[Outpost VIII]Redelia's Duskmire Accord 9

Game Master Redelia

Hello, players who have signed up for this game on the convention spreadsheet. Please dot and delete from this thread for now so that the game appears in your campaigns list. We will start when the convention does.

Your story begins in the newly completed lodge on Salvation's End. You are meeting with Venture Captain Kunoris Vex.

The hallway outside the meeting room is dimly lit and crowded with crates. A welldressed drow waits in front of the door, greeting the new arrivals. “Starfinders! I’m so glad you’ve arrived. I am Venture- Captain Kunoris Vex,” he says, approaching. The drow offers an outstretched hand, but is forced to jump back quickly as a
pair of rapidly chattering ysoki dash in front of him, waving their arms excitedly and pointing at readings on their holographic displays as
they run down the hall. Vex smiles. “As you can see, there’s a lot going on here, and I want you to get right down to work.”

Vex gestures to a nearby doorway, leading into a conference room with insta-plastic tables and chairs arranged haphazardly about. The holographic display unit’s core sits atop the table, ready for a technician to install it. “Sorry for the mess. I’m sure you understand we’re right in the middle of setting everything up.” The drow politely pulls out the chairs for others to sit. Once everyone is seated, he pulls out a pocket computer and projects an image onto a nearby wall. The readout shows a series of images of a long, massive hallway lined with gigantic doors spaced far apart. “As you can see, this moon contains a large number of vaults. We recently gained access to one of them,” Vex begins. “The monitor outside of this vault doorway currently displays the words ‘Duskmire Accord.’ We’ve found no records in our research here or from the databases on Absalom Station about the term ‘Duskmire,’ but we assume it is the name of a place. Our scans from the hallway reveal a powerful energy source somewhere within the vault, although its construction or some manner of shielding prevents any meaningful readings. It appears that if we want to learn anything more, we need to send in a team.” He cocks his head, raises an eyebrow, and looks meaningfully toward the group.

The drow turns off the projector and smiles broadly as he leans forward. “I’d like you to go into this vault and see what you can find. Identify the source of these energy readings, and learn anything else you can about the interior of the vault. There may be inhabitants, but we don’t know whether they’re likely to be peaceful. As always, be ready for anything!”

any questions?

A large Shobhad wearing a wrestling robe over his armor, from his belt hangs grim trophies and a large leg bone used as a club introduces himself before taking a seat.

"I AM GRIM*!"
Intimidate amplified: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Then in a gentle timmed voice GRIM*! says
"Nice to meet you all I hope we can be friends."

Following GRIM*! is a Contemplative filming GRIM*! entrance.

"This is Xylavol..."
GRIM*! pauses to take out a business card and reads her full name.
"Xylavol Intellectual Cinema Verite Visionary, she's my Basic Tech Support Hireling, she does the smart things I can't. I want to be a good boss so just to let you know she has to take 10-minute breaks once in a while, I hope that doesn't get in the way."

"I have a question, what environments will we be working in? I need to make sure I'm prepared to protect GRIMI*!'s camera equipment and that I bring adequate lighting."

A pahtra in a long coat lounges in one of the seats, taking one specifically as out of view of Xylavol's camera as possible.

"Name's Grimalki, nice to meet y'all--that's not live, is it?" She gestures to the camera.

"I have a question, what environments will we be working in? I need to make sure I'm prepared to protect GRIMI*!'s camera equipment and that I bring adequate lighting."

"Wanted to ask that too, any environmental hazards we should know about? Especially with that power source, do we know what kind it is?"

Paradox #1: 1d20 ⇒ 15
Paradox #2: 1d20 ⇒ 18

"Nice to meet you Grimalkl, of course, it's not live it's just a camera."

GRIM*! pauses as Xylavol whispers something to him

"Oh, that kind of live, no we don't usually live-stream. If you don't want to be more famous than Zo! Like I hope to someday, I can have Xylavol edit you out."

GRIM*! raises his hand to ask a question about the mission.

"Duskmire Accord sounds cool would be a great name for a wrestling league, is that why I'm here? Normally I get put on a mission when a team needs me to keep them safe, if it turns out the Duskmire Accord isn't promoting wrestling is there something I should be ready to hit or break?"

"Nice to meet you Grimalkl, of course, it's not live it's just a camera."

GRIM*! pauses as Xylavol whispers something to him

"Oh, that kind of live, no we don't usually live-stream. If you don't want to be more famous than Zo! Like I hope to someday, I can have Xylavol edit you out."

Grimalki nods. "I'd appreciate that, or at least blurring out my face. Publicity is... not entirely good for me right now. Especially if you have an audience in the Veskarium."

Breathlessly power-walking into the room, Anock stops short as soon as she spots GRIM*!'s belt full of...trophies and bones. Oh. My. *WORD.* Those had *better* be sanitized!

She peels her eyes away from the probably-germ-riddled do-dads, drawing herself up to her full height to address the VC. "Venture Captain Vex, my apologies for my tardiness. The lift *obviously* hadn't been properly cleaned in quite some time, so I took the liberty of thoroughly sanitizing the control panels. Now, I see we'll be investigating another section of the vault, eh? I must admit, I am curious about how different this section will be from the last.* So, energy signals, hmm? And you haven't gotten better readings just from opening the door, so the source must be deeper inside. Right! Well team, I'm your medic^." She looks GRIM*! up and down. "I'll stay behind you and patch you up as need be. Now, what questions do you have for the Venture Captain?" Her magnanimous glance includes Grimalki.

* Her last mission was The Clone Batch Catastrophe, also in the vault.

^ She only thinks she's a medic. She also thinks she's the team's leader. Feel free to respond to that how you will. ;)

On one of the chairs is a person of turquoise gas encased in a hermetic humanoid-shaped suit draped in plain second skin armor. He claps to GRIM*’s flashy entrance.

He waves cheerfully to GRIM*’s camera. “Hello! Hi. I’m so envious of you all. Having faces and all that… unique anatomy. Very expressive! I always have to be careful with my body language.”

“Thank you for having us, Venture Captain. Though, hiring a hireling isn’t a bad idea…” He nods to Xylavol.

“Right! Introductions… I am 703 ni Oud. Any variation would suffice. Though, Oud is a cute diminutive I am starting to be fond of.”

“So… this is Salvation’s End? What’s the deal with that? I love its confidence. And doors and vaults? Like AbadarCorp vaults? Treasure of all kinds inside, perhaps?”

Especially if you have an audience in the Veskarium."

"I don't know much about the Veskarium, but if they hurt a friend of mine I will wrestle them all, AND IT WILL BE GRIM!" Intimidate amplified: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

GRIM*! turns to Anock after looking up what the Veskarium is on his comm unit.
"You're the team's medic right? do you have enough stuff to patch me up if I wrestle the entire Veskarium?"

GRIM*! sees Oud clapping and waving at the camera
"Nice to meet you Oud, I see you like the camera, do you like to wrestle too?"

Anock is...quite stunned at how scary GRIM*! is when he's worked up. In fact, she nearly wets herself a little bit. *Nearly*, mind you. Not *actually*. She stammers as she responds to his query: "I-I-I'm not physically c-capable of carrying that m-many supplies. Please do *not* wrestle the entire Veskarium on this mission." She manages to banish the sound of fear in her voice by the end, replacing it with her normal imperiousness.

Turning, she nods at Oud. "How do you do, Oud."

"We don't know what is in this vault, so I really can't tell you what to prepare for."

any other questions?

"Well, if there's no way of knowing, we might as well get going. Worst case scenario, we pop back out to grab what we need before heading back in again. Let's go, team!" Anock stands, shooing the others toward the exit.

Feel free to ask more questions. Anock will be annoyed, but I won't.

"If Anock can't carry all that healing, I better buy another healing serum before we go, I got four hands to carry lots of stuff with. With the right stuff, we can take on anything! Does anyone else need more stuff?"

if there is time to shop GRIM*! gets another MK1 Serum of Healing for a total of 3

Grim is able to find a small area in the lodge where he is able to purchase that serum. It doesn't have much for sale, but does sell basics.

anything else?

I'm good.

I'm good too. Nothing more to me.

Oud stands up to shake Venture Captain Kunoris Vex's hand (or simply nod) before being shooed to the exit by Anock. "I... Yes! Report, Explore, Cooperate!"

He walks as he talks. Firstly to GRIM*!. "Wrestling has been a fascinating topic for some time now. It's a conversation without words! This new form of mine is new... and I think... on the Absalom infosphere, were you fighting on Akiton recently? What stuck with me was... how you carry yourself so confidently without the guarantee of success."

"I do like to wrestle... but I don't think I'm particularly appealing to fight." He rubs his arm bashfully.

He turns to Anock. "I'm good on stuff. I'm just a bit excited now... We don't know what's at that vault! Do you need help with sanitizing?"

GRIM*! proudly says.
"I never carry myself, I just walk on my own two feet. It's been a while since I fought on Akiton, after joining the Starfinders it's been hard to get home."

GRIM*! pauses to think about something Oud said.
"Wrestling uses lots of words, I like LOUD WORDS they help taunt and intimidate my opponents, and the audience likes that. If you want to be more appealing to fight you just need to come up with some good loud saying. Try shouting I AM OUD! while flexing your arms, give it a try."

Anock is...quite stunned at how scary GRIM*! is when he's worked up. In fact, she nearly wets herself a little bit. *Nearly*, mind you. Not *actually*. She stammers as she responds to his query: "I-I-I'm not physically c-capable of carrying that m-many supplies. Please do *not* wrestle the entire Veskarium on this mission." She manages to banish the sound of fear in her voice by the end, replacing it with her normal imperiousness.

"Yeah, that... that sounds like a bad idea. You're welcome to try, though." She laughs, appreciating the (perhaps somewhat misguided) enthusiasm.

"We don't know what is in this vault, so I really can't tell you what to prepare for."

Grimalki sighs. "Figures. I'll find out when we get inside, I guess. If not before."

He turns to Anock. "I'm good on stuff. I'm just a bit excited now... We don't know what's at that vault! Do you need help with sanitizing?"

Anock's eyes light up with appreciation at Oud's offer. "Yes! There is always more to sanitize. Infection is the death of many, and the pain of many more. I make it a point to ensure sanitary conditions whenever possible." Now *this* person has potential!

You go by ground transport to the entrance to the vault. You move through an airlock, where you are briefly blasted with a decontamination laser. The doors close behind you.

A holographic projection of a horizontal blue line appears in the air above a circular disk in the ground. The line begins moving in a waveform pattern like that of an oscilloscope. “Greetings, ERROR: NULL RECORD,” a polite, cool voice speaks, in Common. “Welcome to Duskmire! You are understandably confused by your sudden arrival, but rest assured that there is all you need here to survive should you choose to do so. You can enter the temple and be released when you have achieved dominance over the other two resident powers within the Duskmire area. Please accept this simple map as a gift to guide your way. Happy conquest!”

A map printed on a simple plastic sheet materializes. (see the maps link above)

Perception, Physical Science, or Engineering checks may be useful here.

Physical Science/Perception (same modifier, if one is lower DC use that): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

"...huh. Not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this," she says, gesturing to the speaker.

"This sounds more like a game show than a vault, I think this is going to be fun!"

GRIM*! looks around trying to figure out what the first game might be.
Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (11) + 0 = 11

Oud nods at GRIM*!. flexes, and shouts... "I! AM..." ...as the decontamination laser blasted briefly.

"...clean?" He pauses as he relaxes his pose.

He looks at the map and moves forward to take a closer look at the map, then the mechanisms of the ground. Engineering: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

GRIM*! pauses to consider Oud's shouting skills
"It's a start, just saying "I! AM" without your name, is an interesting idea considering you don't have a face, that might be intimidating to some, but I'd leave the clean part out. Maybe ask Anock for some sanitizer."

“Greetings, ERROR: NULL RECORD...”

"An error already? Well, *that's* not reassuring." Anock snaps, irritated. The least the Vault could do is be professional enough to not waste her time. Error, indeed!

"You can enter the temple and be released when you have achieved dominance over the other two resident powers within the Duskmire area."

"Are you kidding me?! It's just some petty fight club or something? Ugh! ... Then again, this could be a decent training ground for Starfinder trainees if the challenge level is appropriate. Hmm..." She pauses in thought a moment, then sighs dramatically. "<sigh> *Fine.* It'll do. Let me see that map. ... Huh. Where are we on this thing? Couldn't they at least put a 'You are here' marker on it? Geez! There's more than one error in this program, I guarantee that!"

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

"And yes, I have sanitizer for everyone."

The projector is deeply embedded in stone and uses advanced technology of unknown origin.

You hear the sound of raucous laughter and loud singing far to the southeast.

"Well, take notes on that projector, everyone. HQ will want to send some tech wizes to analyze it." Of course, Anock doesn't bother taking any notes of her own.

You hear the sound of raucous laughter and loud singing far to the southeast.

With a dramatic sigh, Anock points southeast. "Sounds like our first target is that way. Let's sneak up on them so we can observe their strengths before we have to interact with them." She shoos everyone ahead of her, leading from the back.

Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Blindsense: 30 ft

Oud turns and nods at everyone's input. He takes out his datapad and types some words and draws diagrams on this advanced technology. "I! AM!" He tries to follows GRIM*!'s advice. Still faceless.

He bobs his head to the song. "Right! Sounds like someone is home. Where on the map...?" He agrees with Anock with the map having no current location identifier. "...It isn't a theme park at least, it seems? With two residents."

He jokes."Dominance... Conquest... Sounds like typical awards season in music. And the worse part are the fans and stans. We got some cutthroat competition for best vocals. This isn't battle music, is it?" He looks to Grimalki.

He lets Anock shoo him, following the singing, hopefully with adept stealth. Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

GRIM*! gives Oud a thoubs up

"Kind of sounds like a party, but who does that in a vault? Maybe it's an expensive party."

"Anock No need to wait for HQ I know a tech wiz!"
GRIM*! turns to Xylavo
"Xylavo you got big brains can you check out that thing on the wall."

"Sure thing boss, that's what you pay me for."
Engineering: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

As you approach the source of the sound, you notice it is a yeti village. Five yetis appear to be sprawled on the ground, semi-conscious, but uninjured. The village is a mess, like the party has been going on for far too long.

GRIM*! looks disappointed.
"I think we got to the party late. If this is one of those parties where they drink too much..."
GRIM*! looks over to Anock
"There might be lots to sanitize."

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (6) + 0 = 6

"Ugh! Indeed! Fan out, check for threats, and watch for jump-scares. They may not be as out of it as they seem. I'm going to do triage." Anock bosses her team as she approaches the nearest yeti cautiously to check their vitals. She puts on a surgical mask, rubs in some hand sanitizer, and slips on a pair of surgical gloves before touching anything.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Any sign of a threat to her safety as she approaches?
Medicine: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
What are the yeti's symptoms? What may have caused them? Are all the yetis suffering the same malady?

The yetis seem quite happy, as if they are under the influence of a pleasant intoxicant.

"They certainly seem like they know how to party." She crouches down next to Anock. "Any idea what they're on? And whether or not they have any left on them?"

"Well, defeating them seems easy enough. We just need to tie them up." Anock starts looking around for rope, manacles, or anything that could be used to bind the yetis. "By the way, is there anything left of whatever substance they consumed? It may be useful. I just hope it wasn't something in the air."

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

"Ok, I'll go see if I can get a drink from them to check out."
GRIM*! doesn't see a party as a threat and walks up and asks.
"Looks like a fun party, I don't know what you are drinking but it should look good, do you have any left?"

When Grim starts to interact with a yeti, the yetis look questioningly at him.

OK, team, ONE of you can make a diplomacy check to get the yetis to talk to you. No aids allowed, even, unfortunately. This is an important enough check I would suggest using the discussion thread to decide who will make the check.

Not sure what to do GRIM*! takes a drink from his cantine trying to fit in, while he waves to the rest of his team for help.

Oud was the last to approach the group of intoxicated yetis. Tying them up… they seem out if it already… This is looking to be a first contact situation… He glances to Anock. Good idea on the PPE. He now looks to both Grimalki and Anock. I’ll take a closer look, and find this substance they are ingesting. And see if they need medical attention. Be ready to introduce yourselves. And maybe play good cop?

Oud strikes a confident pose and struts. His armor bulges a bIt as his buoyancy adjusted to allow him to fly. Heads up GRIM*!. I am landing on you to make them laugh and take us less seriously. He conveys this telepathically.

He lands gently on top of GRIM*!’s shoulders. He firsts tries to speak to the yetis verbally with cheer and enthusiastic body language. If that doesn’t work, he tries to communicate with his limited telepathy. He continues building on the questions GRIM*! already asked. Yes! We are new to this place. We might be neighbours?!

Oud points to himself. Oud. He then points to GRIM*!, then turns his back as a small display of trust to point to Anock and Grimalki to let each of his teammates introduce themselves before pointing back at the yetis. Hoping that they get the gist and introduce themselves.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Diplomacy reroll with vestments perk: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

I’ll take a closer look, and find this substance they are ingesting. And see if they need medical attention.

"...See if they've got any left, too, and if they'd be willing to sell it. Based on the state they're in right now, I'm sure I could get a decent markup."

He lands gently on top of GRIM*!’s shoulders. He firsts tries to speak to the yetis verbally with cheer and enthusiastic body language. If that doesn’t work, he tries to communicate with his limited telepathy. He continues building on the questions GRIM*! already asked. Yes! We are new to this place. We might be neighbours?!

Oud points to himself. Oud. He then points to GRIM*!, then turns his back as a small display of trust to point to Anock and Grimalki to let each of his teammates introduce themselves before pointing back at the yetis. Hoping that they get the gist and introduce themselves.

She reluctantly raises a hand towards the back of the group. "Grimalki."

The yetis stir a bit from their turpor and tell you they will only converse with other members of their tribe. Soon the yetis begin to insist that you should join their tribe and become honorary mukfurs.

GRIM*! raises two hands
"Oh, can I join that sounds fun, do mukfurs like to wrestle?"

Oh. NO. Anock stands back, certain that there is probably some awful hazing ritual to join their tribe. (Honestly, she just doesn't approve of putting oneself into a stupor, so isn't interested in fraternizing with those who do.) But she's totally on board with GRIM*! trying it. He can handle whatever it is, I'm sure.

So Anock is refusing to participate in the honorary tribe member initiation ceremony? What about everyone else?

GRIM*! is in

Oud raises his hand vivaciously, accepting to participate in the initiation ceremony.

He turns back to the other two and sees Anock stand back. "I don't want to force you to do anything, Anock. Should I be worried?"

"Oh, I just want to see what it entails first. We don't know enough about this place for *all* of us to be out of it like that. I'll stand watch so you're not ambushed while this is happening."

Anock plants herself in a spot where she can see as much of what's happening and what's coming as possible. It doesn't occur to her that her refusal might have a negative effect on the situation.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19