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A qhorlu sits quietly at the meeting table, oddly alone. She looks around, marveling at the recent changes to her shell, now a pearlescent purple fading to the deepest blue, embossed with a multitude of mathematical symbols & equations. Nervously nibbling on the meeting table, she opts out of consuming bits of it for a snack. "Plastic." she muses "It tastes a bit slimy, though the faux marble bits could make for a nice garnish in some iron-rich red clay plates."
She fiddles with her comm unit, then recalls once again that her trusty assistant is off on his own mission, tracking a wayward video personality.
She leaves her Collective assistant a brief message, ending with "Good luck, Dr. A-Prof. That Envar is a slippery one. I'm off to track another one of Rasheen's leads."
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A trox clad in armor that appears from another Millenia leans back in the chair provided for one of his large size. The armor really isn't from a different time but he has gone through extreme lengths to make it appear that way. He has a refrigerator door with the name brand Akiton Appliances for a shield with notches carved in the back to indicate the amount of enemies he has sent to meet their makers. Upon the front is of the shield is symbol of Iomedae. At his hip in a sheath is a sword that when drawn appears to be the holy symbol of Iomedae's herself.
"The name is Belor, Belor McKraken. Knight of Golarion in the service of Iomedae. Belor looks down at his com and smiles and then looks at Omni his mandibles quivering in excitement.
"HA! It would seem we have friends in common! My ally Doogan was on that mission with Dr. A-Prof. Normally Jasper handles the missing diplomat missions but he has been needed elsewhere. Asset-13 has been sent to the scoured stars if you can believe it. Thought I would never hear that name or the Jinsuls ever again. It is good to meet a new Starfinder at this point in my career. I thought I knew them all by now."
The Starfinders begin this adventure aboard the Unflappable Cockroach, a biomechanical starship of Xenowarden design owned and piloted by fellow Starfinder agent Yvyrna. The team has been aboard for a little over a week of Drift travel, growing familiar with the Cockroach’s chitin hull, smartcoral bulkheads, and biological interface, along with Yvyrna’s friendly, welcoming personality. Yvyrna has a habit of playing ethereal instrumental music resembling whale songs; she insists that the latter “calms old Roachy down and keeps ‘er in good repair.” As they emerge from the Drift and approach the Tabori Cluster, the Starfinders receive their mission briefing via a prerecorded transmission from Radaszam “The Dealmaker”.
“Starfinders! Excellent news! You’re back on the trail of Jelev Rasheen! The famous explorer! It may have taken us three years to crack the encoded beacon we located on Tombworld, and six since we first started tracking her down, but we’ve finally done it! We know where you’re headed next, and if you’re familiar with our friend Yvyrna and her very particular starship, you might have already guessed: you’re headed to the Tabori Cluster, specifically the planet of Pan! Bad news is, that’s Ixo Syndicate territory, generally, but the good news is, they don’t seem to have much influence in the specific area you’re headed to—which is admittedly a bit odd. But you know what they say, don’t look a gift defrex in the haunches. Anyway! Keep an eye out for treasure—there’s always something at these caches—and of course, for the next signal beacon!”
For additional information, Yvyrna can easily be found on the command deck and happily answers questions the Starfinders ask her as she’s piloting.
You can also make a Culture check to recall more about Jelev Rasheen.
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Omni also enjoys the ship's preferred musical choices & does what she does when confronted with the music of the stars - she starts disassembling it to find its underlying mathematical roots, to understand its message better.
"Right, yes - Rasheen's flight plan. No wonder Radaszam happy. More adventures, more discoveries. First, that icy moon, then Kizmatta, and later, the Tombworld. Beacons on them all - pointing along Rasheen's flight path."
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It's a very big kablooie. Patrick clarifies, being an astrophysicist. Basically a supernova when a massive star cannot sustain fusion and suffers a core collapse. The resulting energy blows the outer layers of the star out into space forming the nebula. As for the core, it either becomes a neutron star, or if it is massive enough, a black hole. In this case the Tabori Cluster has a magnitar at it's heart, a neutron star with a very intensive magnetic field which causes the electrical interference that Ms Yyvrna mentioned.
Hm. Pan reminds me much of several parts of Akiton actually.
Patrick knows everything up to the 25+ and prepares a presentation.
He also asks Omni for permission to trnsxribe those equations for further study and explains what the ones he knows about are.
Once the Starfinders understand the mission parameters and are ready to get started, Yvyrna instructs them to either place all their technological equipment into some noqual-lined storage boxes she has waiting along the corridor to the bridge, or to go below to the noqual-lined cargo hold. The Unflappable Cockroach has reached the edge of the Tabori Cluster, and any technological gear (including most armor and weapons, as well as technological implants) that aren’t within one of these forms of protection as the ship passes through the nebula is likely to break.
The beacon coordinates lead the Unflappable Cockroach way out into the badlands of Pan, far away from its significant settlements. For miles, the Starfinders see nothing but rock formations, the occasional ruin and, in the distance, a small river surrounded by thick, wild shrubland before they finally arrive at their destination: the remains of a long-ago wrecked starship.
The rusted back end of a centuries-old starship juts out of the dry earth, with what might be a chunk of its forward bow lying a few meters away and the rest buried deep underground. The wreck is only visible from directly above, as thick layers of rust and walls of untouched wild growth conceal the wreck from other angles, a sign of how long it’s been here, untouched and unremembered. A name etched into one side of the crumpled hull is still legible beneath the wear of passing time: Raven’s Flight.
Yvyrna gives a low whistle, then turns to make direct eye contact. “I’ll leave you to it, then. I need to get ol’ Roachy back into orbit. He gets nauseous if he spends too long in gravity. Give me a call when you’re ready to return to Absalom Station.”
Yvyrna drops the PCs off and returns to orbit, leaving the team to begin their investigations. To start, they can establish some baselines by examining the area for 10 minutes.
Omni-lithic uncovers a symbol resembling both a crudely drawn star and a jagged, stylized R; unlike the ship’s name, it was not professionally engraved, but shallowly etched in with a knife.
Iseph checks things.
Belor finds nothing underground that would indicate that this is more than an abandoned spacecraft.
Iseph points out that the Raven’s Flight, while not the most well-known of Rasheen’s ships, was a smaller, personal vessel designed for a crew of one that she started taking out more and more in her later years as her expeditions grew more solitary.
He also locates the craft's black box, which in intact but lacks power.
“Well, this is a mess,” she mutters, disgust palpable even through the glitchy recording. “Korryn, if you get this, I’m stranded. The Raven’s trashed. No idea what happened. We came out of the Drift, and half the electronics on the ship exploded. The other half just died. It’s a miracle I managed to land at all.” She snorts. “Some miracle. This place is the definition of backwater. There’s one little two-bit town, five miles north of here, and then nothing for the better part of a continent. Still, suppose it’s not a total loss. Spotted some interesting ruins on the way down that could be worth checking out.
“I’ve gotten all I can from the wreck. I’m gonna head into town, get some help from the local bumpkins to get the Raven operational again. Find me there, and let’s clear out of this dive. With any luck, by the time your lazy ass manages to find me, I’ll have collected more than enough starmetal to recoup our losses.” The woman smirks roguishly, exuding a youthful confidence despite the faint laugh lines adorning her face and the few gray strands poking out of her dark hair. “Don’t make me wait too long, slug. Rasheen out.”
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A xeno-arcaeologist by trade, Omni's had the good luck to encounted ancient tech in need of just a wee bit of power before.
She'll attach a 20-charge battery to enable the black box.
<<watch the video>>
Then she collects the black box into her Null-Space chamber & slots the battery into her shield, where a backup generator gets to work recharging it.
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Patrick records the video on his camera.
Wouldn't be the Drift Crash unless it was a similar local event ... or maybe something blew out the Drift drive and caused a cascade failure through the systems. The data recorder in the black box should tell us more
I presume we are now going to be checking out this ... two bit town then. he concludes dryly.
While leaving the site, The Starfinders uncover a reinforced safe that was thrown clear during the crash and has been almost entirely swallowed up by a tough, thorny bush. It’s easy enough to hack the wood away with a few strokes from any kind of melee weapon, but the safe is locked.
but before they leave the crash site, the shadow of massive wings falls over the remains of Raven’s Flight. These wings, however, belong not to a raven, but to a massive local predator in search of its next meal.
Round 1 - bolded may go
Belor
Onmi
Iseph
Red
Blue
Patrick
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Iseph eyes the beasts as they overfly the ship, moving to a good shooting position. He wields his sonic pistol in one hand & the graviton pistol in the other.
(Depending on whether they're still flying or not, that will determine which pistol gets fired vs Blue - the graviton if Blue is flying, the sonic pistol if it's on the ground)
Trick Attack (Stealth +18) = Tricked & Flat-Footed if CR is 18 or less
or
If in the air, then it's the graviton pistol. DC 18 Reflex save to avoid a 20-foot drop toward the ground.
Iseph manages to get the safe open before the creatures arrive.
Iseph fires at the creature further to the south. His fake-out puts it in just the right position.
However, it manages to stay aloft.
Round 1 - bolded may go
Belor
Onmi
Iseph
Red
Blue
Patrick
Omni is positive that these creatures are in fact alive.
Belor charges into the fray and strikes one of the creatures with his sword.
Omni flies over to the other foe, striking it with some corrosive entropy.
The red-tinged enemy sweeps a wing past Omni, hoping to also strike Belor.
The bluish creature grabs at Belor.
plus Grab
Round 1-2 - bolded may go
Belor (-17 SP)
Omni (-15 SP)
Iseph
Red (-26 HP, -2 AC)
Blue (-41 HP)
Patrick
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Nudging her jetpack to drift up 5 ft & a bit closer to her ally, Omni ends up adjacent to both Blue & Belor 10 ft in the air, yet still within reach of Red. Her entropic strike lashes out across the gap at Red again.
She also plans to use her Bodyguard and In Harm's Way abilities to defend Belor, should Blue attack him again.
Patrick hurls some magical bolts at the bluish enemy.
Belor swings at the closest creature twice, but does not make contact.
Onmi-Lithic once again whips the enemy with reddish feathers.
Iseph's trick isn't good enough this time, but he still hits his target.
The red enemy swings a taloned foot at Omni-Lithic.
plus Grab
The blue one tries the same on Belor.
plus Grab
Belor jumps into the way and gets carried into the air for his trouble.
Round 3-2 - bolded may go
Belor (-17 SP, +2 AC)
Omni (-64 SP, -2 AC, grappled, 50 ft. up)
Iseph
Red (-66 HP)
Blue (-55 HP, 50 ft. up)
Patrick (-1 RP)