Tabrid Minor is a planet on the brink of devastating ecological collapse. While the planet’s government refuses to alter course or change policy, hope is not lost. The Coenocopi Foundation works hard to rekindle ancient copaxi magical traditions, in the belief that their spread would cause many citizens to adopt a more ecologically responsible way of life, turning the tide of destruction. Unfortunately, these magical traditions have been lost to time and government erasure.
Enter the Starfinder Society! Explore the rotating ruins of Gadrathar Fortress, a shattered citadel floating miles above the surface of Tabrid Minor, on a quest for ancient wisdom and magical secrets.
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A furry 11' mountain covered in sand-scoured armour and weapons chomps his cigar and rubs behind an ear stops to read his datapad. A small slightly weathered-looking medical bot carrying a medkit accompanies the giant bear, it wanders over to plug itself into the wall and begins charging.
"Another archaeological expedition!" he explains happily.
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Blinky hands over a cigar, "Akiton, my home away from home. Not a lot of options out there in the waste looking at the fallen ships from aeons ago and dusty plants, so any vices you have need to be portable ones. Cigars and tea it is" he also passes over a steaming mug of black tea with some strange green leaves floating in it.
"I didn't make the robot, I bought it on one of those late night shows, 'The Doc is in' with that DocMedevac character, the show had an infomercial in the break selling these DocJr™ things and they are pretty handy in a pinch. I work alone a lot and in some questionable areas, so a small robot with a virtual personality and enough software to know to pump me full of medical aid and call for help is a real comfort. A healing serum, an antitoxin, antibiotics, and some haemorrhage control is good to have around if someone falls over"
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"I hadn't thought to combine cigars and tequila, will put that on the to do list. Cigars and smoky tea just works, at least for me"
"Aside from all the marketing hype these DocJr™ bots are really just a combination of off-the-shelf tech assembled in one package. Take a basic medical drone, but then add in a miniaturised mk 2 computer with a virtual personality, a control module, and bunch of library chips. Has a global comms module and some other bits. Optioned out with a first aid kit, a heap of pretty basic pharmaceuticals, and a serum of healing and you have a pretty decent autonomous helper who can look after you and your friends. Theres also a smoke grenade for some degree of self-protection, and a fire extinguisher because fire is a really common hazard"
Tabrid Minor's south pole is a cold place, where the group was brough to a landing platform, where Zigvigix is waiting.
Ice-cold wind whips over the landing platform on the wing of this odd ship, which has the silhouette of a mudskipper fish. Numerous winglets jut out from the sides and top of the craft, each one made from an alloy of starship-grade metals and processed copi—a material native to Tabrid Minor that has many different applications. Zigvigix and a blue copaxi await just inside the open hatch to the ship’s interior.
“Welcome aboard the Nomad, Starfinders!” Zigvigix telepathically projects, once the doors close and the temperature begins to stabilize.
“This is an experimental ship we’ve been helping the Coenocopi Foundation build so they can explore the floating cities and structures around their planet. For those of you coming to Tabrid Minor for the first time, let me introduce you Therseis, an old ally of the Society.”
Therseis approaches with their arms slightly out to the side, palms up, then spins slowly, performing a formal copaxi greeting. “On behalf of the foundation, thank you for coming. As our group is concerned with staving off ecological disaster here on Tabrid Minor, we’ve struck upon an idea inspired by our friendship with your Starfinder Society—looking to our ancient magical traditions. We think we’ve found an ancient site that’s worth investigating, but we’ll need the help of highly trained non-copaxi field agents such as yourselves to access it.
“In addition to conducting atmospheric flight tests, we’ll be using the Nomad to ferry you to our destination: Gadrathar Fortress. It’s one of our world’s floating structures and is aligned with the south pole. It used to house an order of mystics and solarians who boasted a spiritual connection with the copi that has been lost for centuries. We’ve learned that it is currently inhabited by a group of sentient robots—survivors of a dark time in copaxi history whom we doubt would welcome expeditions from our foundation or governmental agencies.”
Zigvigix leads the group toward a staging area inside the ship, where a red-hued copaxi boasting a beard-like mane of coral strands waits near several tables of gear. “That’s your primary mission, Starfinders. We need you to search the fortress for information about any ancient magical traditions involving the copi that you can find. We’ll get you close, but you’ll need to use the gear we’re providing to fly the rest of the way up to Gadrathar Fortress, then negotiate with the locals for the right to explore and uncover whatever lore you can. Any questions?”
Zigvigix explains “Gadrathar Fortress used to be a perfect sphere with regularly spaced towers. Its gravitational fields were controlled by the master of the fortress. Something strange happened, though; the towers broke loose from one another and rent the fortress into a misshapen husk of its former glory, and now it constantly rotates as different sections of the structure grind past each other. This has caused the fortress and the airspace around it to suffer from extreme and unpredictable gravitational shifts that make it dangerous for anyone to approach. The Nomad is the first craft with experimental copi stabilizers meant to counteract these forces, but it’s still in the testing phases.”
The shame in Therseis’ expression is obvious as they add “At one point in copaxi history, robotic servants were created to assist with daily life. But when sentience emerged, the regional governments destroyed all robots on the planet, then wiped away all trace that they’d ever existed. The only survivors of this purge were magically adept robots who walled themselves away within Gadrathar Fortress. They do not suffer copaxi entry.”
Ah, you're interested in your equipment Zigvigix says, breaking the awkward silence allow me to introduce Daragonte, who is taking care of equipment.
You may have heard Daragonte says that because Gadrathar Fortress is in constant rotation with shifting gravity fields, the only safe way to travel to, from, and inside the structure is by flying. For that, I have brought these... you can freely borrow on of them.
The copaxi points to a selection of items: jetpack armor upgrades and elite hoverchairs .
In addition, Daragonte gives each adventurer one mk 2 serum of healing as a gift.
Those of you with drone companions, I can provide a special adamantine alloy cable tether with carabiners, which shoudl allow you to “drag” your companion along at a range of up to 10 feet while flying, without impacting your flying ability too much.
I have some other items, but they would come at a cost. I have spell ampoules and spell gems of the flight spell (levels 3 and above) available for sale. I can also sell you thruster heels cybernetic augmentations with a special interface that allows for instant implantation at no extra cost.
Finally, I have managed to obtain a few forcepack armor upgrades that I can sell at a discount—a flat 10,000 credits
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My drone already flies so that isn't a problem ... but, my current armour doesn't have an upgrade slot. I suppose I could use my old stuff.
But still, this sounds like an extreme game of parabolas and I'm fairly good at that.
They turn to Blinky. Yes, it is a very dark part of our history - one that we are still ashamed of
As Daragonte demonstrates how to switch between normal and “cruising flight” mode on any jetpacks, the leaders give the team a mk 1 null-space chamber that contains enough batteries to last each of the group an entire day’s worth of constant use in their devices, as well as one grappler per character, each pre-loaded with 100 feet of titanium alloy cable… just in case Zigvigix nods.
Once the team is geared up, Zigvigix leads them back onto the wing of the Nomad as the craft approaches the unstable gravitational region surrounding Gadrathar Fortress. Good luck to all of you!
Once the Nomad is in position, the way up is 1000 feet from the wing of the nomad to Gadathar's fortress. On the way up, the shifting gravity rapidly becomes disorienting.
As the group ascend, gravity becomes unstable, and icy winds add to the disorientation.
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Already familiar to most of you, the eternally busy drow producer Shari of House Misraria barely looks up from the endlessly ringing phones. She greets Theseius and Therseis in Copaxi, and then returns to work, listening to the briefing with half an ear.
During the descent, she tries to help, but is still constantly distracted by messages on several work phones. It seems that she needs courses to reduce multitasking, who knows?
Even Dirk manages to navigate the icy winds and shifting gravity, but Shari takes a buffet of cold air, which doesn't do much good for her.
The group then comes upon a zone that is orbited orbited by chunks of stone and fossilized copi that must be navigated to approach safely. The only way is to briefly touch down on some of the chunks before jumping to the next.
Jumping the stones is a perilous endeavour, but most of the team seems to be takin it just fine, except for Theseius, who get just while jumping of a larger brick, and then sprains his ankle on the next landing.
As the altitude increases, rocks are flying faster and faster, and this time around its more about quickly evading the incoming, near super-sonic rocks.
I need everybody to roll a Perception or Survival (easier), Acrobatics or Physical Science (harder)[/ooc]
The towers are rapidly approaching, and now is the time to perform some three-dimensional vectoring, which is awfully hard under the altered gravitational conditions.
Whether through skillful piloting or well-calibrated telemetry, the group avoids collisions and approaches the gate.
The gate is on a slow rotation, and warded by some defenses that required an exact matching of the motion