GM Kate's 5-13 Finding the Forgotten (Inactive)

Game Master Kate Baker

I'll resolve these in the actual order of initiative, which I think will also be the most beneficial to you.

With the creature flat-footed thanks to Iseph's trick, and the help from Navasi, Grump just manages to connect with the bear. The creature crumples, and Grump hears circuits beeping and frying.

Navasi and Iseph instead attack Yellow, who is now targeted by get 'em!

Yellow moves around the tree stumps to get to Iseph, but bumps into Tash first!

bite: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (7) + 22 = 29
ouch!: 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (5, 2) + 15 = 22

Initiative
Iseph, -24 SP
Navasi
Yellow, -43 hp, get 'em
Tash, -22 SP
Amariel
Blue
Grump

“Gears and electronics?” Tash leans closer to look at the ‘dead’ bear.
Engineering: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

His investigation gets cut short when another bear catches him in a bite. “So you’re going to be like that, eh?”

Tash converted his Levaloch trident into melee form at the end of the last turn, so he’s ready to fight.
Trident melee vs yellow with Get ‘Em: 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 13 + 1 = 22
Damage: 2d8 + 15 ⇒ (3, 3) + 15 = 21 Piercing

He begins stepping around the rock bear to give the rest of the team a clear shot.
Guarded step. Nimble Moves lets him take the step if this is difficult terrain.

Amariel recalibrates his prototype on the bear bearing down on him, and shoots again.

Prototype vs Blue EAC: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17
Sonic Damage: 2d8 + 20 ⇒ (7, 8) + 20 = 35

"Come on, come on, you can do this" Amariel mumbles to himself.

Tash gets a good hit in. Amariel struggles with his aim, as the creature moves in an unsettling way that is distinctly not animal like.

Blue climbs up the rock partway, and takes a swipe at Amariel!

claw: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (18) + 22 = 40
ouch!: 1d10 + 15 ⇒ (8) + 15 = 23 fire and slashing

Fire damage from a claw? Definitely not a normal bear

Initiative
Iseph, -24 SP
Navasi
Yellow, -64 hp, get 'em
Tash, -22 SP
Amariel, -23 SP
Blue
Grump

Iseph glowers, and lines up another shot on Yellow.

Just fall apart, you lumbering piles of junk!"

Trick - 'Take 10' (Mastery) = 32. Flat-footed for 1 round.

Ghost Killer Thunderstrike Sonic Pistol: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 10 + 2 = 32, for 1d8 + 4 + 4d8 ⇒ (8) + 4 + (6, 4, 4, 1) = 27 Sonic damage.

Extra Crit damage: 1d8 + 4 + 4d8 ⇒ (2) + 4 + (4, 2, 6, 4) = 22 Sonic damage.

Iseph's attack does even more damage than they expected! The YEllow bear is down!

Tash sees more glimpses of metal.

Initiative
Iseph, -24 SP
Navasi
Tash, -22 SP
Amariel, -23 SP
Blue
Grump

Navasi and Grump are still up, and Yellow going down means that Tash and Amariel are also up!

Grump jets toward the last animatronic bear, losing altitude to take advantage of the flank provided by his ally hopefully.

sonic pic vs not-a-bear's FF EAC: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32
Sonic damage: 4d6 + 16 ⇒ (2, 5, 1, 3) + 16 = 27

"Hey there, Not-a-Bear - I've got a bone to pick with you. Well, maybe not a bone so much as some shattered circuits."

That's not a bear at all! Is that some kind of dressed-up mecha? I wonder who is inside...

Frostbite point and shoot at last bear: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 211d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Plus the ususal getem

Tash adjusts his grip on the trident and activates the integrated laser rifle, then activates the frost fusion to change the damage type.

“Back to target practice…”

Swift action to activate the laser rifle built into the Levaloch trident

Laser Rifle shot against green: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (2) + 14 = 16
Damage: 2d6 + 8 ⇒ (4, 1) + 8 = 13 Cold

“Drat!”

Engineering to identify: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (2) + 22 = 24

Amariel relies on the magical infusion to his weapon to shoot his gun against the bear machine bearing down on him!

Move Action to recalibrate to the last bear. Guarded Fusion lets me shoot without drawing an AoO

Prototype vs Blue EAC: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21
Sonic Damage: 2d8 + 20 ⇒ (8, 1) + 20 = 29

Grump, Navasi, and Amariel all hit the remaining bear. Tash gets a great shot right over the bear's head, but the fur simply burns away, reveal more metal.

Amariel is certain--this is a mining robot disguised as a bear!

The creature swivels around to claw at Grump, then turns to slash at Amariel again.

claw vs Grump: 1d20 + 22 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 22 - 4 = 33
ouch!: 1d10 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25 fire/slashing

claw vs Amariel: 1d20 + 22 - 4 ⇒ (13) + 22 - 4 = 31
ouch!: 1d10 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25 fire/slashing

Initiative
Iseph, -24 SP
Navasi
Tash, -22 SP
Amariel, -23 SP
Blue, -63 hp, get 'em
Grump

Everyone is up!

Grump's Electro-Shield deals some damage in retribution for its flaming claw strike.

E-Shield counterstrike electric damage: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 3) = 7

Grump brings his pick down on the mining-bear twice, hoping to end the fight. His jetpack stutters & he drops 5ft into the jungle after his 2nd swing.

Driver Sonic Pick 1st strike vs FF Get-'em'd bear: 1d20 + 15 + 2 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 15 + 2 + 2 - 4 = 34 sonic damage: 4d6 + 16 ⇒ (2, 1, 4, 1) + 16 = 24

Driver Sonic Pick 2nd strike vs FF Get-'em'd bear: 1d20 + 15 + 2 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 15 + 2 + 2 - 4 = 22 sonic damage: 4d6 + 16 ⇒ (6, 1, 1, 3) + 16 = 27

"Mining robots, huh? Well, they look like escapees from 'Country Bear Jamboree'..."

Trick - 'Take 10' (Mastery) = 32. Flat-footed for 1 round.

Ghost Killer Thunderstrike Sonic Pistol: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 10 + 2 = 25, for 1d8 + 4 + 4d8 ⇒ (3) + 4 + (3, 7, 6, 2) = 25 Sonic damage.

Amariel screams in pain as he gets scalded by the bear machine's bearclaws. He twists a nozzle on his prototype to increase its power.

Move action to use the Boost special property

Prototype vs Blue's EAC: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17
Sonic Damage: 4d8 + 20 ⇒ (6, 4, 7, 4) + 20 = 41

Grump's electric force field does more damage than he expects! His two swings with the pick deal exactly the amount of damage that he expects, which is a lot. Iseph then finishes it off with one more shot from the sonic pistol.

Three rock bears that are actually robots lie at your feet.

What would you like to do?

Engineering if you want to investigate the robots, Perception or Survival if you want to check out the surrounding area.

Tash investigates the scene, holding his trident ready. He lets the engineering experts deal with the robots themselves since his attempts to help never really worked out.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30
Survival: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22

Tash finds humanoid footprints circling the battle area!

Whilst tash investigates the scene, Iseph conducts a robot necropsy...

Engineering: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30.

Grump also investigates the scene, circling opposite of Tash.

Perception: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (1) + 21 = 22
Survival: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32

"Let me take a look at these things," Amariel slurs, and coughs up a bit of blood.

Engineering: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (12) + 22 = 34

Amariel and Iseph agree: these robots had to have been controlled by someone neraby. They just wouldn't have the level of autonomy needed for that fight.

Grump and Tash triangulate until they find none other than Zatteh, the Mayor's aide!

"Well, well. Look who's here."

Zatteh, didn't Redozoko warn you that it's dangerous to be out here in the woods alone? Navasi asks.

What?! No intimidate skill on this pregen? Denied!

Iseph, on the other hand, is perfectly happy to engage in some aggressive negotiations.

"I was perfectly willing to dance around the slap-dash attempts at hiding the fact that you are maintaining off-world links to support a mining operation, but I have been forced to fight my way through a forest, bitten, and shouted at. I am tired, and above all testy."

So saying, they pull out their survival knife.

"You have two options: Tell us all about what is going on, and throw your boss under the bus, or I am going to get creative with the number of digits and internal organs you don't actually need to survive."

Zatteh starts by trying to look scared but quickly drops the act.

"What, you think Aliorno came up with any of this? That nincompoop? I should be running this town!"

Something about Zatteh's story seems fishy, but she sticks to it, claiming that everything odd that you've seen was part of her plot to overthrow Mayor Aliorno.

She doesn't try to fight you as she would very clearly lose on her own. She surrenders to you to escort her back to the town.

Amariel keeps his weapon calibrated on Zatteh in case she runs. He hopes that one of his teammates can interrogate her to see why she did all this.

maybe someone good at intimidate?

Talking isn’t Tash’s strongest suit, but he’ll give it a go.

Tash’s eyes narrow, and he bares a fang at Zatteh. His voice lowers to a growl.

“So far, we found military-grade space defense systems and robot bears... a constant stream of lies and evasions... and mis-matched information that doesn't line up with anything. What’s actually going on here? And who are the Mongers?”

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6 Trying to get a read on him
Intimidate: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 Squeezing him like toothpaste while looking like a bloody, angry jungle cat

Logging Grump's DayJob info here

Asteroid Miner with Known Quality (x3) boon: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (3) + 25 = 28

2*3*28 = 168 credits

Grump watches Zatteh closely as Tash pushes his questions.

SM: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (16) + 21 = 37

Profession (Plumber) Also with Known Quality: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (9) + 17 = 26

(156 Credits)

Amariel is a bonded and licensed plumber in the Pact Worlds.

She shudders. "The Mongers...they're a small time group of traders. Just so we can get the things we need. We just didn't want the Pact Worlds in our business!"

Grump is certain that she is still lying to you, but also realizes that she is far, far more scared of whatever this organization is than she is of you, and she is unlikely to give you the actual truth.

When you get her back to town, Mayor Aliorno and Sheriff Rin look at you with some confusion. "What happened? What is Zatteh doing with you?"

Day job roll

Profession musician: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

22 * 2 = 44 credits

"Saved her from a pack of rock bears. Decided to see her safely back here, where she'd be safe. Fer what it's worth, they won't be a problem for anyone else.

Tash nods to Grump’s comment.

“We left the bears in pieces, so at least that part of the woods is safer. I guess Zatteh didn’t listen to Redozoko’s warnings about being alone in the woods.”

They seem a little confused, but take your word for it.

"Well, thank you, Starfinders. You've really saved the day here! What would we have done without you? Everyone cheer for the Starfinders!"

As you gather your items and head back to your ship, Roget the farmer approaches you. He seems warmer to you than before.

"You sure did a great job handling those rock bears! I made you some cookies for your ride home. It's an old Akitonian recipe. I don't know how well they'll keep, so don't wait too long to eat them."

You leave the planet, without any trouble from the automated defenses, and sooner or later you get into the cookies. After you eat a few of them, you see that there's a note on the bottom of the box. Tash immediately recognizes the same handwriting as the note he found at dinner.

This note says: “Ongie made it out. Find her.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you return to Absalom Station, Ehu and Fitch immediately call a meeting to get debriefed on the situation at the former colony.

As you describe the strange behavior of Braerton’s inhabitants, both Ehu and Fitch are concerned and wonder aloud whether this is part of something bigger. Ehu ponders, “These people went to a lot of effort to make sure that we wouldn’t be interested in returning. What is it that they’re really trying to hide? It must be more than simple trade—someone erased all records of Kortus IV from the Pact Worlds! This isn’t right. Rest assured that we’ll get to the bottom of this. We’re not done with Kortus IV.”

Fitch remarks, “I’m glad that you left when you did. Who knows what those people might have done if you had stayed longer! Who knows how deep this reaches…”

She also reads over the note that you received from Roget. “So, this Ongie person is out there somewhere? Girl’s got moxie. I’ll ask Celita to track her down. If she can get us a lead, I can put a team together to pick her up. If Ongie’s still alive, she’s got information we need.”

Iseph nods.

"If I happen to come across this individual, I'll let you know."