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With the cache retrieved, you can exit the facility and arrange for the goods to be transported back to the Lorespire Complex.
Vekkhad D’Salaz is glad to fulfill his ancestor’s oath to Rasheen, and he’s convinced that the Starfinder Society is worthy of keeping the riches and telling the tale of her final journey to the rest of the galaxy.
Radaszam and Celita debrief you upon their return. Both want your assessment whether the Starfinder Society should involve itself more in the escalating conflict between the Marixah Republic and the Gideron Authority. Radaszam is especially pleased to receive the second beacon, promising to contact you when the next set of coordinates have been decrypted from it.
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Ears is happy to bring the artifacts back to Absalom Station. When asked about the Republic and Authority, his advice is to steer clear of the conflict. The Republic seems to be composed of reasonable people, but the Authority is aggressive. Confrontations with the Authority are likely to lead to combat.
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"Given the Veskarium's own expansionist history, involving them would likely be more inflammatory than a Starfinder presence," Qimok points out to Jek. He touches the hilt of his sword, which bears the symbol of Iomedae. "I may revere a goddess of battle, but she also teaches temperance. I'm hesitant to commit the Society to this conflict without further observation. We must be certain that we act on the side of justice before we get involved more than that."
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Ears attends the party, arriving late and bleary-eyed.
Uncharacteristically, his clothes are covered in soot and his fur is matted. He drinks copiously and drones maudlinly on about possible reasons his last experiment did not explode as spectacularly as intended. At the party's end, it's a very unstable ysoki who weaves from wall to corridor wall with a new idea for energy concentration prior to ignition.
"Roumer has it that you might need a replacement healer for the next mission? The message seemed a little odd, not sure why it mentioned wearing a pirate hat. Hope I'm not out of uniform without one."
Chryssi! People keep talking about her in different games. She certainly makes an impression.
And I need to sing for Ashbourne," OH oh. Psycho killer. Keskodai, fa fa fa fa fa , fa fafafa fa, better run run run. Run run run away...."
Keskodia tries their best pirate accent, which isn't very good because they have never tried a pirate accent
"Shiver me Chitin, I think I've been press ganged. Please tell me I won't be needing to look up how to heal cannonball wounds."
Keskodia looks up from his comm unit
"Say here rum and amputation..."
phaeton_nz, any word on getting the replay off Ear's chronicle? IF you can't, it's not a big deal. I don't use them often.
Let me check.
Back.
Funnily enough I can't tell. I'm using my first replay for another game I'm in right now. It was part of the online con. Because reporting was due a couple days ago, the Gm has reported it, but I haven't seen the chronicle yet because we haven't actually finished yet.
My current replay balance reflects one replay consumed between the two games. If paizo is on top of their record keeping then the count is right. If there's a delay then the count will be wrong.
If you don't mind let's give it a couple days to see if a second replay gets charged.
That was probably me playing with switches best left alone. Let's just let it slide. I so seldom use replays anyway. I think I whined more out of surprise at seeing the replay note on my chronicle. But thanks for digging into it for me.
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You are all aboard a Starfinder starship, on route to an unremarkable system in the Vast called Ukkoruuk. Due to scheduling conflicts, First Seeker Ehu Hadif and Radaszam, leader of the Exo-Guardians, were unable to conduct your briefing in person. Instead, they recorded a briefing for you to watch in transit to your destination.
To protect the message from Data Scourge tampering, they used illusion magic to record a holographic briefing in a palm-sized cube similar to a spell gem. (See Handout #1: Mission Briefing). The additional code mentioned in the holographic missive is imprinted onto a keycard provided with the briefing cube.
Make Culture Checks to Recall Knowledge
"A tomb world... Hopefully, they have found Pharasma, the Lady of Graves, to lead them on their way. If they didn't, we could have a big problem."
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A lithe female damaya lashunta sways toward you.
" Hello, fellow Starfinders. Were you working with Ears? He had a small -- research accident, and he's busy regrowing some fur. I'm Raia and I'm not just his replacement. I'm a sexy upgrade. Do you mind thought speech? It's so much more efficient."
" Oh, mysterious, sealed orders. I can't wait to hear them. "
" Seems straightforward enough. Go to system X. Drop into their belt. Find an artificial 'roid. Scope out and inventory a pyramid. Most mysterious thing about this mission is why.
Word around Lorespire is you've been chasing this Rasheen for Radz for a while now. What can you tell me about her, and him, and everything."
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Your pilot, a tiefling named Chryssi, grins over to Raia at the words 'sexy upgrade'.
15+ Golarion is a Pact World’s planet that once orbited the sun where Absalom Station now does and is the home world of dwarves, humans, halflings, orcs, and many more. The planet disappeared during the Gap, along with its inhabitants and a few deities. If the pyramid has any connection to Golarion, it would be the discovery of the century.
20+: Jelev Rasheen sallied forth from Absalom Station in the early days of Drift travel. She returned every few years with fascinating tales and a hold full of fantastic treasure. After her final disappearance, stories continued to circulate that her final haul put her previous expeditions to shame—but no storyteller could present hard evidence of where she’d set her last set of Drift coordinates. The ambiguity of Rasheen’s disappearance inspired holovid dramas and adventure novels that, while short on historical accuracy, inspired a generation of explorers and treasure-hunters to set their own courses into the stars. Radaszam was one of them.
25+: A few years ago, while searching for leads on Rasheen’s discoveries in the Lorespire Complex, Radaszam stumbled across a flight plan that
Rasheen had registered. He set some Starfinders on the same course. On an icy moon they found a beacon Rasheen used to mark her progress, store
data, and leave messages for friends. This beacon contained coordinates leading to another beacon on the planet Kizmatta. After carefully navigating Kizmattan politics, the Starfinder Society was able to reach this second beacon, from which they extracted encrypted coordinates.
30+: The art and architecture of “lost Golarion” came into fashion early in the Drift travel era, around the time of Rasheen’s expeditions. Some colonists, from Absalom Station particularly, based their colonies on archaic designs from, or occasionally inaccurate reimagining’s of, lost Golarion’s civilizations. An asteroid in a remote star system would be an odd target for colonists, but stranger feats have been attempted.
After a long but uneventful transit to the Ukkoruuk system, you reach your destination amid an asteroid belt. Unlike its neighboring natural asteroids, the planetoid at Rasheen’s coordinates is spherical. It’s almost perfectly smooth surface consists of a hex grid divided by neat canals filled with a silver liquid, crossable by narrow footbridges. Each hex contains a structure, some only two or three yards tall. Most notable is the largest structure, a pyramid which almost occupies its entire hex. It has no visible entrance.
Computers checks to scan the asteroid.
Culture checks as well.
To Pregen Dakoyo
"Is this the same Ears I was reading about in a past mission report that had to regrow fur after following Jekcedo's example of blowing themselves up with a grenade? I can see why they called on a priest of Pharasma to join this team. I'm used to saying what could go wrong after a mission briefing, but this time might be better to ask, does anyone on the team intend to survive the mission?"
"Mind thought speech is fine, but you may find mind occupied with a relaxing churping humming sound when I meditate."
Arriving at the mission site
"Interesting use of hexagons, perhaps it's because of my insect heritage, but I do think hexagons are the bestagons. Pyramids and hexagons, there must be some cultural significance to them."
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Keskodia recognizes some of these structures as famous buildings from lost Golarion. Most notable among these is the pyramid, which looks like a tomb from the desert nation of Osirion.
Chryssi also wonders how to turn the rules for the RPG Search of Lost Golarion which uses maps with squares on, into one that uses maps with hexagons. It would make counting movements easier. Although combat facings could get interesting.
Keskodia's antenna stands straight up as he hops to his feet.
"These pyramids look like a tomb from the desert nation of Osirion, that's in lost Golarion! Does this mean Rasheen was looking for lost Golarion? This could be the biggest find since the Gap! Pharasma works in mysterious ways, I must meditate on all the options."
Raia starts to hear a churping and humming sound in her mind
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"Is this the same Ears I was reading about in a past mission report that had to regrow fur after following Jekcedo's example of blowing themselves up with a grenade? I can see why they called on a priest of Pharasma to join this team. I'm used to saying what could go wrong after a mission briefing, but this time might be better to ask, does anyone on the team intend to survive the mission?"
...
"The same. He tries hard, but really isn't up to standard. Surely there was a better option available than self-immolation. And I intend to do more than survive. I'm going to rock this mission."
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Oh dear .... did Ears actually try out that formula I told him about? I warned him it was dangerous. I told him he'd need a transparent aluminum barrier
The computer scans tell you that the planetoid has unusually high gravity, approximating that of Absalom Station and lost Golarion, which is likely artificial. You also confirm that the canals are filled with liquid mercury.
Chryssi brings the ship down on a clear hex one mile from the pyramid, the only place clear enough to land on. I'd better stay with the ship in case something happens - as per protocol. Have fun you guys. Don't do anything I wouldn't do ... which isn't much. giggles
Black sand covers the planet’s entire surface except the footpaths, which are paved with opalescent white stone. Liquid mercury ripples intermittently along the 10-foot-wide canals that divide the surface into hexagonal grids. Each grid contains a single structure, colored in infinite variations of gray and silver. These small monuments range in size and shape from blocky, angular three-story buildings to open-air pavilions only a few yards in diameter. Some are clearly miniature copies of larger buildings, with inch-wide “balconies” a mere foot above the ground. All are architectural follies with no functional entrances—save one; a towering pyramid of shining white stone.
Three of the pyramid’s faces are smooth and featureless, while the fourth features an inverted triangle enclosing one circle and overlapped by another, inset in gold and opal. (see slides).
The symbol rests at ground level and is 15 feet in diameter.
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Oh dear .... did Ears actually try out that formula I told him about? I warned him it was dangerous. I told him he'd need a transparent aluminum barrier
"I don't know about any formula, but the scorching implies he wasn't adequately safeguarded."
The computer scans tell you that the planetoid has unusually high gravity, approximating that of Absalom Station and lost Golarion, which is likely artificial. You also confirm that the canals are filled with liquid mercury.
Chryssi brings the ship down on a clear hex one mile from the pyramid, the only place clear enough to land on. I'd better stay with the ship in case something happens - as per protocol. Have fun you guys. Don't do anything I wouldn't do ... which isn't much. giggles
"Keep the ship ready for us then, Chryssi. It shouldn't take us long to scout this place. If it's loaded with loot then we'll come back before we inventory and haul it. "
Black sand covers the planet’s entire surface except the footpaths, which are paved with opalescent white stone. Liquid mercury ripples intermittently along the 10-foot-wide canals that divide the surface into hexagonal grids. Each grid contains a single structure, colored in infinite variations of gray and silver. These small monuments range in size and shape from blocky, angular three-story buildings to open-air pavilions only a few yards in diameter. Some are clearly miniature copies of larger buildings, with inch-wide “balconies” a mere foot above the ground. All are architectural follies with no functional entrances—save one; a towering pyramid of shining white stone.
Three of the pyramid’s faces are smooth and featureless, while the fourth features an inverted triangle enclosing one circle and overlapped by another, inset in gold and opal. (see slides).
The symbol rests at ground level and is 15 feet in diameter.
...
Raia looks at the various structures. The models are most interesting. "What could have been their purpose," she muses.
"Hmmm. Looks like the pyramid's dedicated to Kalistrade. Members of his cult think ascetic living and meditation will bring them wealth." Somehow she mentally transmits an eyeroll.
Keskodia looks at the various monuments
"Architectural structures with no entrances, despite this, there still must be a reason for them, even if it's just symbolic."
"The Kalistrade, intresting... Ascetic living and meditation normally don't mix well with wealth, but that might depend on how they define wealth. In the context of our mission, one might ask how did Rasheen define wealth? I got a feeling it didn't involve meditation."
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"Ugh, why anyone would completely deny themselves all the joyous messiness of life just to acquire more credits is beyond me," Qimok wonders aloud. "I prefer Radaszam's philosophy: wealth is a means to help others, but you need to live a little, too."
The skittermander soldier readies his arsenal, then gestures at the door with his one free hand. "Shall we? 'Kalistrade.'" He steps through, looking about cautiously but promptly moving forward enough to make room for the others to step through behind him before the door closes again.
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"Trick!"
Raia steps forward to examine the resealed portal. "Do you think the password is enough to enter safely?
The lashunta's antennae curl as she concentrates and looks closely at the pyramid's symbol.
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 348
Classes Mystic 0, Precog 0, Technomancer 0, Witchwarper 0
School divination
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range 60 ft.
Area cone-shaped emanation
Duration concentration, up to 1 minute/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
Description
You detect all magic spells, effects, items, and objects (including those on or affecting creatures you can see), as well as hybrid items, in the area. You can’t detect magical traps in this way, as they are created with additional magic that wards them from this common spell. Each round you concentrate on the same area, you can determine if one magic source you detect is from a spell, magic item, or other effect, and the caster level (or item level) of the effect. You can’t determine if there are magic sources in areas you can’t see, or if there was a magic source in an area at one time but that has since expired.
"Looks like I stumbled across the past word. Is it something mystical or some tech that I triggered, or both?"