SFS1e- Following the Trail of Rasheen (KS)

Game Master phaeton_nz

I'm more of a historian actually Tioran replies. Elven history and culture to be specific

No influence here, but you did learn something.

Borq to go, then we start Round 2

Borq has brought Bzzt with him as well, since she makes a good introduction to people most of the time. He takes a moment to look around and see what he can determine about the delegate's interests.

Sense Motive on Kanaxa: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (20) + 17 = 37

Skills we know about
Camily - daredevil flying, Computers, Physical Science, aliens/planets, terraforming
Kenaxa - physical stuff?
Tioran - elven culture and history
Vekkhad - Profession or culture

Stuff Borq has
Camily-
Talk about the last fight we had with the corpse fleet (Piloting)
He can make Computers and Physical Science, but someone else should do that. Storytelling would be good.

Kenaxa-
Athletics isn't his best, but doable.

Tioran-
He has culture, with a bonus for artistic innovations

Vekkhad-
Definitely Profession. Can do Culture.

And can do more Sense Motive.

Jek puts on some music that Jek thinks might be more to Camily's taste.
Moonhearts in Space.

"Have you been to Verces before? My descendants were among the first shirren to colonize the deserts on the bright side of Verces. Desserts are already harsh but a tidally locked dessert that's a whole new level."
Jek points to both canteens on his belt.
"Kind of silly to have two canteens someplace like this but it's an option I wouldn't want to be without, this helps too on the bright side."
Jek activates their auto shade umbrella letting it float over their heads.
"Cool huh? And when you're on the bright side of a tidally locked planet there's a neat trick if you get lost, you can use shadows to calculate your latitude."
Jek shows Camily how to calculate latitude.
"(Angle of the sun above the horizon at the terminator) + declination of the planet's star. The great part is you can do that any time of day and not have to wait until noon like you would on most planets."

Survival: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

Thrym quietly pulls out a mortar and pestle, and starts demonstrating appropriate herb-grinding techniques to Vekkhad.

Profession(Herbalist): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (20) + 18 = 38.

It's only after Tioran has engaged in conversation with someone else that Ears realizes the diplomat had gotten bored and smoothly dumped him. Oh, well.

He drifts over to Jekcedo to see how his shirren friend is making out, and notices the datapad in Camily's hand. "Is that a DP-3400? Did you get the quantum memory upgrade?..."

COmputers: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32

Camily feigns interest in what Jekcedo is saying but is responding with "Uh huh ... uh huh ... okay .. yeah .. suppose that makes sense"

Meanwhile Thrym does catch Vekkhad's interest and the conversation turns from herb grinding to the difficult position of hobgoblin communities in Marixah, given tensions with Gideron Authority. Some feel pressured to join the rapidly expanding military to show their patriotism, especially the intelligence service, where they are placed in increasingly dangerous missions to gather information in Authority territory. Vekkhad personally resents the Gideron Authority’s claims to hobgoblin cultural heritage outside its territory: he, and some other hobgoblins, fear that the Authority’s next step will be to claim sovereignty over Republic citizens of hobgoblin descent.
((Successes: 1))

Ears gets Camiily's attention all right. Oh yes it is ... and I did. I use it for three-dimensional modeling, especially models of change over time. She then says that Vekkhad d’Salaz recruited her to help fine-tune weather-control technology, but she soon branched out into geology as well, estimating the effects of increased rainfall and snowmelt on the landscape.
((Successes: 1))

This one time, a Vesk captain tried to stop up from salvaging a ship by challenging us to a duel. Our pilot did a reverse corkscrew with inversion, and we ended up in it's dead angle. From there, I could fire two torpedos into the exposed power core, and we managed to disable the ship before they could even get a shot in. I think that guy is still having nightmares from that battle... Momo recalls, trying to hide her own apprehension of flying.

Piloting: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Nice try Momo but do you have a reroll you can toss on that?

I forgot that Qimok's stat block includes a hefty penalty to Athletics due to his armor (-4) and shield (-2). *facepalm* He also just uograded his Str to 20, so he's marginally stronger without the battle harness.

Qimok exits from his powered armor in order to better illustrate a point to Kenaxa. He's still clad in his tight-fitting second skin armor and Starfinder uniform, which help him look even more impressively buff for a skittermander.

Athletics: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24

Piloting, once more with four stars of feeling: 1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 7 + 4 = 24

Momo succeeds. So does Qimok.

Momo feels a bit at unease. Usually straight up talking does the job, but these people seems to want to hear actual stories rather than courtesies. She goes to check if she can figure out what makes Tioran tick.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Borq quietly informs the group over comms what he figures out about Kanexa. "She's inclined to like us, but has ADHD in coversations. As a serious architect, stories about catastrophes in infrastructure might get her attention if you're good at explaining how it got there (Engineering). She loves animals and if you can talk about them, that might be a good place to start (Life Science). If you're good at that, Bzzt would be happy to be a bribe as long as she gets a bottle. Oh, and flexing and jumping around like a lunatic, Qimok, would be good, too."

He wanders over to the elf and politely introduces himself, without all the catchphrases, trying to start a conversation about elven art styles.

Culture: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17 -5 DC artistic innovations and traditions

Momo discovers that Tioran is while polite and poised, the ambassador nevertheless makes every effort to seem approachable, making suggestions about which foods to try, reminiscing about musical ensembles Heartfire has booked for such receptions in the past, and asking about your perceptions of Kizmatta so far. As a neo-traditionalist, Tioran is a serious student of elven history and culture and shows intense interest in any stories about Castrovel, Apostae, or other planets settled by elves. A successful Culture check can be made to influence them. Tioran also enjoy the performing arts and tends to gravitate toward the stage. They encourage any character with a Perform skill to demonstrate the art of their people there, with a success influencing them.

Unfortunately Borq does not succeed.

Ears conversation with Camily evolves into a discussion of the physics behind the latest quantum computing modules.

Physical science, round 3: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

I'm not sure what round we're on right now?

Round 3

Jek gets tired of trying to talk to Camily and test the ring tone on Jek's comm unit
"Got a call I have to take."
Jek walks away without looking back pretending to be talking on their comm unit.
"Good to hear from you again it's been a while how have you been?"

After 5 minutes of talking to themself, Jek tries to talk to Vekkhad

"I heard you were looking for some help with some fine-tune weather-control technology. One thing I've learned from experience is you can't about fined tune equipment that is not maintained well."
Jek pulls out a wrench and holds it up.
"This will only get you so far, what's really needed is a good maintenance schedule. Weather plays a big factor in that, which is interesting in this case because you are working with weather-control technology."

Profession maintenance worker: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

Jek hits the test button on their comm unit again.
"Sorry I got a call coming in."
Jek walks away talking to themself again...
"A vacation sounds great, where are you thinking of? How about someplace without anyone else around?"

I'm not sure Ears can impress the same person twice but he has her completely interested in the topic under discussion

Maybe I'd better prepare a summary

A summary post would be lovely :-)

Profession(Dancer): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

With respect to Tioran, the good news is that Momo remembers that she is an excellent dancer.

The bad new is, the song she chooses is from the latest ACE release, which just happens to be Dromada punk herd 'Unsavory''s newest album 'Bite me'.

---
♫With that whole thing
I had nothing to do
I was minding my business
Quietly too ♫

♫He punched me the ***
He hit me in the head
And it's hurting like hell! ♫
--- Unsavory Steaks - He punched me the ***

Round 1: Qimok, Thrym, Jekcedo, Momo, Ears, Borq

Round 2: Jekcedo, Thyrm, Ears, Momo, Borq, Qimok
Vekkhad: 1, Camily:2 Kenaxxa: 1

Round 3: Ears, Jekcedo, Momo
Camily:3,

Round 4:

Round 5:

Round 6:

Momo's performance started off okay, but went rapidly downhill and off the charts.

Thrym quietly observes Kenaxxa.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22.

When Kenaxa shows interest in Qimok's scar stories, the skittermander's tales turn to his gladitorial career. Some of the tactics he learned in the arena have served him well on Starfinder Society missions, such as when his team faced a giant, murderous robot. Qimok rushed forward to engage it in a close-quarters duel to prevent it from targeting the rest of his team. That allowed them to eliminate weaker foes in relative safety, until the whole team was free to focus fire on the robot.

Profession (gladiatorial): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25
Not sure if you'll allow it, but it seemed worth trying.

Oh... Momo says disappointedly you didn't like that. Maybe you like this one better, it's a song I did with my sister for the OST of 'the corpse fleet returns'

Make you dance: 1d20 + 11 - 1 ⇒ (12) + 11 - 1 = 22

Assuming I can try a failed check again, with a -1

Borq excuses herself to Tioran and goes to speak with Camily instead.

"I heard you like some fancy flying. Let me tell you about this last combat we were in. There we were, out in the middle of nowhere, and this Corpse Fleet ship appeared..."

Piloting: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (11) + 17 = 28

Round 3: Ears, Jekcedo, Momo, Thrym, Qimok, Borq
Camily:4 (Impressed), Kanaxxa:2,

Round 4: Momo,
Tioran:1

Round 5:

Round 6:

Of all the delegates, Kanaxa seems to be most well-disposed to your stated mission. Kanaxa is easily distracted, however, frequently wandering off on tangents related to her cryptozoological theories, her latest expedition, and the difficulty of managing small plates with a cast on. Despite her devil-may-care demeanor, Kanaxa is a serious architect and can be impressed with a successful Engineering check. Her work often involves locating and assessing old water-supply systems and power lines, and any story about system interactions going comically awry is sure to get a laugh from her.

Momo tries again and gets a smile.

Round 4
Jek frustrated with their social skills searches the infosphere for a secluded vacation spot with no one around. Jek's antenna perks up as they find Diaspora private astroid rentals and vacations. Excited Jek clicks on an asteroid listing to see what options it comes with. Shocked at what they find Jek accidentally shouts out loud "Are you kidding me, no options!" Vacation ideas destroyed Jek returns to the mission and tries to talk to Tioran with new determination.

"My friends tell me you have an interest in Castrovel and elves, on my first six missions one of my teammates was an elf from the Sovyrian area of Castrovel, they never did say what settlement they were from, I'm guessing they moved around a lot, but interesting area with lots of abandoned ruins covered in forest, come to think of it that might be where I take my next vacation."

Communalism best of 2 rolls
Culture: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31
Culture: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

Thrym returns to Tioran, and continues observing them.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22.

I believe that there is also a success on Vekkhad, as well.

Vekkhad: 1, Camily:2 Kenaxxa: 1

Round 3: Ears, Jekcedo, Momo, Thrym, Qimok, Borq
Camily:4 (Impressed), Kanaxxa:2,

Round 4: Momo, Jekcedo, Thrym,
Tioran:2

Round 5:

Round 6:

I'm fairly sure 17 is not a success for impressing.

Tioren looks up Soyyria on his datapad. Oh. You're right. I should check that out too. Thank you.

Meanwhile Thrym has discovered that Tioran also enjoys the performing arts and tends to gravitate toward the stage. He also seems to be an intellgence agent but you're not sure who for.

Thrym returns to Vekkhad, and continues to steadily demonstrate herb-grinding techniques.

Round 5:
Profession(Herbalist), including 2nd attempt penalty: 1d20 + 18 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 18 - 1 = 23.

Knowing that Kenaxa is an architect and systems engineer, Qimok suggests that she might be interested in talking with Ears and Borq, who are the tech experts on his team.

Engineering, to aid Borq: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Aiding Borq, because Ears can probably make the check without any help. If we can finish off Kenaxa this round, that only leaves us 2 NPCs to focus on the last two rounds.

There should be a success for Vekkhad here.

Borq quietly asks Momo to work her magic on Tioran. "He likes performers and that's right up your alley."

Would you take Celebrity Chef as a performance art?

After Qimok calls him over, Borq launches into a detailed description of the schematics of one of their recent starship voyages.

Engineering, plus aid?: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 10 + 2 = 25

Wu - huh - What? Mom says between breaths, clearly still worked up from all the dancing You want me to dance MORE?

Just spent two rounds dancing for Tioran :-). I'm not sure if another check is possible, but it would come at a -2. I'll hold for the next round to see what happens.

Jek notices Vekkhad's elaborately carved cane and tries to have a conversation about it.

"Parden me. but I couldn't help but notice your cane. In many cultures, such an elaborately carved cane would be a status symbol, and likely even tell a story. It looks to be made out of bone as well, I'm guessing it has some ancestral connection, or perhaps the use of bone is related to some significant battle or both. I'd love to hear the story behind it."

Culture: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23

Vekkhad: 1, Camily:2 Kenaxxa: 1

Round 3: Ears, Jekcedo, Momo, Thrym, Qimok, Borq
Camily:4 (Impressed), Kanaxxa:2,

Round 4: Momo, Jekcedo, Thrym, Borq, Qimok
Tioran:2; Kanaxxa:3

Round 5: Thrym, Jekcedo
Vekkhad:3

Round 6:

Vekkhad is still curious about the herb grinding and asks. So how does grinding herbs gets you up the corporate ladder?

Given some of the celebrity chefs I've seen, I'd say yes, but how are you going to actually do that without a kitchen?

Round 4. Ears moves on to Kanaxa. He tells a story about a consulting job he did for a ceramic armor manufacturer on Apostae. It seems they couldn't maintain the proper pH for optimum material strength in the vat farthest from the offices despite putting in the most advanced control systems possible. Every afternoon the pH would dip. The solution was to put in bathrooms for the slaves near the far vat.
Based on a true story.

Engineering: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18 Oh No. Kanaxa might have trouble seeing the engineering humor.

Work is tough right now. I've spoilered Ears' skills. If I can't get back here in a timely manner. Somebody please bot him.

I'm running out of skills, but I'm guessing we haven't found all of them. Let me try to see If I can unearth something for Vekkhad.

What an elaborate cane you have there. Does the carving mean anything?

Sense Motive, Vekkhad: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12 At least I didn't waste a good skill check

Seriously, where's Zoey when I need her?

"Ooops, sorry, was busy over here, Momo."

Ummm, yeah. Well, Borq always has his tools with him... ;)

As Ears comes over, Borq shows off Bzzt bringing Life Science into Engineering. "The fascinating problem of an electricity devouring species and a society that needs energy to survive is a complicated one. There's a group on Absalom Station which is using Bzzt's siblings to transform the powerful energies that run the station into ones which can be power their coffee makers without exploding."

Engineering, aid to Ears: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Vekkhad: 1, Camily:2 Kenaxxa: 1

Round 3: Ears, Jekcedo, Momo, Thrym, Qimok, Borq
Camily:4 (Impressed), Kanaxxa:2,

Round 4: Momo, Jekcedo, Thrym, Borq, Qimok, Ears
Tioran:2; Kanaxxa:3

Round 5: Thrym, Jekcedo, Ears, Borq, Momo
Vekkhad:3

Round 6:

Even with Borq's help Ears fails to impress.

physical sci(ears): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (5) + 14 = 19

Qimok still to go on Round 5. Rest of you are on the sixth and final round.

Round 6:

Thrym continues to patiently grind herbs, intending to stubbornly inspire by example.

Profession(Herbalist), including 3rd attempt penalty: 1d20 + 18 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 18 - 2 = 17.

Retail Reroll: 1d20 + 18 - 2 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 18 - 2 + 3 = 34.

Round 5
Qimok leaves Borq and Ears with Kenaxa, re-dons his battle harness, and strikes up a conversation with Tioran. Having heard that the elf likes the performing arts, he shares some insights into how in his own career as a gladiator, playing to the crowd can be just as essential as actual combat skill.

Profession (gladiator): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
(If you think it's relevant, lower the DC by 5 to recall information about entertainment combat, fighting styles, and gladiatorial traditions.)

And I'll see how that goes before I make my Round 6 check.

Both Thrym and Qimok manage to make successes. ((Tioren:3, Vekkhad:4(Impressed) ))

Round 6
Qimok continues regaling Tioren with tales of his performances in the arena.

Profession (gladiator), -1 for second attempt: 1d20 + 13 - 1 ⇒ (14) + 13 - 1 = 26

In the clutch! Go, Qimok! I think we just need one last success on Kenaxa now for a full sweep?

Round 6
Culture: 1d20 + 13 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 13 - 1 = 14
"Did I mention I have an elf friend, Oh I did... sorry."

How do you get a retail reroll in PbP game?

In PbD, PbP, and VTT, it is mostly done on trust that you have the item in question - for example, if the GM wants me to, I can send them a picture by e-mail of the space goblin t-shirt that I have (which is good for a re-roll).

I just realized Qimok finished Tioren. If I can redo my turn or use a reroll for that here's the roll if not ignore it.

"Kenaxa, how's your wound healing? I know some exercises that might help you heal faster, and lots of water, of course, never enough water."
Life Science: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
not sure that makes a difference anyway

Seeing as how Kenaxa is the last to be influenced, Momo tries her best to seem on equal footing with the muscular half-orc.

Atheletics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Of course, her small frame looks a bit ridiculous next to the half-orc...

Tioren is Impressed, the rest of the attempts are failures. Ears has another go at Kanaxa
engineering: 1d20 + 15 - 2 ⇒ (5) + 15 - 2 = 18

... which is not a success. Hoever you got three of them so ...

Vekkjad D'Salez brings you into his private study. He compliments you on your social maneuvering and confides that long ago his ancestor struck a deal with Jelev Rasheen. When the legendary adventurer made landfall on Kizmatta, looking for material to make some minor repairs, she heard about the ancient hobgoblin ruins peppering the frigid world and immediately grew interested. Rasheen and her crew linked up with Dhal Salaz, one of the few local prospectors with significant aboveground experience and excavated the site that now contains her beacon. She split the treasure with Salaz, but not wanting to weigh down her ship so early in the expedition, Rasheen tasked her business partner with guarding her treasure until she returned or “until someone from the Pact Worlds asks about it.”

He is pleased to be the one to fulfil his ancestor’s oath and proceeds to play a video message of Jelev Rasheen for you. While the visual display is somewhat blurry from multiple format migrations over the decades, the audio is mostly clear.

A middle-aged human woman with short curly hair and deep laugh lines speaks to the camera. Her low, warm resonates with amusement.

Let the record reflect that I am leaving half my acquisitions from Kizmatta in the care of Dhal Salaz, a local prospector and my partner for this mission. We worked out a similar arrangement to the one I made on Xanathis: Salaz will hold in trust the high-mass items from this expedition until my return, or until someone from the Pact Worlds comes looking for it, whichever happens first.

She speaks lightly, as though it makes little difference to her. Now, none of you give this nice young man any trouble about his half of the haul—we made a deal and he held up his end of it, which is why I’m trusting him with my beacon. The stuff he picked will look better in his office than my bridge, anyway, she laughs, then straightens, growing somewhat more businesslike. The schematics from this haul are more useful than the goods themselves, as it happens. The thing was a bit slow, but I know some engineers that can work on that. For any of you wondering why we’re off the course I charted out back on Absalom Station, we had some supply issues. Now that we have enough raw material for basic fabrication— thanks to Dhal, again, he’s a great kid—we’re going to get back on course for the original target. Been looking forward to this trip for a long time. She grins secretively. Where we’re going, we won’t need the supplies for much longer, anyway.

Nice work on the diplomatic front while I was away.

Ears listens to Rasheen's monologue. Mindful of their host, he stays in professor-mode. "Radaszam would be greatly pleased to recover anything connected to Rasheen, but this find will greatly exceed his expectations. I am especially excited about the schematics she mentioned. What were those? Did she leave copies? And why wouldn't she need supplies at her destination?"

Hearing Ear's respectful reply Jek holds back from saying what Jek is thinking out loud "This would make a great movie!"
"And I thought we were just looking for a beacon here, this is a most interesting twist."