Zero's Cosmic Birthday

Game Master Super Zero

Laurel makes quick work of the turret, deftly removing the crystal--which shatters. Laurel notes that the device looks extremely old. It probably wasn't in good shape before someone intentionally dropped it 20 feet and someone else took it apart.
Normally Thievery would have required two successes, but that's a crit so you got it in one.

Grizzi deftly scrambles up the ladder. It doesn't matter how rickety it is when you didn't even really need the ladder in the first place! He clambers over one of the ysoki and into the upper chamber. He can see the catwalk from here, overlooking the hallway where the party first entered this level.
That's up the ladder.. but Grizzi has a climb speed. And there's no penalty for critically failing a tumble through, so you don't fall. Okay, that works.

Jazz's turn. The ladder is 20 feet high and requires a DC 10 Athletics check to climb.
Initiative:
Zashodu (AC 15; 20/20 HP; DC 16 Ref vs 2 cold)
Red Ghost Courier
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 14/14 HP; DC 16 Ref vs 2 cold)
Jazz (AC 18; 17/17 HP; DC 16 Ref vs 2 cold)
Green Ghost Courier
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 15/15 HP; DC 16 Ref vs 2 cold)
Fengsai (AC 17; 12/16; DC 16 Ref vs 2 cold)
Purple Ghost Courier

Gah! A hostile, intelligent air conditioner!

Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
He will move and electric arc green and purple dmg: 2d4 ⇒ (4, 3) = 7 electric, reflex dc 17.

Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7 HP 13/15

Ghosts are endothermic. Interesting, must be the lack of blood circulation.

They're not ghosts, they're "Ghost Couriers" because they're in the Ghost Level. Perhaps I should have just left the label as "Ysoki."

Jazz can barely tell where the one further back is, which might be a factor in his ability to avoid the spell entirely. The other one is badly shocked, though.
Green Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 and Purple Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

With Grizzi at such close range, he swaps out his rifle for a starknife with a large blade.
Perhaps too large and unwieldy--he fails to strike the skittermander.
◆ Swap weapons, ◆ Strike Starknife: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10, ◆ Strike Starknife: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 6 - 4 = 9

Sanity and Fengsai's turns. The ladder is 20 feet high and requires a DC 10 Athletics check to climb.
Initiative:
Zashodu (AC 15; 18/20 HP)
Red Ghost Courier
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 13/14 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 16/17 HP)
Green Ghost Courier
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 11/15 HP)
Fengsai (AC 17; 12/16; DC 16 Ref vs 2 cold)
Purple Ghost Courier (-3)

Did I take two more damage or did the cold get counted twice?

Ah, not ghosts. Pity. everybody knows ysoki are endothermic. Let's check that blood circulation hypothesis anyway.

◆ Set up experiment (move action to grab zero pistol)
◆ Perform experiment (attack purple)
Zero Pistol, Purple: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 161d6 ⇒ 6
◆ Reproduce data (attack purple)
Zero Pistol, Purple: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (12) + 6 - 5 = 131d6 ⇒ 6

Fenfsai Warps reality to slow down the robots and then moves to the ladder and climbs, then attacks purple with her battle glove.

↺ Quantum Pulse to Warp Reality as a free action when rolling initiative.
WARP REALITY: quantum field 15-foot-radius enemy creature –5-foot status penalty, allies +5 foot movement.

◆moves to the ladder
◆climbs the leader Athelitics: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
◆Commercial battleglove: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Damage B: 1d4 ⇒ 2

It was a critical failure with the natural 1, so double damage. I might have pointed that out and asked if you wanted to reroll, but since I rolled minimum damage I figured it wasn't very likely you'd want to spend a Hero Point on it.
Fengsai Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

The experiment yields data: The first one falls. The second shot does not yield relevant data, as it misses.
First shot takes him out. Second shot misses with cover, but would have anyway.
And that's the one who would have taken the next turn, so we're back to:

Zashodu's turns. The ladder is 20 feet high and requires a DC 10 Athletics check to climb.
Initiative:
Zashodu (AC 15; 18/20 HP)
Red Ghost Courier
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 13/14 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 16/17 HP)
Green Ghost Courier
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 11/15 HP)
Fengsai (AC 17; 11/16)

◆ Stride to ladder
◆ Climb (DC10 Athletics): 1d20 ⇒ 7

He slips and tries again...

◆ Climb (DC10 Athletics): 1d20 ⇒ 10

"Slippery little..." The ysoki with the red eyes fires twice at Grizzi, grazing him with a laser once, before falling back outside of the twisted terrain. "Ain't this place distorted enough?"
◆ Strike Grizzi laser rifle: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11, ◆ Strike laser rifle: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (18) + 6 - 5 = 19 hit for fire damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3, ◆ Step

Laurel, Grizzi, and Jazz's turns. The ladder is 20 feet high and requires a DC 10 Athletics check to climb.
Initiative:
Zashodu (AC 15; 18/20 HP)
Red Ghost Courier
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 10/14 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 16/17 HP)
Green Ghost Courier
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 11/15 HP)
Fengsai (AC 17; 11/16)

Electric arc green dmg: 2d4 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8 reflex 17

Laurel scrambles into position up the ladder, into position to take his shot!

Climb (Untrained) vs DC 10: 1d20 ⇒ 16

◆) Stride
◆) Climb
◆) Stride

"Les git these guys!"

The ysoki is quick, but the electrical blast still looks like it hurts.
Green Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Grizzi's turn. The ladder is 20 feet high and requires a DC 10 Athletics check to climb.
Initiative:
Zashodu (AC 15; 18/20 HP)
Red Ghost Courier
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 10/14 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 16/17 HP)
Green Ghost Courier (-4 HP)
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 11/15 HP)
Fengsai (AC 17; 11/16)

"Ouch!" Grizzi rubs his recent wound with one of his hands as he twirls his knife in another. "I was just trying to help!"

"Excuse me," he says to the green-eyed ysoki as he tries to get by them.
◆ Acrobatics to Tumble Through green: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

"I was just trying help. Perhaps, your firearm was malfunctioning. Allow me to adjust it for you. Please, hold still." The skittermander explains as he moves his knife to try and loosen one of the screws on the laser rifle. "It is likely still warm, but by zero knife should handle it."
Melee, zero knife (agile, finesse, critical, powered, tech) v red: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Damage (C): 1d4 ⇒ 2
Vs. green if Acrobatics was unsuccessful.
Melee, zero knife (agile, finesse, critical, powered, tech) v red: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 7 - 4 = 5
Damage (C): 1d4 ⇒ 4
Vs. green if Acrobatics was unsuccessful.

Grizzi helpfully adds new perforations to the ysoki, though immediate feedback suggests she does not appreciate his assistance even though the cut is frozen shut.
15 is a hit. 5 is a regular miss.

"Hey, get back here!" The other ysoki calls. He gets a medpatch out of one of his pockets, but first he steps up behind Grizzi and totally fails to stab him with his starknife.
◆ Interact to draw medpatch, ◆ Stride, ◆ Strike Starknife: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10 failure

Sanity, Fengsai, and Zashodu's turns. The ladder is 20 feet high and requires a DC 10 Athletics check to climb.
Initiative:
Zashodu (AC 15; 18/20 HP)
Red Ghost Courier (-2 HP)
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 10/14 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 16/17 HP)
Green Ghost Courier (-4 HP)
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 11/15 HP)
Fengsai (AC 17; 11/16)

◆ Sutain WARP REALITY quantum field 15-foot-radius enemy creature –5-foot status penalty allies +5
◆Climb ladder Athelitics: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
◆Strides to get past Zashodu

Hmm, ladders should be easier than this. What's wrong with me?!?

◆ Climb (DC10 Athletics): 1d20 ⇒ 15

Making it to the top this time, he sees that the ysokis are too close, and so skitters back into the corner with Laurel.

◆ Stride
◆ Cast Analyze target on RED (+1 to next attempt to recall knowledge on them if there's any left... had the action to burn)

Sani moves to the bottom of the ladder, but can't be bothered to climb up.

I have to warn you, kneecap injuries are quite uncomfortable!

Zero Pistol, Green: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 141d6 ⇒ 4
Zero Pistol, Green: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 41d6 ⇒ 2

Zashodu determines that the ysoki's primary medical condition at present is that she was recently stabbed with a zero knife.

The other one is looking badly frostbitten after Sani's shot.
That hits and bloodies him.

With Grizzi pinned between them, the ysoki in red also stows her rifle and draws her starknife, landing a poke.
◆ Swap weapon, ◆ Strike Grizzi Starknife (flanking): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19 hit for piercing damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4, ◆ Strike Starknife: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 6 - 4 = 13 miss

Laurel, Grizzi, and Jazz's turns. The ladder is 20 feet high and requires a DC 10 Athletics check to climb.
Initiative:
Zashodu (AC 15; 18/20 HP)
Red Ghost Courier (-2 HP)
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 6/14 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 16/17 HP)
Green Ghost Courier (-8 HP; bloodied)
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 11/15 HP)
Fengsai (AC 17; 11/16)

Laurel takes careful aim and fires off two shots!

◆) Get 'Em vs Red (Foe -1 AC, allies +1 damage)
◆◆) Strike x2
↺) Quip vs Green (Demoralize foe ally just shot)

”You two is both hot toast!”

Rotolaser w/ Get Em (+1) vs Red (Getted): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 231d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Rotolaser w/ Get Em (+1) w/ MAP (-5) vs Red (Getted): 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (4) + 6 - 5 = 51d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Quip (Intimidation, Trained) vs Green when struck: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

They ysoki in green looks like he's starting to believe it. Particularly as the other one drops as Laurel's shot hits her.
With the AC penalty, 23 is a crit. And 14 is a successful Demoralize.

Grizzi and Jazz's turns. The ladder is 20 feet high and requires a DC 10 Athletics check to climb.
Initiative:
Zashodu (AC 15; 18/20 HP)
Laurel (AC 18; 16/16 HP)
Grizzi (AC 18; 6/14 HP)
Jazz (AC 18; 16/17 HP)
Green Ghost Courier (-8 HP; bloodied; Frightened 1)
Dr. Sanity (AC 17; 11/15 HP)
Fengsai (AC 17; 11/16)

Move to ladder 1st action
Climb up ladder 2nd action athletics: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 nope I don't get anywhere
finish climbing up ladder, 3rd action as you can only climb 1/4 your speed, so it will take all 3 actions to get up. athletics: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14 and I'm only 6.25 feet up on the ladder.

Grizzi turns his attention to help the remaining one with his zero knife.
Melee, zero knife (agile, finesse, critical, powered, tech) v green: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Damage (C): 1d4 ⇒ 1
Melee, zero knife (agile, finesse, critical, powered, tech) v red: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 7 - 4 = 19
Damage (C): 1d4 ⇒ 1
Melee, zero knife (agile, finesse, critical, powered, tech) v red: 1d20 + 7 - 8 ⇒ (14) + 7 - 8 = 13
Damage (C): 1d4 ⇒ 3

All is soon quiet.
20 hits, he only had 1 HP.

In addition to the ysoki's equipment (they each have commercial carbon skin, a commercial hypopen, a commercial shooting starknife, a commercial laser rifle, a spare battery, and a medpatch), the party finds a bag with stashed loot: a set of tactical hardlight handwraps and a sonic scream spell chip (1st), both still in the original (though quite old) packaging, plus an antique silver cup of unknown origin.

Laurel rifles through the loot, discarding his spent clip, and grabbing the ysoki’s backup…

Jazz will grab one of the commercial shooting starknives.

Zashudo does not participate in the looting, but he does wonder what direction they could go from here. It seems the exists here lead to the catwalks which cross the spaces they'd explored earlier.

He steps out onto the one heading west, then looks to his teammates, pointing that way suggestively to see if they agree.

Fengsai takes 1 commercial hypopen, and medpatch, leaving

3 commercial carbon skin
3 commercial laser rifle
2 spare battery (if Laurel only took one or all of them)
3 commercial shooting starknife
2 commercial hypopen
2 medpatch
1 set of tactical hardlight handwraps
1 sonic scream spell chip (1st)

"With things being so messed up down here not sure when we'll get out, It's best to grab all the supplies we can, Laurel did you get all 3 batteries? Grizzi or Dr Sani can you use the hardlight handwraps? if not I'll take those too. Anyone else want the last 2 hypopens and medpatches? best we do not leave medical supplies behind."

if there are any of the medical supplies, extra batteries or hardlight handwraps left over, Fengsai takes them for the party

Jazz will grab one hypopen and 1 medpatch. Also we are down to 2 shooting starknives, Jazz grabbed one. The only thing we don't need is the armor, that takes too much times and it's heavy.

One of the tourists pokes a nervous head into the lower room. "Is it safe now?"

From the upper platform a ladder leads down into the hallway where the adventurers firs fought the robots. It also connects to the catwalk. In one direction, it crosses through several hallways that the party has already explored, then turns a corner. To the south, it crosses the main hallway but leads to another door.

As Zashodu strides along the catwalk he telepathically messages down to the tourist.

We're not sure yet, we've not been everywhere. Be patient!

He approaches the door and gives it a once-over. Perception+7

If safe and if the party has caught up and is with him :), he opens it.

After taking any leftover supplies, Fengsai moves to back up Zashodu opening the door with her pistol ready.

The door opens onto the upper level of some kind of auditorium. There are seats arranged for an audience around the edges of the room, but the lower area isn't really a stage, either. Instead there's some kind of glowing, egg-shaped console in the center.

There's also another maintenance robot, though this one appears undamaged and conducts its normal maintenance routine, taking no notice of the party.
There is another creature, hiding (poorly) near the console. It vaguely snake-like, though it also has wings. It certainly does take notice of the door opening, and watches the party, though it doesn't seem immediately hostile.

Zashodu looks at at the party and then back towards the hiding snake-thing.

He waves casually at it and projects a greeting from his mind.

Hello. We mean no harm!

I even swore an oath to do no harm first. Sani adds, conveniently omitting what he does second.

There is no sign that the creature understands. It doesn't react much at all.

There is another creature, hiding (poorly) near the console. It vaguely snake-like, though it also has wings. It certainly does take notice of the door opening, and watches the party, though it doesn't seem immediately hostile.

Upon spying the creature, Grizzi walks into the room, arms open wide.

"Greetings, Nufriend!" He calls out to the serpentine creature.

He tries again, repeating the greeting in Vesk, Akitonian, Goblin, and Pahtra.

”Hey snek!” Laurel yells in the common galactic tongue ”We kin gitcha outta here too just play nice, got it?”

~) Size Up

Fengsai tries to hide out side the door way in case a suppose back up is needed
Stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

It hisses a little.

It seems likely this is a creature of more animal intelligence than a person.

Zashodu does not know the language of the jungle, but he might know something about how to interact with animals. He approaches it cautiously...

Nature/handlish animal?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Zashodu's attempt to soothe the beast seems effective. It's perhaps a little less... tense?

The maintenance drone begins to sweep the floor, taking no notice.

Fengsai slowly enters the room so as not to scare it.
"I wonder if it's hungry?"

Fengsai takes out a protean bar and opens it, then takes a bit to show its food, then holds out the protean bar offering it to the creature. Fengsai waites to see how it react before deciding to throw the food to it.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

”Dont talk, do ya snek? Moss animals at spac stations talk, ya know. Kin never be to sure who duz an’ who don’t an’ who can but won’t, ketch ma drift”

Laurel reloads, and follows the maintenance drone ”Less follow thet thing - not like we got any other leads” and disappears after it.

careful what you feed it. Snakes can have the most terrible digestive problems. You can feed it a protein bar, but don't feed it yourself.

Nature, aid: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

It shows no interest in the food. Which is the final clue Sani needs to recognize that the creature is an electrovore, which as the name implies feeds on electricity. It seems concerned about anybody getting closer to the egg-shaped console.

The drone continues sweeping the floor.

Laurel, betaken with curiosity, approaches the egg.

”Dont bite me snek - juss gunna look”

"If the creature likes electricity, perhaps we can offer entice it with a meal?" Grizzi looks around for something helpful.

Looking around for equipment or cable or something that contains or could produce a charge. Would a battery work? Crafting or some such to identify a potential outlet/cableline?

Fengsai takes a seat in the chair in the far corner trying to look harmless, and finishes the protein bar she had offered the creature. She ready herself to activate her quantum field if things go bad.

We can feed it the drone, those work on electricity, Sani says, though that may be bad for its teeth.

Let's try a battery...