SFS1 #3-17 Clone Batch Catastrophe (Inactive)

Game Master cmlobue

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18.

Omega finds the equipment, then nods to the map, and types out a query.

What do you think? Check out those locations on the map, next?

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

"I think I missed something. What did you find?"

"Agreed, we should be careful though. They probably have traps set up, and I really hope that these are the heaviest guns they have. Last thing I want to happen is for us to get counter-counter ambushed."

Anock sweeps up the items and distributes them among the team. "We certainly don't want any stray Joros to come in here after us and use them against us. Now, Omega has the right idea: let's go check out those marked sections on the map."

Going to post quick summaries of most of the locations. Let me know which you want to follow up on.

Omega looks around the art studio / gallery, glancing over the... well... kitsch style of the joros fairly rapidly, before lingering on the bolder pieces produced by the nuar.

"imPResSiVe. tElL Me, iS yOUr STylE sImpLy YOur oWn, iN WhiCh cAsE, WhaT Is iT tHAt DrIveS aNd InSPirEs yOU? oR aRE You dElIbeRAtelY tRYiNg sOmeTHinG BolD AnD pROvoCAtivE, As a cOUntERpoINt To tHE LocAL 'mAInsTReAm' StYlE oF ThE jOroS, In aN eFfoRt To sHaKe-Up ThE aRt sCEnE, aNd PRovOKe oThEr tRulY OrIgiNAl WorKS? oR Am i rEAdINg tOo MuCh InTo iT?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23.

Anock is about to butt in and ask if the nuar feels safe here, but realizes just in time that Omega is drawing them in, earning their trust first. Ah, yes. Good plan. They learn well. She hovers at Omega's shoulder, ready to micromanage if she deems it necessary.

The nuar introduces herself as Annalise. She compliments Omega on their taste in artwork, and admits that she does try to create things that the Joros can't create on their own. After showing you a number of works in progress, she offers to meet you at BoThumbs Up later tonight with some other non-Joros she knows.

"tHaT sOUndS WonDErfuL."

Moving over to the scrapyard, Omega willingly, albeit inexpertly, attempts to get the Shobhad to open-up, hoping that actions do indeed speak louder than words...

Athletics: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18.

...and ends up doing a lot better than they had expected!

Anock follows along, shooing the other members of her team forward. "Go on! Don't be shy!" Upon seeing how well Omega handles themself, she decides she'd better try so she doesn't look like a bum.

Athletics: 1d20 ⇒ 13

It's a half-hearted effort, made only for the sake of appearances, and it shows.

Thesh looks on wistfully. They are not athletically inclined at all, and literally being ooze, talking is not really the job for them.

They decide to approach the yoghurt stand. Greetings. It's been a while since I've had some of this, but I am curious to see what the hype is like!

oof, -1 athletics, 1 eng, 0 diplomacy....not optimal

Perception DC20: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29
Perception DC18: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26
Culture DC15: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

The marked locations on the map seem to be where non-Joros tend to congregate. says Mizzrym'

Mizzrym' tries to talk to the shobad but his speech fell flat.

Engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Vomatian heads to get some yogurt.

"Hi there...what flavors are good?"

Omega helps organize some of the scrap, and receives another invitation to a gathering at BoThumbs Up from the shohbad, who introduces himself as Relton.

The lashunta at the dessert shop doesn't seem terribly interested in either the Starfinders or his work, but you do get your choice of Life Gives You Lemon Sorbet, S’more to Love, Esperesso Yourself, Cookie Doughn't You Want Some, Neon & Nougat, Too Thick for a Strawberry Milkshake, and quite a few others. There's also something called Taste of Main that you can't figure out in terms of either puns or ingredients, but definitely does not appeal to the non-Joro palette.

A friend once tried to make Taste of Maine ice cream - blueberry and lobster bisque. It was... unique.

Oof. That definitely sounds... unique... to put it mildly!

Omega is pleased that their effort, bumbling as it may have been, managed to help them make a new acquaintance at the scrapyard, and they eager agree to meet-up later.

Moving on to the frozen yoghurt bar...

I'm seeing a pattern, here ;-)

From a morbid research-perspective, Omega is fascinated by the strange flavors at the dessert stand, but they cannot help but ask:

i DoN't sUPpoSe YoU hAvE aNy LEss... UnIqUe... fLaVoRs, ThAt MiGhT fUnCtIoN aS a PaLaTe cLEanSEr FoR tHOsE wANtINg a sImPlEr tAsTe?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26.

Omega, who has clearly read How To Make Friends And Influence Non-Joros on the shuttle here, does manage to get the lashunta's attention. "Flavors are fine, and they're usually not clever enough to hide what's inside -" - he briefly glances at the Taste of Main container, which is pink and blue, but not the pastel versions you might find in cotton candy "- but I can find pretty much any common flavor you're interested in. I'll even run my employee discount for you if you don't ask for it by the funny name."

Sorry to say you wasted that 20, but all you needed to do was say something mean about the Joros.

The lashunta's name is Kenro, and, surprisingly, is interested in meeting you at BoThumbs Up later tonight.

"I wonder if that draelik is recovering, or if that crap that was on that needle is in him. Speaking of, I should probably pay a quick visit, get stitched back up."

"What?! You're still injured?! Irres, that's highly irresponsible of you! Come here! You can't trust those Joros pretending to be health care professionals, anyway."

Sorry, Irres, I didn't realize you were hurt; your header shows you at full. Where are you at now with SP & HP? Is anyone else hurt?

Ah, the stereotypical disgruntled employee! :-P

I guess we need to kill time until BoThumbs Up opens?

Omega nods, and types out a response.

Agreed. Being in an optimal physical state when possible is definitely desirable.

"You know how fruit pouches have that thin plastic layer stopping all the red liquid from leaking out? Yeah, about like that."
0 SP, 1 HP

"I'll have a rocky road? Can you do that flavor?"

I'll take an Espresso Yourself please.

"You know how fruit pouches have that thin plastic layer stopping all the red liquid from leaking out? Yeah, about like that."

0 SP, 1 HP

@Irres: In this post Anock gave you Fast Healing 1 (SP only) for 1 minute, so you should have 10 SP back. If you need more SP, we'll be sitting around eating ice cream for 10 minutes-ish, so you can spend a Resolve Point to top that off.

"Now, let's see what we can do about those deeper wounds. Hopefully the medical equipment they gave us isn't as effective as their medical care." Anock remarks dryly, pulling out the dermal stapler they gave her at the hospital. She causes her nanites to take the form of a basic medkit and gets to work on her patient.

Treat Deadly Wounds on Irres, DC 25, dermal stapler bonus: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 1 = 17
Failure

"Ugh! Sorry, Irres. I'm afraid the resources at my disposal aren't enough to patch you up properly. At least I am honest about my limitations." She clearly doesn't realize that preening at this point is ill-advised.

"At least I won't be leaking."
SP corrected

Unfortunately, the Joros do not have a flavor of froyo that can restore lost blood to Irres, but the team is as prepared as they can be by the time of their meeting in BoThumbs Up.

Six ceiling-mounted vidscreens illuminate an otherwise dim bar, each screen flashing between whizdisk highlights, competitive board game analyses, and spots of outdoor exercise groups all being covered by nearly-identical Joro commentators. Posters and signs espousing support for the Thumbs-Up clutter the walls and decorate the diner-style menus placed on the numerous empty tables. A stage conspicuously large enough to support a small community choir overlooks the spacious room, the karaoke prompter screens dark with whizdisk screensavers bouncing slowly around the frames.

The three non-Joros you spoke to earlier are in a booth, along with a summerborn rhyphorian who introduces themself as Finbar. You can easily tell that they are anxious and frustrated, but they greet you warmly.

"You don't look like the usual clones here. Even those of us who aren't Joro clones. What do they have you doing here?"

Anock is taken aback. "That question implies some level of coercion." She states suspiciously. "We would like to know more about what you've experienced, but first you may be interested in what we discovered while poking around a back alley. There was a whole operation back there dedicated to turning people like you and me into Joros. There's a chemical cocktail to change our bodies, and a cognitive programming system to make us believe we're Joros." She pauses to note their reactions.

"What, are you guys stuck here?"
Irres asks.

The group answers Irres with a mix of camaraderie and wariness.

"Stuck here? Where would we go? The vault provides us with all we need. And we don't know how to get out even if we wanted to."

"Though we might want to if the population gets any more... Joro."

"They're not that bad, mostly. I could handle about a 90% reduction in puns in my life, though."

"And maybe a vote where we don't know exactly how many... wait, what did you just say?"

It seems like your companions have finally processed Anock's statement.

"Turning people into Joros?" Finabar answers, lowering their voice. "You have to be kidding. I just figured whoever was running the clone farm decided that Joro was the best they could do, so kept pumping them out."

Omega shakes their head vehemently, and quietly types out a response.

We are definitely not kidding; we have seen the equipment ourselves. The crazy Joro running the 'clone farm' had the gear all set up to both produce joros, and repurpose existing 'non-joros' into more of them. He was pretty insistent about the fact that he wanted to do it to us, too... but we *permanently* disabused him of the wisdom of that notion.

That said, we cannot exclude the possibility that he had other joros working with him... although I doubt many of them would have the guile to be capable of it.

Anock barely is able to keep her voice from carrying, as vehemently as she feels about this subject. "Indeed! The idiocy at their so-called 'hospital' is proof that they're not the sharpest knives in the drawer. Now, we got in through the basement of Roofer and Baker's home, if you'd like to leave the Vault. But I'm curious. How long have you been here? Has it always been a Joro-clone-majority place? Were there more non-Joros before? Tell us everything!"

Vomatian nods as Anock talks. "Yeah if you want to leave let us know. We can head back to the Roofers. But let's us know what's going on with this place?"

During this conversation, a group of unfamiliar Joros enters the bar and surrounds the booth. These Joros wear armor and weapons holstered at their hips. “We are the CommanJoros,” the one nearest the booth announces. “All newcomers and malcontents need to immediately surrender their equipment and be taken to First Joro for evaluation and processing.”

FYI, you have no reason to believe your new friends can fight.

"Well, I for one would love the opportunity to meet First Joro. Come along, fellow newcomers." Anock rises cheerily. She's been wanting to find the original Joro this whole time, and First might be him!

Haven't we already meet and dispose of the First Joro?

Says Mizzrym'

"fIrSt jOrO hAs AlREaDy BeEn pRoCeSsEd iNTo oBlIviOn. iF YoU WiSh tO jOiN HiM, fEEl fReE To aTtAcK uS."

"Technically, he didn't introduce himself. For all we know, that was a different Joro." Anock corrects her teammates, annoyed that they're stalling and sending a mental message to each of them: Don't escalate until we get them away from the civilians!

Of course, she's assuming these CommanJoros are as competent as the hospital staff and will quickly forget to confiscate anyone's equipment if everything else goes smoothly.

Deliberately ignoring Anock's telepathy, Irres locks onto the nearest Joro with her combat tracking, and grabs the grip of her rifle.
"Are you listening to them?" Irres gestures at her companions.
"We killed the first Joro, we killed anyone else in your little base, and we turned your machinery into scrap. What makes you think you've got a chance?"
Irres readies an action to jump behind the bar, grabbing one of their civilian acquaintances and dragging them with her.

Somehow, the CommanJoros don't take that in the spirit it was intended. Unless that spirit was 'let's fight now'.

The civilians in the building take cover behind anything they can find.

The CommanJoros have a unique ability. They can trick with Culture by making a witty (for a Joro) remark. The target can then negate it with a verbal riposte and a higher Bluff or Diplomacy check, which also makes the CommanJoro off-target for 1 round.

The Joro with the yellow stripe on their uniform moved toward Irres, who was the first to display hostile intent, and fires.

Pulsecaster Pistol: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Nonlethal Electricity Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Irres was prepared and gets out of the way - barely.

The Joro with the red stripes looks at Omega after the hologram's aggressive statement. "The only processing happening is the process of taking you to First Joro - unconscious if we have to."

Culture, Tricks CR ≤: 1d20 + 11 - 20 ⇒ (16) + 11 - 20 = 7
Pulsecaster Pistol: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Nonlethal Electricity Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Trick Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2

This one seems a mite upset about what they have been told, and punctuates it with a perfect shot on Omega.

Round 1 - bolded may go

Yellow
Red
Mizzrym’
Irres
Vomatian
Green
Red
Anock
Ω-CloudChatI.Q.Prime (-6+ SP, Outwit the Joro!)
Thesh

Vomatian fires at yellow

attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

"I don't know about that!"

Irres fires a shot into the yellow armband wearing Joro.
attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
damage: 1d10 ⇒ 2

Vomatian and Irres both takes shots at the CommanJoro with yellow uniform markings. Both Starfinders score hits.

The Joro with the green armband moves up and tries to club the clearly dangerous Vomatian. "Nice aim. Think we'll make you a whizdisk player after First Joro processes you. You'll be a whiz at it!"

Culture, Tricks CR ≤: 1d20 + 11 - 20 ⇒ (14) + 11 - 20 = 5
Light Sap: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Nonlethal Bludgeoning Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Trick Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Bonk.

The one with red insignia takes a step back and shoots at Anock. "You bug me!" Short, to the point, something only a Joro could love.

Culture, Tricks CR ≤: 1d20 + 11 - 20 ⇒ (9) + 11 - 20 = 0
Pulsecaster Pistol: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Nonlethal Electricity Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Trick Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Not particularly clever, but their aim is good.

Round 1 - bolded may go

Yellow (-9 HP)
Red
Mizzrym’ (delay)
Irres
Vomatian (-5+ SP, Outwit the Joro!)
Green
Red
Anock (-2 SP, Outwit the Joro!)
Ω-CloudChatI.Q.Prime (-6+ SP, Outwit the Joro!)
Thesh

Looks like Anock should be at -6 SP, b/c of Trick Attack damage.

The one with red insignia takes a step back and shoots at Anock. "You bug me!"

"You should bug out!" Anock retorts, stepping to the side to gain some cover and releasing her nanite cloud. Ouch! She's tempted to use her last surge to help her heal, but decides to save it in case one of her underlings needs it more. She draws her azimuth laser pistol and holds it at the ready.

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0
Ha! We both got 0.

Sadly, I cannot beat a 27 on a Bluff/Diplomacy check...

Ignoring the puns, Omega focuses on blasting Green.

Holy Underwater Living Red Star Plasma Array: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24, for 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8 Electricity/Fire damage.

Ha! We both got 0.

Well, it got a 0 because I build the -20 to determine the CR tricked into the roll. Apparently the second lazy bug pun is even worse than the first.

Anock wrote:

Ha! We both got 0.

Well, it got a 0 because I build the -20 to determine the CR tricked into the roll. Apparently the second lazy bug pun is even worse than the first.

That is on brand for Anock. ;)

Thesh starts by stepping diagonally to avoid an AOO and shoots green.

acid micergate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
acid: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Anock's pun was so bad, she forgot to take her turn.

Thesh and Omega both douse the green-uniformed Joro in acid.

The CommanJoro with yellow insignia steps up to Mizzrym. "Guessing this wasn't the night at the club you were hoping for," they say as the club the soldier.

Culture, Tricks CR ≤: 1d20 + 11 - 20 ⇒ (10) + 11 - 20 = 1
Light Sap: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Nonlethal Bludgeoning Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Trick Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

The Joro in the red armband circles the Starfinders and fires at Thesh. "If you're going to step out, drop the gun and step out with us."

Culture, Tricks CR ≤: 1d20 + 11 - 20 ⇒ (4) + 11 - 20 = -5
Pulsecaster Pistol: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
Nonlethal Electricity Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Trick Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Round 1 - bolded may go

Yellow (-9 HP)
Red
Mizzrym’ (Outwit the Joro!)
Irres
Vomatian (-5+ SP, Outwit the Joro!)
Green (-11 HP)
Red
Anock (-2 SP, delay)
Ω-CloudChatI.Q.Prime (-8 SP)
Thesh (-2 SP, Outwit the Joro!)

Anock's pun was so bad, she forgot to take her turn.

"You should bug out!" Anock retorts, stepping (1) to the side to gain some cover and releasing her nanite cloud (2). Ouch! She's tempted to use her last surge to help her heal, but decides to save it in case one of her underlings needs it more. She draws her azimuth laser pistol (3) and holds it at the ready.

Round 1 actions:

Thesh rolls their eyes.
"Step out? Step out where? I'm not stepping anywhere, but maybe you've stepped yourself in a bit of acid."

bluff/diplo: 1d20 ⇒ 3

got nothing in these cha checks, but an 11 culture FWIW...

Vomtian fires at the one that attacked him.

attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2