GM Jhaeman's Dawn of Flame, Chapter Five: "Solar Strike"

Game Master Jhaeman

The metallic smell of blood hangs heavy in this room, which contains three uncomfortable-looking chairs and a metal table, all of which have been pushed against a wall to clear a large space at the north end of the chamber. A rack holds a wide array of torture implements, all crafted from brass and some glowing with intense heat. At the rack’s front, hanging from brass chains, is a set of spiked manacles designed to hold a victim suspended off the ground.

A muscular anassanoi woman is unconscious on the metal table while a wounded anassanois prisoner, with injuries to her mouth and jaw, is sitting in one of the chairs. She leaps to her feet as the door opens. "I am designation Verimar. Are you with the resistance? Help me take Protector Mehrren to safety before Nurleth returns!"

A picture of the muscular, unconscious anassanoi is now on the lower left of Slide # 5.

Zharis holsters her weapon and picks up the unconscious woman.

She tells the other woman

Okay Verimar. Go back towards the front of the building, down that hallway, yes, past the bear. When you get to the front, Tulgram can heal your face. We'll be right behind you. One more door to check to make sure we don't leave anyone behind, and then we can take you where you want to go.

She asks Amhesha to open the last door with the keycard, since her hands are full.

Amhesha does so, snapping her fingers as her trusted rifle slips into the palm of her hand in miniature form, before snapping as quickly once it's open. This specific kind of rifle has been with her for around 5 years, maybe not the exact one (since she upgraded), but she'd be damned if she didn't cling to it like a security blanket.

Xylian exits his powered armor whilst they are inside the cramped building, hefting his cannon and locking the armor. It would be quite difficult for Xylian and Theodore to pass each other in the narrow hallways, so he opts to walk like a normal damai. Theodore would likely be highly advantaged in the building and his artillery would probably not be needed, anyways.~~ Torture? How inefficient. ~~ There are far more reliable methods to extract intel. ~~ What is it they wanted to know? ~~

Theo takes the rear, blocking the whole passage with his bulk as he backs toward the door, eyes wary for any unfriendly movement.

"I will comply, but please, save all your healing for Mehrren!" As Verimar makes her way outside, Amhesha opens another door to an interior room. On the other side is a dark room with no built-in lights. A stained blanket lies crumpled on the floor near a crusty, dark splotch.

When Zharis sees that the room is empty, she is relieved. Another battle while carrying someone wasn't going to be ideal.

Okay, Amhesha. Can you just do a once=over of the whole building and check for any loot before we go? I guess I won't contact the spire from here. I was thinking maybe we could trade Nurleth for Vessu's brother, but if we have nothing to trade, maybe it would be better to just do a surprise assault. Or... do you have any experience with hostage exchanges? Any advice? I've played a hostage negotiator on the vids of course, but ... it's not as much pressure, you know, since the hostages and the responsibility are all fictional. I get really into my characters, but it feels a lot more awful in real life.

"We all did a lot each on Mother's Tongue; you kind of have to to get by on a ship of around 50 or so people the size of one of those remote Polar Bases. I never worked hostage negotiation though, that was the captain's job the odd times we worked those. If you've ever seen a Skittermander Ganzi announcing probe launches? That's them. My advice, based on your experience? Focus on the content of the roles, since that's where all the stress is that you need to deal with," Amhesha says, reminiscing on the dedicated crew of literal cultists she grew up with, before beginning to search the rest of the building for any possible materials.

Do I need perception rolls? And I'm basing this on what little info we have for Ydajisk, which is basically they're responsible for Starfinder's equivalent to the Golden Discs filled with linguistic information on the Voyager Probes.

Of course, I'm always glad to help. Lead the way. Tulgram says it softly, with a smile and completely without an accent. He is very precise in his movements and words now, showing with all his appearance that he is a real professional. A very kind, honest and naive professional. In a word, a typical fool from the Pact Worlds. Tulgram lets her go ahead with a gentleman's gesture, because it's up to her to show the way.

GM, please remind me, do we have any kind of mobile connection here? Can I write a message to some internal work chat of our team? If so, he types a message with one hand while following anassanoi:

When Zharis feels the vibration of her comm unit indicating that she has a message, she walks back into the torture room and sits down temporarily, so that she can check her message without dropping Mehrren.

After reading it, she feels Mehrren's face to make sure he isn't talking about her... but no hologram here that she can see, and Tulgram hadn't been in here, so he must be talking about "Verimar." Her own disguise had been magic, not technological, but a similar deception made sense... Verimar must actually be Nurleth, although the telepathic thing had thrown her off. Strange, but top priority was to keep Mehrren away from her torturer and return her to her people.

She stands back up with Mehrren, and goes to talk to Theodore

Looks like Tulgram needs backup. Check your messages, and go help him handle that if you can. I'm going to stay in here with Amhesha. Message us when it is taken care of.

"On it." Theo growls telepathically, then turns and stomps back toward the ship.

Bluff: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19
;-)

Following Tulgram's request, Verimar leads the way towards the anassanoi hover truck.

@Amhesha: Yes, you can roll a Perception check (or Take 10) to represent doing a final sweep of the building looking for valuables.

As soon as they are in sight of at least one of Tulgram's allies, the duergar strikes an absolutely unexpected blow with a completely unperturbed expression on his face, as if nothing special is happening.

GRAPPLE by Capture Pole: 1d20 + 13 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 13 + 6 = 36 vs KAC +8 (hope she’s flat-footed)

A collar on a long pole is fastened around the neck of the "spy". A needle with a powerful sleeping poison (an ancient drow technology modified by the gray dwarves) stabs the enemy in the neck. Surprise.

Tranq Dart (Ex): Once per day, you can target a living creature with a special biohack as a standard action. This doesn’t deal any damage and doesn’t count against your total uses of biohacks, but it otherwise functions as a biohack. If you hit the target, they must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or fall into a deep sleep after 1 round, gaining the asleep condition. On a successful saving throw, the target is unaffected. DC 20 Fort.

~~ Well done, Tulgram. Efficient. ~~ Xylian drones telepathically. Since Tulgram is their capture-alive-erer, the last of these elemental-kin walking right into Tulgram's capture pole will save them having to chase anyone down. Xylian looks around for a records room or something similar, since Tulgram has things under control.

Are there any computers to check for records here?

Taking 10 on Perception for 21, and Amhesha will help with any Computer or Engineering related tasks. We have two Mechanics, should be easy enough.

Amhesha reacts with slight shock upon seeing someone get, quite literally, tranq'd, but continues her thorough search of the building, looking for any computers she could possibly hack remotely, with or without the aid of anyone else.

Thro is slightly disappointed that Tulgram started without him, and sighs as he comes into view of Tulgram and his prisoner, a rare audible vocalization from the telepathic bear.

Tulgram's capture pole closes tight around "Verimar's" neck and the hidden tranquilizer needle begins to take effect! But in the seconds of consciousness she may have left, the would-be spy clearly isn't going to surrender!

Tulgram's attack hit and succeeds on a grapple, and "Verimar" failed the Fort save. As described, she will fall into a deep sleep after 1 round.

We will now proceed to Initiative.

Initiative (Round 1)

Theodore
Amhesha
"Verimar" (grappled; tranked)
Zhyffor
Zharis
Tulgram
Xylian

Bold should go!

Zharis realizes that their new allies might think they are betraying them if they see an attack against what *looks* like one of them, and isn't sure what to do, since she doesn't want to rush out there and put Mehrren in jeopardy.

She decides to comm the ship.

Hey Hop. Not sure if he copied you, or the people inside the ship, but Tulgram noticed someone pretending to be one of our new allies, the Anassanoi. He and Theo are likely going to attack soon. When that happens, can you broadcast that it is Nurleth, a torturer, in disguise, and that we found Protector Mehrren inside? I am going to go out a side door to try to get to their ship without getting in the middle of the fight, but if it gets diplomatically serious and I am not there, have Taeress step in telepathically. Don't let anyone leave the ship, but she can get her point across and still stay safe.

Are we supposed to be taking this guy alive? If so, -4 the attack to likely miss for intimidation factor to make it nonlethal.

Horizon Striker w/ Combat Tracking v. KAC: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21
Damage: 3d4 + 8 ⇒ (1, 4, 4) + 8 = 17

Amhesha fires a shot at the spy, unsure if the group is aiming to keep their target alive, or just take them out entirely. Her combat tracking goes up without issue this time though, thankfully.

Theo comes barrelling around the corner on all fours, squeezing through doorways, just in time to flank the captive with Tulgram.

Unless I looked at the wrong map, it'll take me a double move to get there.

Amhesha bursts out the side door of the facility and snaps off a shot, wounding the "anassanoi" just as Theodore races out the door!

@Amhesha: Because you were in the facility, I had to move your token out the side door in order to get a shot at the spy (the red token outside). This mean you couldn't use combat tracking, but fortunately the penalty the spy had from being grappled but was just enough to allow the shot to still hit.

@Everyone: Please remember to include your weapon's damage type in your damage rolls.

@Theodore: Yep, you're right. (this is Slide # 6).

Struggling against Tulgram's capture pole, the spy shouts something in a harsh, guttural tongue at the top of her lungs and then begins making arcane gestures with her hands!

The spy's shout echoes through the detention facility, and when it reaches the unconscious anassanois, Zharis can see the muscular female suddenly jolt in her arms as her eyes open!

@Tulgram and Theodore: The spy is attempting to cast a spell. You each get an attack of opportunity; if either of you hits, the spell is disrupted. We'll wait to resolve your AoOs before proceeding on initiative.

Rearing up onto his hind legs, Theo brings down one mighty paw, attempting to knock the caster silly before she can finish her spell.

Attack, Claws: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
Damage, Slashing: 2d6 + 25 ⇒ (4, 2) + 25 = 31

I'm not going to hit to keep my grip .)

Xylian moves outside towards the commotion, but he leaves the melee to Tulgram and Theodore.

Sorry, I've had a horrendous cold lol

Whatever magic was being conjured by the spy fails to manifest as Tulgram's claws rake her back--and seconds later, she falls into a deep slumber from Tulgram's tranquilizer dart!

Thedore's AoO hits, disrupting the spell. "Verimar" falls unconscious from the tranquilizer.

We're going to stay on Initiative for reasons that will become apparent next round.

Initiative (Round 1)

Theodore
Amhesha
"Verimar" (grappled; tranked)
Zharis
Tulgram
Xylian
Zhyffor

Bold should go!

Tulgram very gently puts her down on the floor, and begins to gently but firmly feel her, looking for where the holographic projector turns off (or what is she using there?). Then, with the same confident movements of a medic who knows how not to disturb the patient, he gently ties her hands and feet.

I think this is a plan for several rounds.

Tulgram finds the switch to turn off the holographic projector, revealing that the spy is actually a 12-foot-tall humanoid with dark horns and crimson skin that gives off flame and smoke--an efreeti! There's no injury to her mouth or jaw, and, instead of having been a prisoner, she's armed with a massive, wicked looking sword and a rifle!

I've added a pic to Slide # 5.

Zharis and Xylian are up.

Zharis wonders how the word "awaken" in Ignan could travel this far, or affect Mehrren... does she even know that language? Did they try to brainwash her with some mixed audible/psychic command, which is how they could hear it way back here? She maintains an outward calm though, and talks gently to Mehrren

Hey, you're injured, and I'm taking you to your people. Hang on for just a little longer.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 16 + 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 16 + (2) + 1 = 33

Zharis double moves with Mehrren out the side door and towards the hover truck.

Opening the door is an entire move action I believe, so that probably means that that the doorway is as far as I can get this turn. However, if I can wave the keycard and push the door open with my body (like when you back through a door carrying a heavy load), that would leave me at the top of the external stairway, and I could trigger my jump jets to get to the hover truck faster. What do you think? I left Zharis at the top of the stairs on the map, but if she is able to trigger her jump jets from there, she could go another 30 feet towards the truck.

Also, if Mehrren tries to struggle to get free of me holding her, would that be a grapple? I'm not sure if I have to roll something to physically restrain her/make sure she doesn't hurt herself.

Lithe but strong, Zharis manages to trudge toward the side door with the newly-awakened anassanoi in her arms. But as they get there, Protector Mehrren's eyes become bloodshot, her veins bulge, and her mouth froths as she tries to push herself violently free of Zharis' hold!

Meanwhile, unaware of the potential danger still inside the building, Xylian heads out the front door. Zhyffor, leader of the anassanoi rescue team, races up and is both visibly and telepathically astonished to see that an enfreeti almost managed to infiltrate the resistance's ranks! Truly you are heroes unparalleled! he mentally broadcasts.

@Zharis: We'll say you make it to the side door as a double-move, assuming the weight of carrying a muscular, medium-sized humanoid slows you down. We'll say you currently have a grapple, and next round on Mehrren's turn, we'll see if she can break free (assuming you want to maintain the hold).

@Zharis: To explain for transparency, I gave Mehrren a Perception check above to hear the shout with a base DC of 0 (shouting or sounds of combat) modified by distance (+1 for every 10 feet) and for being asleep (+10). She rolled high enough to make the check. As for understanding the language, that's a spoilery bit I can't go into.

Botting Xylian as doing a double move to get out the front door.

Initiative (Round 2)

Theodore
Amhesha
"Verimar" (asleep)
Zharis
Tulgram
Xylian
Zhyffor
Mehrren

Bold should go!

I do want to maintain the hold, if I can.

Zharis gets on comms, sounding low-key stressed.

Hey, if you have that torturer taken care of, I could use some help back here. Mehrren is awake and acting strange. I think maybe she was brainwashed, or even poisoned or something? I don't want her hurt, but I am not sure I can restrain her without help. I'm by the external door near the hover truck. I'll try to get it open, but if I can't, you might need to come through the main building since I think I am the only one with a key card... unless, did you get one off Nurleth? If so, the external door is the fastest way. Bring Zhyffor. Maybe he knows something that can help.

Amhesha silently keeps her eye on Mehrren, not wanting to harm them without getting answers, but mumbling to herself in Protean once more.

She then, of course, repeats it, louder, in Ifrit followed by Common. "Don't try anything."

Readied Action (she attacks/casts/etc.) fire with Horizon Striker v. KAC: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

Damage (Cold + Piercing) : 3d4 + 8 ⇒ (4, 3, 4) + 8 = 19

Since they presumably want both alive, but both seem to require some form of medical attention, Xylian waits to see what the expedition doctor wants him to do, since his own passable medical skills could be used at either location. "What would you like me to do, doctor Coldforge?"

"You go check it out , Doc. I'll keep this one down." Theo says, positioning himself to attack immediately if "Verimar" tries to get up.

Readied Full Attack, so y'all needn't wait on me to post if it triggers:
Attack, Claw: 1d20 + 15 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 15 - 4 = 23
Damage, Magical/Slashing: 2d6 + 25 ⇒ (2, 3) + 25 = 30

Attack, Claw: 1d20 + 15 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 15 - 4 = 12
Damage, Magical/Slashing: 2d6 + 25 ⇒ (5, 3) + 25 = 33

After Zharis alerts her companions that the situation is still unsettled, Amhesha rushes to her fellow pahtra's aid. Meanwhile, Theodore readies his razor-sharp claws in case the sleeping spy stirs!

To avoid have to re-do any posts, let's assume Zharis manages to push the side door open with her foot and Amhesha pulls it open the rest of the way. Amhesha, I've moved your token so you're right outside the door.

Nothing awakens the sleeping spy this round.

@Theodore: You may have a special ability that's an exception to the normal rule, but otherwise you can only ready a standard action for 1 attack (not a full action for multiple attacks).

@Everyone: For readied action dice rolls, please go ahead and chuck them in a spoiler--I'll only open them if the specified trigger occurs.

Initiative (Round 2)

Theodore (readied)
Amhesha (readied)
"Verimar" (grappled, asleep)
Zharis
Tulgram
Xylian
Zhyffor
Mehrren (grappled)

Bold should go!

Zharis sees Amhesha preparing to shoot the tortured hero, and says
Don't harm her. Restrain only.

Please correct this if I get it wrong... I have never grappled anyone before. (I don't typically play that type of character, sorry.)

Grapple Combat Maneuver (renew): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

If she escapes, Zharis will use her move action to put herself in the way of Amhesha's attack, and take it instead of allowing Mehrren to be harmed. Not sure what roll that would be, but guessing acrobatics?

Tulgram carefully removes the weapon (THIS ROUND), and then ties up the victim (NEXT ROUND). He nods at Theo, indicating that he is doing the right thing, not leaving him alone with efreeti. It's a delicate moment.

some skill check to do it gently: 1d20 ⇒ 17 +?

Of course, I would like to apply medicine, which I have +21. I think that doctors know how not to disturb sleeping patients under tranquilizers.

And also - I think that each of us has some kind of space traveler kit, where there is a cable (rope) and stuff like that. That is, I have something to tie up. If you don't agree, then let me know - it makes things a little more complicated. Maybe I'll ask Theo for the rope first (giving him a sign to contact me telepathically).

Xylian moves to help Zharis.

I'm not sure where Zharis is or how many locked or unlocked doors are in the way. Just yolo it I guess.

Woops. That's what I get for Pathfinding on 4h of sleep again.

"Old habit," Amhesha says as she stops places her aim at the ground, still clinging nervously to her rifle as this is her first time this up-close to the threat.

As Zharis prepares to put herself in harm's way inside the facility. Xylian reverses course to head back inside as the anassanoi known as Protector Mehrren thrashes violently, frothing in a crazed rage!

Meanwhile, Tulgram disarms the tranquilized spy.

We need to hurry--the enemy will have reinforcements on the way! We cannot take prisoners to our headquarters. Kill this one and prepare for departure. Your space vessel can land at a hangar bay we control. I will arrange for resistance agents to meet you there and escort you on foot the rest of the way. Zhyffor's telepathic voice is accompanied by increased anxiety as he scans the skies for signs of imminent attack.

@Xylian: I've moved your token to as far as you can get with a double-move (I can't remember--did you remove your power armor? If you're medium size, you'll get an extra three squares to the left.

Mehrren spends a swift action for the frothing rage and then does a multiattack on Zharis (with a penalty for being grappled). Result: All three attacks hit (the first one exactly on). Zharis, you take 20 B, 22 B, and 24 B.

@Amhesha: It's up to you whether you take your readied action or not (because Mehrren is grappled, using a ranged weapon won't provoke an AoO from him).

Initiative (Round 3)

Theodore
Amhesha (+Rnd 2 Readied Action?)
"Verimar" (grappled, asleep, prone)
Zharis
Tulgram
Xylian
Zhyffor
Mehrren (grappled)

Bold should go!

Zharis realizes that even though Mehrren is grappled, the anassanoi woman is going to kill her, and soon. 23 hit points left. She hit me for 66 this round.

She asks Amhesha Do you have anything that will hurt her without killing her? I can't take another attack like that, so if not, go ahead and attack, but if we see her weakening let's back off... I want to save her if we can.

She doesn't want to extend her claws into Mehrren's body, but isn't sure what other options she has... could she move quickly enough to manacle her?

Not my turn, so just throwing that in as observation/thought process.

@Theodore: You may have a special ability that's an exception to the normal rule, but otherwise you can only ready a standard action for 1 attack (not a full action for multiple attacks).

Good to know. No difference this time, the second one was going to miss anyway.

Theo maintains his watch while Tulgram ties up the efreet.
Do I need to roll a new readied attack, or just hold on to the earlier one?

If we can, adjust the readied strike to nonlethal as well? At the -4 penalty.

"Aim for the extremities! A claw to the leg or a bullet in the foot won't kill! Tulgram, we might need you here for either Zharis or Mehrren!" she says in Common, taking one or two shots at the creature's foot as she steps back, trying as best she can to disable without killing. Seeing how damaged Zharis is, she is visibly extremely worried.

Horizon Striker, Nonlethal, Combat Tracking v. KAC: 1d20 + 13 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 13 - 4 = 18
Damage, C/P, nonlethal: 3d4 + 8 ⇒ (2, 4, 4) + 8 = 18