The crowd blocks the vesk's body, so Voldresk aims high and cracks his target's cranium. Nearby bystanders get a blood and brain shower.
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Lola calls to the bartender androids as she goes by drawing her survival knife, "For freedom!". She sets an automated hologram in front of her face to make it look as if Lola is frightened, distracting the other vesk as she fights through the crowd to attack him with her knife, kept behind her back until she gets close.
= CR affected
Success means Target is Flat-footed and her attack does extra damage on a hit.
With the crowd going her way Lola's on the vesk before she realizes the danger and the operative's ploy confuses the vesk enough that her knife sinks home. The vesk bares its teeth and draws a knife of its own.
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Lola's usually not very good at diplomacy but comes through when dealing with androids who are enslaved, as she was once.
Lola adjusts the holograms to introduce a glowing mote typical of solarians and to give her face a golden glow. Then she attacks again with her knife while the Vesk puzzles out the light mote.
= CR affected. Success, Target is Flat-footed and does extra damage on a hit.
Her knife slips into the Vesk's gut through a gap in the armor.
Previously
Lola's words inspire the androids to join the fight. After a hurried conference they each grab a bottle and fling it at the remaining vesk without trying to set them on fire. One of the bottles arc's over Lola's shoulder to hit the vesk in the face.
Return to present
Joro steps up to support Lola in engaging the last vesk.
Thundergun is burning. He tries to bat the flames out unsuccessfully. He rolls himself along the stage to try to smother the fire. He looks over at the android bartenders. "Water."
...
...
Crowd clears on round 5.
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Lola worries about Thundergun burning, but stays focused on the Vesk opponent, bolstered by the android's and Joro's support.
Lola tries to keep the vesk off balance by making a hologram of a beeping grenade-like object in her off hand with a flickering count-down number field. Then she stabs again.
= CR affected. Success, Target is Flat-footed and does extra damage on a hit.
The vesk stabs back at Lola. Its superior strength pushes aside her guard and the knife drives home.
From across the room Bogdin fires his arc pistol at the closest target, Knitter Joro. The lightning strikes home.
"Take that you anti-tech luddite!"
... S)
... F; critical arc 2)
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Voldresk adjusts his aim as the other Vesk goes down, taking his eye away from the tiny scope to check the room he notices that the other guard is well and truly surrounded so he peers towards the man in the back. His weapon whirrs as it builds up power and then shorts causing him to need to fix the jam before he can fire again.
One of the crowd bumps Joro and his needle slides under the vesk's outstretched arm. Voldresk can't get his shot off.
It's parry and riposte. In the exchange of thrusts and slashes, Lola's hologram provides enough distraction to let her knife drive home again.
Idir lances a laser into the remaining vesk bouncer. She wavers unsteadily on her feet, bloodied and burned and tries one last weak thrust at Lola. It's easily parried.
One of the androids sprays Thundergun with seltzer to douse him. The other heaves another bottle at the vesk.
The last of the crowd drains from the room, leaving you alone with the androids, the bouncer, and Bogdin.
"Girl!" He's probably addressing Lola. After all he's pointing his pistol at her. "You took something of mine and I want it back."
He fires and electricity arcs into Lola. "Stupid, soft, human! Who are you to come into my club, kill my staff, and steal from me! "
Then he sidesteps to get the wall between him and Idir and Voldresk. From behind the wall comes a command.
"Kosmos units, lie down on the floor. I'll deal with you later!"
The android's freeze and look at each other.
... S)
...
... F; critical arc 2)
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Bogdin's jolt sparks as it spreads its energy through her android body, revealing some of the circuitry just under her human-looking skin. Her injury seems substantial, such that another such strike could put her down.
Unable to step away from Vesk bouncer without leaving herself open to an attack by him, she continues her attack. She activates another of her hologram distractions, this one showing a count down timer appear on her chest where the electric shock hit her. It also gives off a beeping sound that gets louder and shriller as it gets closer to zero.
"Your boss has activated my self-destruct mechanism, but I've got time for one more attack," she says grimly and stabs at him one more time.
= CR affected. Success, Target is Flat-footed and does extra damage on a hit.
She looks at the androids deciding whether to do as they were told. "Now that you've tasted freedom can you go back to being a slave?"
The crowd exits, no more difficult terrain.
Joro's misfire knocked over a bottle of Madiera Hispaniola from the top shelf of the round bar. An android was able to catch it, but in falling it had hit another bottle and caused a domino chain of falling bottles down the entire top shelf.
Lola kills the last vesk.
The androids, perhaps unaccustomed to the freedom and gunfire that they're tasting, beg Lola to kill Bogdin.
Brushing past Lola and Joro, Thundergun plants his bulk in the front of the party to shield Lola from Bogdin's gunfire and send two glowing blue sphere's the verthani's way. For his trouble Bogdin shoots him.
Bogdin sees through Idir's bluff and points out that he owns the police in this neighborhood. No unenlightened, unaugmented rabble are going to walk into his place, kill his guards, and take his stuff. He does not step into line of sight for Idir or Voldresk.
Idir leapfrogs Thundergun at the front of the group. His rifle shot hits Bogdin squarely, but the verthani's armor holds.
Lola takes a moment to get out of te line of fire and recover some health.
Voldresk advances, ready to shoot. Joro also advances.
Thundergun moves forward to a position by the door and sends two more magic missiles at the verthani.
Bogdin realizes his position has become untenable, but doesn't retreat. He continues to spout slander and abuse and closes with Joro, knife in hand.
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Lola moves with great agility toward Bodgin, but when she gets close, she tumbles past him and attacks with her knife from behind. She uses her computer effects to create the sound of a plasma gun going into overload as a distraction.
= CR affected.
As she tumbled, the knife slipped a bit in her grip and she couldn't get off an effective attack, but she gives a howl of battle to make up for her fumble. "Learn the fear your slaves live with, parasite!"
Voldresk's patience and planning pays off. His shot drops Bogdin cold. Lola and Knitter Joro quickly confirm the verthani slaver is dead.
The team clears the club blends in with the crowd just as the police arrive.
Back at Absalom Station, VC Arvin is delighted with the recovered fragment. He asks you to wait while the analysts examine it. It's not even an hour before he's back in the conference room with you.
"We ran hypothetical scenarios while you were on Verces, and the fragment matches one of them very well. The last clue is:
“The Herdsman sails on
The Prize you seek inside
A Shadow awaits”
"It took some searching through the database, but I am now certain this tale leads to Preahan, one of Liavara’s many moons. Records
show that in the time before the gap, other Dreamers built a mausoleum here for one of their ascended kin. Several dreaming
devices were placed within. It must be those devices that Whisperer of Solar winds wants us to find. It is strange, however, that it
would give us the location of the map pieces, as well as the location of the mausoleum itself… It must mean the map pieces do more
than just show the way. There's a Pegasus waiting for you in docking bay 49, but I would advise you to gather the map pieces first to see if they have more meaning to them.
“The Liavaran Dreamer,
Whisperer of Solar Winds, pointed us here. It took the
Society quite some time to discern our target: the shepherd
moon, Preahan. Most of Preahan’s atmosphere is comprised
of methane, but don’t worry, the atmosphere doesn’t contain
enough oxygen for combustion. Still, each of you should take
precautions and wear protective gear at all times. The methane
creates harsh conditions on the surface. There is currently a
storm raging, but there’s no time to wait it out. These storms
can last for months.
“The core of the moon is hollow and filled with liquid
methane. The repository is likely suspended somewhere
near the core. I have coordinates for a landing spot close to a
tunnel that reaches all the way to the core. "
As the gas giant Liavara comes into view, the Loreseeker’s
communications station activates and plays a pre-recorded
hologram of Venture-Captain Arvin. " Good luck on this
mission, Starfinders.”
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Lola inputs the map piece text and images into a computer and runs some programs to see if she can determine any other relevant correlation's to help figure out the dreamer's intentions.
As this is Lola's first adventure as a Starfinder, she has already spent all she has on her gear, so she has nothing to purchase with.
|
Voldresk's patience and planning pays off. His shot drops Bogdin cold. Lola and Knitter Joro quickly confirm the verthani slaver is dead.
The team clears the club blends in with the crowd just as the police arrive.
Idir's panicked hyperventilating slows as the fight ends and the group begins to blend in to the crowd. But only once they're on the ship and out of orbit does he truly relax.
"That...could have gone a lot better, but also a whole lot worse. We've recovered the artifact and saved some lives to boot, while not lowing any of our own, but we did[i] technically commit murder to do so...I imagine if word of this ever gets out it would be very, [i]very bad for the Starfinders' reputation. We may not want to come back to Verces for a long, long time."
Back at Absalom Station, VC Arvin is delighted with the recovered fragment. He asks you to wait while the analysts examine it. It's not even an hour before he's back in the conference room with you.
"We ran hypothetical scenarios while you were on Verces, and the fragment matches one of them very well. The last clue is:
“The Herdsman sails on
The Prize you seek inside
A Shadow awaits”"It took some searching through the database, but I am now certain this tale leads to Preahan, one of Liavara’s many moons. Records
show that in the time before the gap, other Dreamers built a mausoleum here for one of their ascended kin. Several dreaming
devices were placed within. It must be those devices that Whisperer of Solar winds wants us to find. It is strange, however, that it
would give us the location of the map pieces, as well as the location of the mausoleum itself… It must mean the map pieces do more
than just show the way. There's a Pegasus waiting for you in docking bay 49, but I would advise you to gather the map pieces first to see if they have more meaning to them."
When prompted, Idir gingerly produces the final map piece and places them with the others.
“The Liavaran Dreamer, Whisperer of Solar Winds, pointed us here. It took the Society quite some time to discern our target: the shepherd moon, Preahan. Most of Preahan’s atmosphere is comprised of methane, but don’t worry, the atmosphere doesn’t contain enough oxygen for combustion. Still, each of you should take precautions and wear protective gear at all times. The methane creates harsh conditions on the surface. There is currently a storm raging, but there’s no time to wait it out. These storms can last for months."
“The core of the moon is hollow and filled with liquid
methane. The repository is likely suspended somewhere
near the core. I have coordinates for a landing spot close to a
tunnel that reaches all the way to the core. "
Idir grimaces at the description of the moon.
"Well, no less unpleasant than any of the other places we've been to recently. At least we don't have to deal with criminals there...or become criminals ourselves..."
As the gas giant Liavara comes into view, the Loreseeker’s
communications station activates and plays a pre-recorded
hologram of Venture-Captain Arvin. "Good luck on this
mission, Starfinders.”
Idir sighs a bit.
"I wonder if he considers us more trouble than we're worth at this point," he wonders aloud as he aids Lola with the computer search.
...
Joro is right. The scenario even has a paragraph to that effect and offers up a space suit for any PC without armor.
Lola inputs the map piece text and images into a computer and runs some programs to see if she can determine any other relevant correlation's to help figure out the dreamer's intentions.
...
Despite a pretty nice roll and Idir's help, you don't learn anything more. Arvin's comment is really a suggestion to take the pieces with you. So who's gonna hold them?
Joro tries to recall the properties of liquid methane before they depart.
.
"I may have to lecture you about what we are about to face, but there is methane to my madness."
Excellent! MOre to come
Lola and Idir investigate Preahan on-line. It's a small moon so gravity will be low. The surface is wind scoured rocks and hunks of methane ice. Methane snow storms often rage across the surface.
Knitter Joro is able to extrapolate from this data based on his knowledge of planetary science. Even though the atmosphere is thin, the moon's meager gravity means wind velocities may be high enough to knock someone over, or even push them off the moon's surface.
The liquid methane core will be less dense than water. Combined with the low gravity, you won't have much buoyancy. You may need to swim very energetically to keep from sinking.
As advertised Preahan’s surface is wind scoured rocks and hunks of methane ice. And predictably enough, a snowstorm rages as you arrive, but the flakes are solid methane instead of water. You land near the tunnel that leads to the interior of the moon but covering even such a short distance is dangerous with the high winds and low gravity.
As advertised Preahan’s surface is wind scoured rocks and hunks of methane ice. And predictably enough, a snowstorm rages as you arrive, but the flakes are solid methane instead of water. You land near the tunnel that leads to the interior of the moon but covering even such a short distance is dangerous with the high winds and low gravity.
Voldresk improvises cleats for everyone to improve their footing.
Thus equipped, Idir makes a very strong start, but it's Knitter Joro's surprisingly strong yarn that really enables the group to make progress.
The rest of the team anchors Lola so that she doesn't blow away. With the others' arms and legs and bodies providing hand and footholds, she pulls herself to the front of the group. At the same time she also helps steady the others when the winds back and veer.