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The words of Venture-Captain Naiaj still ring in your ears as you board the Weydanite ship the Stylus of Destiny. "The Weydanites like exploring even more than we do, and what's more they're good at it. If they're asking for our help, then, it follows that it must be something really interesting. They've asked for a team, and you're it; don't ask me for more details, I don't have them, but I'll forward their briefing message to your comms. Your ship leaves in two hours. Dismissed!"
A young shirren wielding a painglaive almost twice his height introduces himself: "Chk Chk, servant of Zon-Shelyn at your service. Birnham's Bubble is very interesting , indeed! The beauty of the planet, threatened by the destruction of the bubble."
An android with plenty of extra mechanical modifications and gear (also heavily modified) boards the ship. Making their way to quarters they get settled, then look for a common area where the rest of the team should eventually end up.
Upon arrival they sit, ”I am Iseph. Hopefully I can help with the tech portion of this mission. On a personal note, I am significantly less worried about the beauty and more worried about the destruction. I may be able to restore ‘myself’ from backups easier than most beings, but that doesn’t mean I wish this body and consciousness to die. So if we can’t fix the shield, let’s make it a quick in and out.”
Dae does a little fancy footwerk as they enter.
"But Iseph, think how cool it will be to go to a planet that no one has been to in centuries...millenia, even! There are mysteries for us there!"
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A dark pahtra quietly enters as the android is speaking. They take a corner seat, facing into the room.
"Greetings. I am Flwon, in the now, in the before, in the after.
"It seems that time for this planet is slipping away, or is it?"
Their solemn demeanor disappears with a subtle movement, like a wave progressing through the body from their ears down. Flwon's long tail begins to twitch slightly, just at the tip. "Hey, all. This could be exciting, no? Better than a vidgame even!" A light and boisterous tone is an uplifting contrast to the previous statements.
"I'm always up for the unknown. I'm pretty spry, not bad with basic computers, and can channel a bit of energy from the mutable time streams. Hopefully I'll be of some use to the team. I'm very new at all this."
A fit of hissing follows the pahtra's statement. The hisses erupt from a male vesk. The reptilian creature sports defrex hide armor and has only a doshko slung over his back.
"Here me, laugh!" he declares. "You may be new to this, but the success of this expedition has now been guaranteed. The Starfinders may have sent an entire team, but it takes simply one vesk to get a job done."
"And, I, Revizin, am that vesk." The vesk places his clawed hands near his hips, striking a pose that he believes to be convincing and heroic. "Do not fear, little morsels. I will not allow this mystery to remain...er... mystifying! Nor shall I allow you perish on the planet below."
Navasi runs her hands through her hair and says, "This should be simple enough. If things gets heated, we'll be able to handle it. Help out those researchers and all."
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The route from the energy shield entry point to the landing site takes the ship past a pristine but empty city of glistening buildings. A small clearing in the verdant jungle is just large enough for a second ship to land next to the Weydanite advance survey team’s shuttle. The sensor readouts indicate “ambient energy of indeterminate danger” in the atmosphere, but for now, all is calm.
Too calm. Despite the lush jungle surroundings, the only audible sound is a light wind gently rustling the leaves of the planet’s strange flora. There are no buzzing insects, no chirping birds, nor any other sight or sound of life.
As you disembark, you find a wide path leading from the landing zone to the survey site nearby. As you emerge into the area from the west, you see the survey team hard at work spread around the area. A friendly-looking Kasatha in dirty coveralls wipes three of his hands on a cloth, waiving with the fourth as he jogs over.
”Hello there! I’m Mehusel, head of this little team. We’ve discovered a tower that we think will help stabilize the planet’s shattering energy field. We’re preparing to activate it, but before we do, we’ve got to survey the site. We’ve noted other points of interest, too. There’s the tower itself, some strange consoles to the south, odd rock formations to the north, and potentially dangerous flora to the east. Could you help out before we try to activate the tower?”
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A1. Drained Rock Formation
A formation of purplish-black boulders juts from the jungle floor. A large patch of grass around it has taken on the same dark color, rather than usual green. Mehusel is happy to step aside to let you examine the odd boulder formation. ”There’s another one just like it up on that ledge to the east, but that one’s glowing! What do you make of them?”
Survey Check options:
—--
A2. Charged Rock Formation
A formation of glowing boulders stands atop a high ledge. These boulders resemble the darkened boulders to the southwest, but they emit soft light and a low hum.
Survey Check options:
—--
A3. Magitech Tower
A column of wood and metal rises from a stone platform. At the top, a beam of intricately knotted wood rests perpendicular to the column. There are engravings in the metal at the base of the column, and the lichen growing on the tower glows with a soft blue light.
Survey Check options:
—--
A4. Magitech Consoles
An alcove surrounded by rock walls contains short columns of stone, each about 3 feet high. The columns are studded with gems and metal panels, and ancient runes are carved into nearly every inch of their surfaces.
The friendly skittermander Livonetta waves to you as you approach. ”Hi nufriends! Mind help-helping me? I think these are magical controls for the tower over there, but I’m not sure how they work or what they’re supposed to do. I made some fun sketches of them and sent them to the other survey teams on my datapad, and it turns out these weird consoles are found all over the planet! Neat, huh?”
Survey Check options:
—---
A5. Threatening Flora
Two types of strange flora grow near the dirt path. Some plants resemble bulbous, spiky berries, each several feet in diameter, while others are fern-like succulents with large green and purple leaves and a bloom of bright orange flowers at the center.
A sullen human woman grunts a greeting at you as you approach, but says little else until you approach the flora. ”Careful. Not sure what’ll make these things activate, but they seem dangerous. The ones with the orange flowers look angry.”
Survey Check options:
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A1. Drained Rock Formation
Flwon moves to take a closer look at the nearby rocks.
"They look like rocks."
"Let me take a closer look." Flwon puts their nose close to the rocks, whiskers twitching.
A2. Charged Rock Formation
Moving to the glowing rocks, Flwon initially stands back, looking from what they think is a safe distance.
"Be careful with this lot," the pahtra warns the others, "There's a bunch of glowing motes above them and I don't like that humming sound. I don't know enough about these things, so I'm staying away."
A3. Magitech Tower
At the tower, Flwon is clearly interested in the engravings but initially hones in on the magitech aspects. "Now this looks more interesting, and safer."
A4. Magitech Consoles
"Nufriend indeed! These look facinating. I'd be happy to see what I can do with them."
"Well that's disappointing, they don't seem to be loaded with anything to play, at all."
"Let me check these runes and gemstones too. They look intriguing."
"This is your lucky day, Mehusel" Revizin tells the kasathan. "With a vesk in charge, the deed is as good as done."
Spying a potential threat, Revizin heads first to the strange flora grow near the dirt path. When the human gives a warning, the vesk huffs. "I do not need to be careful," he says with snap. "I am a vesk!" He trains his repitlian eyes on the bloom of bright orange flowers, daring them to act.
Unable to do much more, the vesk turns his attention to th formation of purplish-black boulders jutting from the jungle floor.
"What do I make of them?" The vesk hisses at the survey team member. "Ask, instead, what I shall take of them. A piece! As a vesk, I command both mighty strength and skillful precision. Thus, I can cleave off a piece of these odd boulders as a sample for you to examine all the more closely."
"Bah! This task was far too simple. Rocks pose no challenge to me! Perhaps, I shall turn my attention upon matters more civilized. For the vesk conquer not only nature, but also those who have tamed it!" Revizin turns his interest towards areas suggesting magitech.
Noting the column of wood and metal rising from a stone platform, Revizin believes he has found something more akin to his interests.
He next ventures to the consoles, but hesitates upon spying the skittermander.
When he is greeted by Livonetta, Revizin nearly rolls his reptilian eyes. "I am not a 'nufriend'." he hisses. "I know your kind quite well. Now step aside and let me have a look. Only one as capable as I can decipher the mysteries held here within these odd devices."
Iseph immediately moves to check out the threatening flora, trying to carefully avoid setting them off while doing so. Also happy the vesk is currently distracting them.
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And then scouts out the drained rock formation, picking up a small but very unique pebble that was knocked free when the vesk started hammering on it.
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And lastly tries to figure out how the computers are integrated into the systems here. Also they are oddly surprised that the vesk keeps following them around. Or is it the other way around?
Navasi sees the group scatter and says, "Ah, well, they'll figure it out! Being a leader is about focusing on the work no one else wants to do - ah."
Navasi pokes at the charged rock formation first.
Navasi sighs as she wanders over to try the task she knows she isn't skilled at - but neither is anyone else in the group. She attempts to figure out the plant's relationships with each other.
Knowing she didn't have much headway, she'll attempt to survey the plants again.
And her poor skill puts her off. She grins and says, "Anyone need help with something? I'm all out of tasks for the afternoon."
Chk Chk wanders the site, initially drawn to the strange rock formation, he gives the rock a gentle tap with the end of his painglaive and listens to the sound carefully.
Speaking of listening, his delicate senses pick up the vibrations from the still-charged formation. HE moves closer for a look. He closely examines the response of his own body to the slight hum.
Unable to resist the friendliness of the eager skittermander, he examines the controls. "These are largely outside my experience, but these runes and gems are interesting. They have a certain beauty."
Chk Chk's mystic connection doesn't have much to do with plants, but he examines the dangerous flora carefully to see if he can make sense of it.
A1
Dae starts off by looking for cool rocks.
A2
Next, Dae checks out the boulders and tries to groove along with the hum.
A5
Dae, now a little bored with the surveying, is drawn to the dangerous flora. They try to see how close they can get.
They try once again.
They end up face first in a bush.
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Flwon:
A1 - Percept S -> +1
A3 - Crafting CS -> +2
A4 - Vidgame Lore CF -> -1
A4 - Society CS -> +2Revizin:
A5 - Perception S -> +1
A1 - Crafting S -> +1
A3 - Warfare Lore S -> +1
A4 - Computers CF -> -1Iseph:
A5 - Thievery S -> +1
A1 - Perception S -> +1
A3 - Computers S -> +1
A4 - Computers S -> +1Navasi:
A2 - Perform S -> +1
A5 - Nature F -> 0
A5 - Nature CF -> -1
?Dae:
A1 - Perception S -> +1
A2 - Performance S -> +1
A5 - Acrobatics F -> 0
A5 - Acrobatics F -> 0Chk Chk:
A1 - Nature F -> 0
A2 - Medicine F -> 0
A4 - Crafting F -> 0
A5 - Nature F -> 0Total Survey Points earned: 12
- A1: 4
- A2: 2
- A3: 4
- A4: 1
- A5: 1
Navasi gives a valiant attempt to uncover who the consoles would have been made for.
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- A1: 4
- A2: 2
- A3: 4
- A4: 1
- A5: 1
A1 - Drained Rock Formation:
Through careful examination of both the boulder and of samples taken, you determine that these rocks once held some amount of life essence--they weren't just made of matter--but something has drained them dry. This draining seems to have left them looking slightly shriveled.A2 - Charged Rock Formation:
You notice soft light and tiny glowing dust motes come from a thin layer of bioluminescent moss that grows on (and perhaps inside) the boulder in a pattern that looks like veins of ore. Between that and the hum, which you notice subtly changing pitch in response to your own pulse and breathing, you determine that these rocks contain a significant amount of life essance at their cores, to the point that it's slowly leaking into the nearby environment.
A3 - Magitech Tower:
The engravings at the base of the column depict starships in battle near a planet surrounded by a cloud of energy. There are beings on the planet who appear to be hiding beneath the cloud, out of sight of the starships. These lifefoms are stout people wearing robes; their bodies are shaped like chiseled stone, and they have multiple eyes. You also notice that additional technology was grafted onto the tower at some point long after it was constructed. The tech, a bunch of circuitry panels and wires, is likely intended to boost or modify the tower's original magic in some way. Put together, you can determine taht the magitech towers were originally designed with some kind of defensive purpose and were later modified by technology that originated from another civilization.
A4 - Magitech Consoles:
You deduce that some of the runes and gemstones were altered long after the columns were originally constructed, such as by being removed and replaced (in the case of the gemstones) or re-carved (in the case of the runes).
A5 - Threatening Flora:
You determine that the "berries" are harmless, but the fern-like plants have bulbs concealed at the base of each orange flower that might open or react in response to an external stimulus.
Mehusel gathers you all together near the magitech tower to compare notes. In addition to what you learned at each location, you're able to surmise the following:
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The captain’s voice crackles out of every comm unit in the area. “Attention all survey teams! There’s been an accident at one of the towers! The magitech is responding! We’re processing the data as fast as we can, but we’re not sure what to expect next. Continue your observations but prioritize your safety. When you—”
The communication suddenly cuts off just as the jungle floods with the sounds of chirping and chattering wildlife. The sounds rapidly cut in and out, like audio playing through a loose connection. In sync with the sound, wildlife appears and disappears from sight: a flock of colorful birds appears above the tree line, seemingly out of nowhere, and flies a few yards before vanishing again. Small, rocky lifeforms wearing robes and huddling in a corner near the magitech console also flash in and out of existence, muttering to one another in astonishment at the sight of the survey team. The oscillating sights and sounds slowly stabilize, and the beings and wildlife stop vanishing just as a massive crack appears in the sky above—the planet’s shield is under enormous stress.
The rocky lifeforms cry out in alarm, but a pair of bellowing beasts that appear near the tower drowns out their shouts.
—------
Chk Chk readies his painglaive and reaches out to the shadow of one of the creatures, connecting with it. He orders the shadow to stalk its owner!
for
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One of the creatures bellows and moves toward you. Its massive shell raises up and spreads, almost like a pair of wings, in a terrifying display!
Success You are unaffected.
Failure You are frightened 1 and suppressed for
1 round.
Critical Failure You are frightened 2 and suppressed
for 2 rounds.
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Flwon feels a chill run through them and looks up to see two behemoths charging toward the group. They instinctively try to slow the nearest.
one action - Warp Reality
Flwon makes a quick assessment and realises the creatures are out of reach of any of their spells, or even their clunky pistol and grenade. *Probably wise not to stay grouped up like this*, they think. Taking action, they move, albeit slower than they'd like, to where they may have some cover.
Then they cast shield as a precautionary measure.
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The second creature moves up, slowing as it enters Flwon's field, and raises its shell over its head defensively.
The ferns seem to react to the approach of the creatures, their fronds seeming to perk up and the bulbs at their base bulging.
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efficiently for your own safety. You take a –1 circumstance
penalty to attack rolls and take a –5-foot status penalty to
all your Speeds.
Dae is scared of this thing, but they draw their battle ribbon, attune to fiery photons, and spread out a little.
Iseph hollers, ”Defend yourself! Maybe they will get scared away if we show them some bite.”
They draw a pistol and reposition before firing a single biting bullet at the north foe.
for
Navasi sizes up the closest of the creatures and waves her gun at it.
"Attack that one first!" she declares .
She then moves backward, hoping to keep the stronger party members between her and the creature.
Finally, she takes a shot.
Unsure of this new threat, but unwilling to back away from a fight, the warrior vesk approaches the creature with caution.
Revizin then swipes with a claw!
Chk Chk, disoriented by the creature's display, disregards Navasi's advice and forces himself to move closer to the creature Navasi attacks. He pulls on the creature's life force.
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Navasi directs fire on the yellow-tinged creature, then demonstrates by landing a shot between it's raised shells. Iseph and Revizin try to follow her instruction, but neither is able to get past its defenses. Dae, meanwhile, moves into position and Chk Chk casts a spell at it.
The creature seems totally unaffected by the spell, however.
As Navasi's shot impacts the creature, one of the bulbs at the base of the nearest fern bursts, raining spores over the whole area!
Looking bolstered by the raining spores, the first creature to act rushes toward Iseph and Flwon, first biting at the pahtra before trying to punch the android.
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The pahtra sneezes violently, "Grrr, plants!"
Flwon responds to the bite with a loud, "OUCH! I am not food!"
They mentally fling the largest rock they can mentally manage at the creature, hoping to deter it.
Edit to add:
The first rock they tried was too heavy. The future flashed through Flwon's mind. Putting aside their pride, Flwon selected a more appropriate geologic item to propel toward the creature.
Flwon releases their quantum field, I've got to learn how to move that thing! They recast shield
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Flwon hurls a rock, impacting the creature and knocking at back a step. Meanwhile, the other beast snaps at Revizin, then rears up on its hind legs and does its own frightening display!
As it rears up, the other bulb at the base of the fern bursts, once again raising poison spores over the area.
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Chk Chk feels queasy, but he extends some of his mystic power to bolster the team.
Revizin slashes at the creature again with primal fury.
Then, he draws his doshko and continues to attack.
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"We gotta keep it moving!" Navasi says with some distress, changing targets to Get Em on Flwon's attacker . She then reloads and takes a shot.
Iseph quickly raises a forcefield when pressed by the foe. Seeing an escape route, the Android dashes northwest while aiming and then pivots to fire!
”Keep it up, we got this. Probably.”
for
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[dice=Will save vs DC18]1d20+5
[dice=Fort save vs DC16]1d20+3
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Revizin slashes at the creature, connecting despite its raised shell. The creature is able to deflect his doshko, however. Navasi follows that with some encouraging words and shot on the other creature, similarly connecting. However, Iseph isn't able to follow that up, the android's shot going wide.
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Dae, despite being frightened, saunters up to the nearest critter and breaks out their battle ribbon.