Please dot and delete for now
A large greenish-blue lizard in copper armour marches forward and places herself on the floor and her equally enormous machine gun on the table.
"I am heavy weapons Obozaya. And this, is my weapon!"
You are rookie Starfinder Society agents, spending three days on a shuttle from Absalom Station to Akiton. Please introduce yourselves to your new companions.
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"Hello all, I'm Hoshi Ibarra. If you think you recognize me from somewhere, you probably have seen and heard my performances on the Infosphere. I usually perform with another Starfinder, Jock Burtan. Our duo is called Syzygy. Check us out if you aren't familiar. Just remember to like and subscribe!"
Hoshi is human female . She is 5'7", 130 lb, attractive, with straight dark hair, brown eyes, light brown skin, with a few tattoos on her arms. She is wearing colorful quilted armor and a baton is her only evident weapon.
During the trip, she practices her synth-string, a reconfigurable string instrument that can be played like a violin or a guitar or even a cello/bass. She demonstrates how the instrument is also a weapon, called a singing coil, that can send a line of sound that ionizes the air and then sends a jolt of electricity along the line, producing a resonant chord that starts out pleasant and then turns dissonant, followed by a distinct crack.
She explains that she will not be fighting at the front if there is any combat, unless it is absolutely needed. She will assist others in various ways with shouted warnings, supportive burns on enemies when they become wounded, and coordinated movements.
She is also a trained diplomat and will do what she can to insure any communications with strangers make the best impression possible.
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"My name is Aeovi Amuake, and I look forwards to working with you all."
Aeovi is a female lashunta, clad in the imposing armor of a hellknight signifer with a grey knee-length trench coat on top. There is a shotgun slung over her shoulder, and her neck has a large, jagged scar lancing across it.
"My role is to inhibit, cripple, and capture. I would prefer to remain at the back, although I can take point if needed. I also have some experience in investigation and negotiation, although my training is of a less, polite nature than yours Hoshi."
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A youngish human man unslings a rifle from over his shoulder and tosses his pack on the floor of the shuttle. He takes a seat. His clothing--rather inexpensive and cut in a style popular on Absalom Station--over a second skin, which occasionally flickers with LED tracings. With ear buds in both ears and comm pad running an audio player, he gives a weak smile and says, "My name is Hawthorne. I'm at least one of your hackers."
Obozaya looks around the room. The human with the earpods doesn't seem to want to be disturbed, engrossed as he is in his music. The human with the music seems out of place, almost as if she wasn't meant to be in combat. "Understanding what humans are like is difficult..." She silently laments.
But the other two...they have big guns worth talking about. She goes up to the armoured Lashunta and Shirren.
"So! Tell me about your gun. I too have big gun. It shoots many bullet at puny enemies. I also have big axe." She points at the Doshko strapped to her back.
After this interplanetary voyage, the shuttle lands in the Sloughscar Hills of southern Akiton, a region of rocky hills that hold numerous rifts, crags, caves, and cliffs. As you disembark, you enter a maze of temporary prefabricated buildings amid a flurry of activity and construction. You receive a brief wave from the izalguun First Seeker Sarmak, who is briefing a more experienced team of agents on a detailed operation, and then are greeted in a more personable
fashion by Zizenzi, a shirren and the lodge’s administrator and hopeful venture-captain. Zizenzi wastes no time on preamble and begins briefing the Starfinder agents immediately.
“Welcome to Akiton, Starfinders!” Zizenzi begins enthusiastically. “Things are busy here as we get this new lodge up and running, so I’m going to need you to get to work right away! Just leave your non-essential gear here and I’ll see its stowed in your assigned housing unit.”
Zizenzi leads the way deeper into the chaos and away from the shuttle, gesturing wildly as they speak. “Right now, we’re preparing to explore a massive, crashed starship dubbed the ‘Wreck of the Returned’ that First Seeker Sarmak believes is connected to the return of the First Ones. The First Ones are ancient and powerful beings who could be a threat to the Pact Worlds! No one’s seen the First Ones in a long time, but we have explored First Ones sites in the past and I promise you, they were not a benevolent people! We believe that exploring this starship wreck will give us much needed insight into the First Ones and their plans.” The shirren looks off into the distance for a moment before refocusing on the matter at hand. “But first things first! We have a Starfinder lodge to establish and that means you get to roll up your sleeves and lend an appendage, as the humans say! Are you ready to get started?”
Obozaya takes the machine gun off her back and shows it to Aeovi. "This is Dimitri. He shoots many bullets very quickly! He weighs one hundred fifty kilograms and fires two hundred dollar, custom-tooled cartridges at ten thousand rounds per minute." She looks intently at Aeovi."It costs four hundred thousand dollars to fire this weapon...for twelve seconds. Luckily these days we use credits so not so expensive."
As Zizenzi instructs the party, she reluctantly parts with Dimitri, warning whoever handles him to "Treat him right...or else."
"Are there any puny enemies to fight in huge starship?" Obozaya asks Zizenzi.
As Zizenzi leads you away from the shuttle landing zone, they explain that they are assigning the PCs two mundane but important tasks to help get the new lodge’s construction on-track before missions related to larger goals can begin. These tasks include finishing the installation of the automated boundary markers surrounding the lodge and scouting an initial path to the Wreck of the Returned.
Zizenzi also warns you that mid-range communications are unreliable at present, due to interference from the Wreck of the Returned, which means you will likely be on their own for these tasks and should be careful and watch out for one another!
Before you depart, Zizenzi gives you a backpack containing one commercial medkit, three commercial medpatches, and three commercial hypopens.
You also have one hero point.
Which task first, everyone?
"Ah. Obozaya not so good with building things. How say you we go make way to strange ship, no?" Obozaya suggests as she gestures in the Wreck's general direction with Dimitri, his muzzle pointed carefully away from the party.
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Hoshi has a medkit as part of her gear. She hopes neither her kit nor the one provided for the group will be needed, but she lets everyone know she has some medical training if anyone gets hurt.
After hearing Obozaya's and Hawthorne's ideas, Hoshi seconds Hawthorne's. "We're already here, so let's take care of the perimeter before scouting takes us afield."
The Starfinder lodge is surrounded by a network of boundary markers that form an automated alarm system. Each boundary marker releases a signal that deters wildlife from approaching and automatically scans and identifies anyone (or anything) passing by. Whenever something unauthorized passes by the boundary markers, it triggers an alarm. This alarm system is an important defense against the robots and other creatures released by the Wreck of the Returned into the surrounding Sloughscar Hills. You are asked to complete installation of the last few boundary markers and boot up the network. This work requires you to use your skills or abilities to acquire Boundary Points during rounds that represent roughly 1 hour of work. You have 4 hours to complete your tasks in order, first installation and then network. If you complete both tasks with time remaining, you can additionally run a tech check.
Installation: You must install the remaining boundary markers using materials prepared for you in the field.
Skills: Athletics, Crafting, or Labor Lore to install boundary markers, Nature or Survival to find optimal placement locations, or Diplomacy to keep everybody encouraged and working together.
Obozaya tries to help by picking up the boundary markers and hammering them into the ground...but it's only when half the boundary markers she's 'installed' by applying brunt force to them with her Doshko start glitching out that she realises that it's best to take another approach.
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Hoshi has some skills relevant to the task, but she finds herself spending a lot of time keeping people focused and cooperating for efficient completion of the tasks.
"Zmiersch, you can do more than just keep watch. Maybe assist someone when they need an extra hand."
"Come on' Obozaya. Nice try, but don't give up."
You all fail, none critically.
Round 2, same challenge.
Boundary point: 0
Obozaya grunts in acknowledgment and tries to hammer the markers into the ground...but ends up hammering it sensor end first, damaging the expensive sensors. She growls angrily, frustrated at her own incompetence.
Obozaya and Zmiersch fail again, but Hoshi succeeds.
Aeovi and Hawthorne?
(status: 1 boundary point)
round 3, you may all go.
Obozaya tries to pound the markers into the ground again. Through sheer heroic persistence, she manages to get a few sensors the right way up and into position.
Zmiersch and Obozaya succeed, so the team has installed the markers.
Now you need to try to calibrate them and establish the network. The skills you may use are:
-Acrobatics to make minor tweaks to marker positioning,
-Computers or Infosphere Lore to program the network,
-Piloting or Survival to calculate optimal alignments.
Hawthorne and Aeovi can each make an attempt at this new part.
(by the way, Hawthorne, it looks like your profile is empty. Can you please include your character sheet there, either as a stat block or as a link?)
Hawthorne succeeds.
I'm going to move on to the next round so we don't bog down.
Aeovi may make two checks, one for round 3 and one for round 4.
Hawthorne and Obozaya make each make one check.
I'll take Hoshi's check to be her attempt for the fourth and final round.
status: 1 success in the second part
Obozaya tries to calculate optimal alignments by trekking around the area and working out where the signal is weak.
She gets lost almost instantly, falls into a hole and spends the entirety of her time trying to pull herself out.
The team manages to finish the assigned task, although they do not have time left to check their work.
On your way back from your mission, you bump into fellow rookie ysoki
Starfinder Kiha
You recognize Kiha is the granddaughter of Fitch, a famous Starfinder that commands the flagship Master of Stars.
The young ysoki is driving an enercycle to a nearby boomtown called Pilferer’s Paradise to deliver messages “the oldfashioned way.” Because the Wreck of the Returned interferes with midand long-range communications, First Seeker Sarmak felt the message should be delivered in person. She stops to chat.