless crimes in their quest for immortality and control of the Starfinder Society. Historia-Prime used the colonies as a trap, which resulted in the death of numerous Starfinders. Historia-Prime was destroyed by the Starfinders at the culmination of the Data Scourge

Ehu is eager to explain to Roquefort how the Society caught wind of the colony: “I found evidence of a mission Starfinder Society agents conducted to the library planet of Athaeum. However, there were no further details regarding this mission in our database, nor of what they were researching. Prior to my election as First Seeker, I dispatched a team to Athaeum to view the same documents as that first team. These agents uncovered information on numerous missing colonies in the Vast, all sponsored by the Pact Worlds and then erased from history. Eventually we concluded the colonies were tied to Historia-Prime. However, upon Historia-Prime’s death, his holdings passed into the possession of the Starfinder Society. We’re still sifting through his files, but we’ve determined that Kortus IV wasn’t affiliated with Historia-Prime and the other colonies. This is something different.”

I've got one vote Drake, one vote Pegasus. Anyone else?

"I must add that Gunnz's piloting abilities might be considered unconventional by some. If loud music is something you find to be normal doing a space battle then Gunnz is your pilot of choice," Umbro-187 says bluntly.

If there is a tie in voting I"m fine with whatever ship the pilot wants to fly.

Gunnz swings around and offerse Umbro-187 a flying high-five. "My man!"

She beams a smile around the room. "Sounds like a mystery that needs good sensors to me!" and then changing track, almost mid sentence she continues "So.. what DO we know about Kortus IV... other than it doesn't sound like a Historia-special."

Ehu shrugs to Gunnz Not much, I'm afraid. That's why you are here, investigate what is there, provide aid to anyone who needs it.

Pegasus it is.

The war-battered frame of the Spitfire betrays its use in the field. The ship itself is every bit as you've come to know it: sturdy, reliable. Fast.

The journey to Kortus IV takes 5d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 4, 4, 5) = 18 days of purplish quietness. Arriving near Kortus IV that quietness is disturbed by a hailing signal:

“No trespassing permitted on Kortus IV. Transmit access code or depart immediately. Trespassers will be treated as hostile.”

The message is broadcast by a glistening launch pad, which promptly launches two drones and primes its turrets.

This is good moment to define starship role. If you want to engage, let's start with seeing if you can beat the enemy roll (otherwise you move first

Piloting (round1), enemy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

To keep the progress smooth, I'd ask the pilot to roll initiative ahead for the next round. Every can post their actions for the phases in bold, I'll resolve in order to the best of my abilities. Resolving starship combat can be a chaotics mess, but so is getting shot at in space.

===
(Round 1)
Helm:
Piloting: Pilot to roll initiative
Gunnery:
---
(Round 2)
Helm:
Gunnery:
---
===

I normally try to take one of our nodes for initiative rolls. PEgasus is also... modified..

As the Pegasus enters Drift space and Gunnz relaxes a little she can be seen muddling around under the Pilot's control panel on the Spitfire.

"I knew it!" she says with triumph. She emerges with a large fuse in her fist. "Stupid engine red-line safety fuse. Much safer to remove it if you ask me. Beats me why they keep putting it back in. Everytime I take her out I remove the fuse, and then everytime they put in back in. Every time."

She holds up a piece of Abdar-Corp Everstick. "They tried taping it in this time. Like they think it works itself loose or something." She just shakes her head.

Best Engines! +2 to speed. Sky jockey, +1 to speed. Gives the Pegasus a nice 13 speed to work with.

As the ship comes out of Drift space and is hailed, she starts thumbing through her music collection. "Just in case.."

pilot, node,Pegasus: 1d20 + 22 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 22 + 5 + 1 = 36 Do we have tier 10 Pegasus?

Umbro-187 is a good gunner and he has the same boon as Gunnz, so he will upgrade the ship's weapons. That way any 1's rolled for damage can be rerolled. The Pegasus has only got two weapons that can fire in the forward quadrant. Do we have another PC that is a good gunner?

Croaker would bring:
Mystical Guidance Systems Upgrade (Starship Boon): Blueprint that allow you to change one weapon into a hybrid weapon. Gunner using it can use mysticism and wisdom instead of piloting and dex. That lets him shoot the turret with +14 modifier. On the slides it states that Roq has +15 (just like Umbro

Croaker taks a sit at the Magical officer place. "I will try to learn soemthing about them" he waves his paws and channels magic through the console

"Be nice to know where those ships have weapons..." calls out Gunnz.

"So we can be somewhere they are not pointing..."

I popped everyone's skills into a matrix in the slide-deck for easy reference. Umbro & Roquefort are both running +15 on Gunnery, Spike has 14 - we've got heaps of skills in this group

I also have the expanded Crew options on a cheat-sheet Cheat Sheet

I forgot to mention Umbro-187 will take the 3 incendiary grenades offered by Fitch.

I just noticed we have a tier 8 Pegasus so we have 3 weapons that can fire in the forward quadrant.

Croaker directs his magic towards the enemy ship, he tries to recognize the weapons that they are using

Mysticism: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (7) + 17 = 24 Scrying DC is 5 + 1.5* scanned ship tier + countermeasures. If tier is 8 that gives 17+countermeasures. 24 makes the check by more than 5 so information about two weapons pls ;)

"Got you! Gunnz, passing you information about some of their guns"

This round I will scan, I can probably find something useful to do each round if Umbro you want to shoot from more than one gun

Umbro-187 can shoot all the guns.

Gunnz already outmaneuvers the enemy ship from the start (Position adjusted, gunnz can move now)

Croaker scans the enemy launch platform, and determines it only has a single turret (linked coilgun, 8d4, 20 hexes). It's also very slow.

===
(Round 1)
Engineering: Croaker scans enemy ship
Piloting: Initiative won
Gunnery:
---
(Round 2)
Helm:
Gunnery:
---
===
Gunnz
Croaker
Umbro
Roquefort
Verrek
===

Roquefort jumps on the guns and blasts the nearest light ship.

Particle Beam 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (18) + 15 = 33
Damage 8d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 2, 6, 6, 4, 4, 5) = 29

Roquefort you can reroll the two 1's you rolled.

Umbro-187 locks the Spitfire's twin laser and high explosive missile launcher on the closest drone before firing them. Broadside

Gunnz grins and puts on some Music. It's kind of loud. And the acceleration. My goodness. It's like getting caught in a gravity well. Surely the Spitfire couldn't handle much of this.

"I can go faster than this, but not if we we want to keep them in front of us."

By in front it appears she means *right* in front, having positioned the Spitfire in a situation that the enemy ship may need to all but ram it.

At the last minute she pulls the spitfire into a tight spin, hoping to throw off the enemy gunners.

evade DC 22: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (7) + 22 = 29 +2 to AC to a total of 26 AC and 28 TAC

Assuming just tier 8 here. If we got a tier 10 Pegasus then add 3 to that DC

"Let's see How they like that!"

A crashing sound can he heard from the galley, where it looks like someone forgot to secure the cornflakes.

Rerolling 1s 2d6 ⇒ (1, 6) = 7

Looks like we messed up our node bonuses. It's 2 bonuses at +3 each every round. There is also a +4 bonus to all computer checks and a +1 check all piloting checks.

"I assume there will be no cornflakes available for breakfast tomorrow."

"They are just premixed!" shoots back Gunnz.

"And speaking of mixes.... listen to This!"

Whether anyone stomach will be in a state to eat anything within 24hours is another thing entirely as she puts the Spitfire through another series of tight corkscrews. "Yeah.... normally you have to pay for this type of experience!"

I have to interject here. Rani does take the safety fuse out as well. She just remembers to put it back in afterwards so the engineers don't find out. And it was probably Soarin' who applied the duct tape. He's looking for whoever is responsible for the microfractures in the hull so he can have 'words'.

A loud siren sounds, much like the sound of an elephant farting, though most of it is drowned out by Gunnz' music and the announcements from the on-board computer:

This is RZMR, your on-board computer and battle assistant.

I hear you are listening to DarkPhoton. Similar artists include Blast Proof Space Explorers, Rainbow Sparkle Explosion, Planet X and various AbadarCorp Trainees. RZMR notes while suggesting a next play that is so out-of-date it might as well have been pre-gap. Please note that royalties are automatically transfered to AbadarCorp Entertainment for any public broadcast of copyrighted material.

That second song might as well have been a Zoey song

Gunnz rapidly closes the gap on the launch platform while Umbro and Roquefort are priming the guns.

Damage report: here is currently a cornflake anomaly in the pantry. A cleaning drone will be dispatched shortly. Please refrain from consuming any stray flakes. All shields holding.

@Umbro, Roquefort: I'm going to assume you are targetting the main ship, since that one is in your front arc?

===
(Round 1)
Engineering: Croaker scans enemy ship
Piloting: Initiative won
Gunnery:
Roquefort (damage 29 vs select target)
Umbro (roll 16 for 23 vs select target)
Umbro (roll 20 for 17 vs select target)

---
(Round 2)
Engineering:
Helm: Enemy pilot roll: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13 Let's already roll initiative for round 2
Gunnery:
---
===
Gunnz - Evade (success)
Croaker - Scan
Umbro - Gunnery
Roquefort - Gunnery
Verrek
===

Sure, we can destroy the main ship - once we trash that we can move onto the smaller ones

Spinning in her pilots chair, Gunnz rocks out to the latest from SMC.

"I know, a bit light for a fight, but I need to concentrate....

pilot, r2, node, pegasus: 1d20 + 22 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 22 + 3 + 1 = 39

Yes Umbro-187 shot at the main ship and his first attack roll should be a 17 instead of a 16. I just assumed it missed since it was a natural 1. Damage should also be 27 instead of 23.

Rocquefort's damage should be 34 because of the rerolls.

Reroll 1's: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Umbro-187 will take the second node bonus for his next shot.

I'm going to put Verrekk on delay for now, and I'll apply the 4p adjustments until he's back

As Gunnz zips by the two fighter and heads straight for the main ship, Umbro and Roquefort train their gunsights on the hull. What follows is a fiery exchange: Umbro is slightly too hasty with the Laser guns, which flash-vaporize a nearby asteroid. From the turrer, Roquefort just implodes the front shield with a few well-aimed laser blasts, and Umbro is quick to capitalize on the exposed front, raining highly accelerated neutronium atoms on the front hull plating. Electricity arcs on the weapons turret.

Crits: 2d100 ⇒ (8, 31) = 39 Life support and weapons

Explosions in the belly of the vessel are enough to throw the craft off-target, and the coilguns in the turret miss the Spitfire.

Return fire!: 1d20 + 8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 8 - 1 + 1 = 158d4 ⇒ (2, 4, 4, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1) = 19

End of round 1, start of round 2

The drones, finding themselves outpaced and out of range, turn back, trying to get on the tail of the Spitfire, while the launch platform just limps out of the front arc.

RZMR sounds over the intercom, in a question directly aimed at Gunnz Any music requests?

Battle map and icons updated

===
(Round 1)
Engineering: Croaker scans enemy ship
Piloting: Initiative won
Gunnery:
Roquefort (damage 29 vs select target)
Umbro (roll 16 for 23 vs select target)
Umbro (roll 20 for 17 vs select target)

---
(Round 2)
Engineering:
Helm: Iniative won!
Gunnery:
---
===
Enemy damage:
Launch platform:
Shields: F/S/P/A: 0/10/10/10
Hull: 41

===
Gunnz
Croaker
Umbro
Roquefort
(Verrek)
===

"Why sure!" replies Gunnz.

"How about we make sure we are Antifragile!" she asks as she sends the Spirtfire through another series of tight turns, landing to the six of one of the drones.

"Get the mothership, not the baby!" she suggests.

evade, DC22: 1d20 + 22 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 22 + 1 = 27

This time it is not the cornflakes that go flying, but rather a pie-warmer that had not been bolted to the galley wall in quite the approved manner. Or maybe the approved manner just doesn't take into account Gunnz propensity for evasive maneuvers.

And init for R3
R3init, node, pegasus: 1d20 + 22 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 22 + 3 + 1 = 45

I think that has us just out of the front arc of both of the drones, and the motherships front arc still in front of us. I love having good speed and manouverabilty. This is why the Pegasus is such an awesome ship, even if it is slightly less gunned. You can keep hitting the baddies in the same spot, and stay out of their worst weapons (well, apart from turrets, but there is nothing you can do about them.)

Croaker changes his console and opens comms

"Umbro! I will aid in your shooting. With haste, I am sure I can set up coordinates. Prepare for the salvo!"

Push@Umbro, gunnery, burn 1 RP, DC27?: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28 Grants Umbro second gunnery action this round! - it can't be the same action and he can't shoot the same gun twice, So I suggest broadside at front arc + shooting from one of the arcs to the smaller ship

Verrek, a gloomy dwarf (with the face of a bearded Vin Diesel and the same facial expression/voice, see slides) slowly finishes a glass of beer, carefully puts an empty glass next to his computer, crunches his fingers and says Now I'm ready.

What role should I take? I very warmly welcome specific recommendations/tasks - I am not well-versed in starship combat .)

+18 computers, and +17 engineering you could scan the ships and see what else we are up against. Or redirect shields if/when we get hit.

Gunnz watches an internal screen with amazement as Verrek works with the centrifugal forces to keep his beer from spilling, while all about is chaos.

Umbro-187 ignores the corn flakes and fires the high explosive missile launcher at the platform and the twin laser at the drone behind the Spitfire

I left the main gun for Roquefort.

Gunnz, thanks )

Let's see who came to us. Verrek taps the keys thoughtfully and without fuss, directing the scanners.

Computers: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (5) + 18 = 23

"Thanks!" Roquefort chirps as he keeps blatting away with the particle beam.

Particle Beam 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21
Damage 8d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 5, 1, 6, 2, 4, 4) = 31

What I should have said in my last post was.

Umbro-187 ignores the corn flakes and fires the high explosive missile launcher and twin laser at the platform and the light EMP cannon at the drone also in front of the Spitfire.

Verrek you can do a Lock On action using computers next round. That would really help Umbro-187's gunnery.

Roger that!