[SFS] 1-08 and 7-07 Arniselle Double Feature

Game Master Kludde

Tentacles writhing in satisfaction, Gold-Flecked Black turns their attention to the remaining serpent.

Trick: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (5) + 21 = 26 Flat-Footed for 1 round on a success.

Holy Underwater Living Static Arc Pistol: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13, for 1d6 + 2 + 3d8 ⇒ (5) + 2 + (5, 6, 5) = 23 Electricity damage.

One left. And still no Morlamaws. Twila-5 activates her hydrojets to spin her sideways under Gold-Flecked Black so she can get a good shot at the remaining serpent.

Trick Attack (Acrobatics): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (20) + 18 = 38
DC = 20 + Target's CR. On a success the target is flat-footed until the start of Twila-5's next turn.
Tactical rotating pistol: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 10 - 2 = 16
Piercing damage: 2d4 + 3 ⇒ (4, 4) + 3 = 11 (Half of that = 5 damage)
Trick Attack damage, if applicable: 3d8 ⇒ (8, 7, 3) = 18 (Half of that = 9 damage)

Vega repositions for a clear shot and fires off another Energy Ray
sa: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17 cold: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Stell defends herself against the serpent, and cuts it in the side, when Gold-Flecked shock it from afar. The shock seems to catch it off-guard from Twila's attack, which deals the fatal blow.

Combat Over!

Oshessa arrives a few moment after Oww, that was close. It's truly a blessing that you've arrived here, thank you for dealing with this infestation. You've deserved a rest, why don't sit down in the main hall, and we'll tend for you. Allow me to clean up the mess here.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19.

Gold-Flecked Black heads back out into the main room.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

"Before leaving, we should do something about that hole in the wall that's only being plugged by a serpent corpse."

I'll go out and see what I can do about that

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

Before Vega leaves, Stell insists on talking with Oshessa in the flooded room.

"Your courteous concern for our comfort and safety would mean more if you and your comrades had come in here to help deal with the threat. Let's talk right here and get something straight. We found evidence that the Manta Corp Starfinders were in that room that you claim they did not enter. Simply put, you are lying about something. I suspect the Manta Corps were here when you came to claim this structure. You killed them or drove them away but you could not enter that room because of the robots. And while you are at it, explain exactly why you had to leave your home city."

Either that ... or they were here when the Manta Corp arrived and .... well ... there's a cover up on what happened

She delays waiting for the response.

Hm. Yes. *Now* you show up. And shoo us away immediately. Twila-5 muses dryly. She takes a quick look around the room to see if there are any signs of the Manta Corps in here while Stella and Vega .

Perception DC 20: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

Her eyes snag on something in the larger serpent's teeth. Hold on. What's in those teeth? She moves closer to investigate.

Culture: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24

Twila notices the armor fragment, and identifies is as Kalo in nature.

Oshessa looks at Stell with a frown After all this hospitality we've shown you? As we told you, we were here well before the Manta Corps arrived, for some ten years now. I can tell you all about my visions, the weeping night, and how my insights got us expelled from our city. It is a sad story, that I don't share lightly. Please give me some time to clean up here, and I'll meet you in my quarters.

Irtrine, the guard of the relics, seem to gesture something to the group, as if he wants to convey something in private.

Gold-Flecked Black telepathically touches Irtrine's mind.

Yes? You wanted to convey something to us? In case you can't work out who is speaking to you, it is me.

At that, Gold-Flecked Black waggles a tentacle.

Irtrine nods

Gold-Flecked Black drifts over to Irtrine's position, ready for when the Morlamaw wants to have a quick word in private.

Vega asks Gold to relay the conversation while she goes back outside to pull the serpent out of the hole and see what repairs need to be done.

Twila-5 wrestles the armor out of the dead serpent's mouth. "Looks like Kalo armor, guys. We should take it back with us." She's got a sinking feeling this is going to be more of a recovery mission than a check-in. Noting the guard's signal, she walks over to Irtrine to hear what he has to say.

From the floorplan, Vega realizes that the serpents must have comes from the back of the building, which seems to be embedded in rock - not reachable from the outside.

Irtrine passes through the airlock to have a word in private with Gold-Flecked and Twila. He looks at the group with eyes down in shame She did it. I think she killed all of them. She made me an accomplice too, because she used me to dispose of the bodies in that room, feed them to the serpents.

I heard you accuse her, but nobody will believe you unless you come up with evidence. Even my word may not be enough.

Any evidence is likely to be in her quarters, but she keeps them locked up tight...

Well, that was easy. Twila-5 is rather surprised that Irtrine gave it up that easily, but it speaks well for the level of control Oshessa has over the Morlamaws. So their loyalty is based on lies, not fear. This we can handle. For now, securing the trust of their informant is key.

"Thank you for telling us, Irtrine. That can't have been easy. We'll do what we can to protect you--and your people--as we sort all this out. Do you have any suggestions for getting into her room to search it, or any other place we should look for evidence that we can show the rest of your community? I can handle locks, if that's all that's stopping us."

Huh. I wonder if Irtrine purposefully let the serpents in so there'd be a good opportunity to tell us the truth.

"Yeah can we look around some place for evidence?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Vega checks her earlier scans before rejoining the others.

And those serpents couldn't have come in from outside as that area is basically in the cliff. So - unless there's a long tunnel on the other side deep in the rock, there has to be another room back there.

She frowns. Might have to make that hole bigger.

She then goes looking for an endoscope - or a really tiny underwater drone.

She doesn't ever let anyone into her private room, so that would be a good place to look. Be careful, though, I think she has some kind of alarm on the door Irtrine says, and unfortunately can't offer much else.

Stell hydrojets up the the crack in the wall. She pushes and/or pulls the corpse of the serpent out of the way to see if a small person like herself might squeeze through to inspect what is beyond.

Athletics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

If she cannot do it by herself, she asks for some help. "Let's see if we can get behind this wall before we attempt to get into the priestess's room. There might be more evidence here. We already have the fragment of Kalo armor. That is a start."

The dead serpent is still stuck in the hole, and Oshessa looks at Stell's attempt with contempt. You were just about to leave, right?

At about the same time, two of Oshessa's disciples enter the room, silently but with an air of forbiddance.

Not seeing any other options (short of initiating a fire-fight here and now), Gold-Flecked Black tries the door to Oshessa's chamber again.

Assuming GFB keeps a telepathic link open <I'm not sure we can try to enter the room without starting a fight,> Kalhoun projects to the other Starfinders.

Twila-5 nods to Oshessa and exits the room with the dead serpents via the door to the northeast. Once she's out of sight of the three Morlamaws who clearly want them out, she activates her Cloaking Field again and sneaks over to the airlock in the northwest of the main open area to try to disarm and unlock it without any other Morlamaws noticing.

The Cloaking Field regenerates 1 round per minute while not in use. I assume it's been about a minute or two since the end of the fight, so she'd have 7-8 rounds left.

Stealth: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (13) + 17 = 30
Engineering/Computers to disarm lock: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20
Engineering/Computers to unlock airlock: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24
The modifier is the same for both skills. If Gold-Flecked Black or anyone else would like to Aid, all the better! A nat-20 for a total of 31 was a failure earlier.

How many rounds would that take? Minimum three, I would guess. Her speed is 40 ft.

Dirk keeps watch near the door.

I don't know if this is a good idea

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Kalhoun will try to smooth things over with Oshessa and her disciples, ideally somewhere far from this room.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (5) + 15 = 20

The group passes through the airlock, back to the main hall, and return to the door that leads to Oshessa's quarters. To Gold-Flecked's surprise, the door is unlocked.

This flooded bedroom has an airlock on the southern wall and a door on the eastern wall leading out. A pile of soft materials in the northeast corner serves as a bed. Several metal lockbox chests line the room. The southern wall is covered with an image of a humanoid skull with chains coming out of the eye sockets.

Yeah... *that* certainly is not ominous, at all...

They then search the room for clues.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26.

"Agreed." While Gold-Flecked Black begins his search, Twila-5 starts checking the lockbox chests for traps and alarms before settling in to pick the locks, starting with the one closest to the airlock and working clockwise.

Perception (traps, alarms): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33
Engineering (pick locks): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

Let me know if/how many other checks to make.

That's the symbol of Zon Kuthon isn't it? Vega asks as she sees the image. And am I the only one thinking we're being set up for an ambush?

She swims over to the eastern door.

Stell makes conversation with and any in the area, trying to smooth over any hurt feelings, mostly as a way to give the others time to poke around.

"It's our job to locate our missing Starfinders. We have to consider any possibilities."

Twila opens the lockbox and finds two tier 2 antitoxins and one tier 3 sedative. Together with Gold-Flecked, they also spot a secret passage in the northwest corner. The door to it is tightly locked, but not too structurally sound.

Engineering to pick lock, strength to break down the door

Gold-Flecked Black's hireling takes a crack at *this* door, hoping that it is not as securely locked as the other one was.

Engineering (Hireling): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20.

engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Stupid lock! she exclaims. She then backs away to let someone else have a go.

"If we can't unlock it, maybe Dirk or Kalhoun can break it." Twila-5 suggests as she takes her turn fiddling with the lock on the secret door.

Engineering to pick lock: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19

Unfortunately, the lock is as secure as the other one was, and the ensuing failure to unlock it triggers an alarm, creating a deafening ringing racket for as long as it takes for Twila to cut the power to the siren.

Engineering: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19.

This room is sound-proofed, so the alarm isn't reaching the area outside.

Someone might want to bash the door down ;-)

Kalhoun waits for Dirk to get into position, then tries to add his leverage.

Strength, Aid: 1d20 ⇒ 4 (+4 of Athletics instead)

Stell continues her conversation with Oshessa and company, hoping to see their reactions. "So what's behind that opening through which the serpents came in? Did the earlier group of Starfinders have to deal with the same threat? I ask because we found a bit of Kalo armor, the type the Mantacorp would have been wearing in the teeth of that big serpent."

"Yeesh! Sorry about that alarm, guys." Twila-5 turns off her cloaking field and ducks her head sheepishly, though her expression remains deadpan. "Why *is* this room so sound-proofed, anyway?" She muses, drawing her static arc pistol and standing guard by the door to the east in case Oshessa thunders in to investigate their investigation.

Vega has a think about it then turns a bright green

Kalhoun makes a start at bashing the door down, but with that feeble attempt it is going to take a while.

Anyone want to try the main roll?

Dirk tries.

STR: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

"Ugh"

Dirk uses all his force (and a bit of that of Kalhoun, which doesn't help much) to break down the door.

The currents push debris throughout this rocky cave. Several carved-stone skull-and-chain symbols hang from the walls, and a large table with several knives bolted to it stands at the center of the chamber. The thick metal bolts prevent the cutting utensils from floating away in the heavy motion of the water. Two cage cells are set along the eastern wall. A glass case with plastic gloves set into the side contains various books and datapads.

Watching over the cages is a lone morlamaw - Teltham. Inside one of the cages is a single Kalo, looking severely hurt.

Gold-Flecked Black. feeling a headache coming on, telepathically growls at the morlamaw.

I strongly recommend that you release that kalo, if *you* don't want to end up flipper-less and alive outside, ready to be sea serpent chow, like the other kalo did.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (18) + 15 = 33.

Cold, hard fury writhes in Twila-5's core. There isn't time for an extended negotiation, as Oshessa will be along any minute, and she knows exactly how to manipulate the narrative for her followers. This needs to be handled quickly.

Twila-5 silently strides forward, drawing her pinhole rift rifle. With eerie calm, she raises it to her shoulder and sights down the barrel. "You have three seconds to decide before I start shooting. One..."

She's NOT kidding Vega says, hand on the recently retrieved Starknife. Please step aside