Ears's page

"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.

Cast detect magic, and follow that trail as long as I can.

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.

Profession, professor: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

I'll be sorry to see Jek go. I love playing with him, but I'm sure I'll see you 'round the boards. Are you running Ashbourne's Ashen Asteroid?

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.

Don't forget the supercharge on that curve blade!

Ears steps forward, draws his slug thrower, and uses it to try to convince green to cease harrassing the party.

semi-auto pistol, tactical v KAC : 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20 ... damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 critical -; Analog)

Ears watches his teams put the creatures to flight.

What's off the right edge of the map?

Ears had been delaying. Yesterday morning IRL he supercharged Qimok's sword.

Ears steps forward into the presumably safe space created by Momo's and Jek's explosions. He's surprised to find yellow still standing, and so close, but realizes he has a trusty bulwark in Qimok.

"Just a little adjustment."

Move as shown.
Cast supercharge weapon on Qimok's sword.

Sorry, should have seen this coming and posted beforehand.

Ears waits for Momo's Big Momont.

Sorry I'm playing clone batch catastrophe in another game.

Delay til after Momo.

Ears steps forward. He noted Borq's backward movement and leaves room behind the main combatants for them to step back again if necessary. There's not much he can do from here except contribute a little infallible damage.
Move as shown.
Magic Missile v blue: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 4) + 2 = 7

That's 1 second level and 2 first level spells cast.

that's a nice crit. And Ears can just see the roundoff at the end of Borq's tumbling pass.

Ears rounds the corner, sees Jek's gardening, and nods appreciatively. It's good to forestall a flanking attack, especially when Ear's flank is likely to be closest to the attack.

Now Ears remembers that Momo can't see in the dark. He switches his flashlight on for her benefit. "Let's catch up to the others."

UNless they can phase through the wall to attack Momo and me, my actions will be the same. TO save time in case I get hung up, Ears will double move to the position shown on the map.

"Hang on, I'll go fetch Qimok and Momo." Ears whispers before he trots back to get the two lagging party members.

"Borq's found something lurking in the next room."

Ears taps his lighted flashlight against the golem. "It's right here. It's just not moving any more. Speaking of moving, we should follow the others. I'm not sure whether it can reactivate."

"You're likely right about Rasheen, but maybe the goblinoids cleaned it out when they left. They might have had the time to be so thorough."

As a test, Ears shines his flashlight on the golem. He wants to see if it still turns invisible when inactive.

"Nice work, colleagues. And interesting. How and why is the golem here? Were the scavengers able to avoid it somehow?"

"There! where I shot it. Oooh just watch QImok's spear."

Apparently forgetting that Momo can't see in the dark.

Ears decides to see how things go before casting again. He draws his slug thrower and fires past Qimok at the golem.
semi-auto pistol, tactical v KAC : 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17 ... damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 critical -; Analog)

Missed that we're all up.

Ears steps up behind Qimok while taking out his flashlight. He waits for Qimok to draw the pike back, then taps its butt. "Hit him again! DOn't miss! "

Cast supercharge weapon on the pike. +4d6 of same type to damage next round.

Ears is surprised the construct came through the illusion, then light dawns. "Doesn't interact with the EM spectrum, makes you wonder how it could see us ..."

Where is it? I can't see a thing! For Momo, being unable to see a creature in light, or being unable to see a creature in darkness isn't much of a difference.

...

"We can see it in the dark! Take out the lights! Then I'll come help you aim."

Though it is burning. Maybe that's enough to let you aim at it.

Oh! If possible can I throw a mysticism knowledge check into my last post?

Mysticism: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27

Laser, transparent barrier, golem that turns invisible in light. Ears starts considering tactical possiblities. It's not surprising the laser didn't work, but still disappointing.

"Everyone back from the glass wall!"

Ears casts holographic image of a ceramic tiled wall coincident with the far side of the transparent barrier. He's hoping the barrier provides physical verisimilitude for the illusion. The illusion is 10' tall. If the golem is taller than that Ears will raise the illusion to block its vision.

Ears gets 10 squares of hologram.
"Hopefully tha buys us some time. "

Ears slides his tools back into their pouches and rolls the kit up before returning it to his pack.

Take 10 on the engineering spoiler.

"Nice little bunker they got here. Look at those walls. I bet they could take a 20 kay-ton blast in their day."

From the text I'm having trouble establishing where we and the humanoid figure are. It looks like there's a wall between the long corridor along the south and the main room with the table. Ears has darkvision.

When Borq mentions the second trap, Ears sighs and unwraps his tools again.

"You all might want to step back for this one. Who knows how big the gas cloud could be if I screw this up."

But he'll gladly accept help .

Engineering: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (15) + 15 = 30

2nd requested perception check: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (19) + 0 = 19

Once the trap is pointed out to him, Ears gets to work disabling it. Despite concetrating on that job, he maintains a reasonable degree of awareness.
ANyone else taking a stab at the second perception check?

Definitely happy to help Borq upgrade his armor before we arrive on site.

Nice perception rolls.

Go for that suit, Borq! Do we have stuff we want to stuff into the null space chamber? Is anyone riding the edge on encumbrance?

Lost Ear's last post. He didn't roll well on culture anyway.

Before setting out for the hobgoblin ruins, he takes time to carefully put away his scholar's togs and suits up in just his armor with a cloak draped over it. He checks the rest of his gear.

"Where there's Memorials -- hospitals and cemeteries follow. And more memorials. Maybe a small park, or a park bench. Big question is what's it a memorial to?"

Ears starts looks over the surface of the stones.

culture to decipher them: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Nice work on the diplomatic front while I was away.

Ears listens to Rasheen's monologue. Mindful of their host, he stays in professor-mode. "Radaszam would be greatly pleased to recover anything connected to Rasheen, but this find will greatly exceed his expectations. I am especially excited about the schematics she mentioned. What were those? Did she leave copies? And why wouldn't she need supplies at her destination?"

Round 4. Ears moves on to Kanaxa. He tells a story about a consulting job he did for a ceramic armor manufacturer on Apostae. It seems they couldn't maintain the proper pH for optimum material strength in the vat farthest from the offices despite putting in the most advanced control systems possible. Every afternoon the pH would dip. The solution was to put in bathrooms for the slaves near the far vat.
Based on a true story.

Engineering: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18 Oh No. Kanaxa might have trouble seeing the engineering humor.

Work is tough right now. I've spoilered Ears' skills. If I can't get back here in a timely manner. Somebody please bot him.

Ears conversation with Camily evolves into a discussion of the physics behind the latest quantum computing modules.

Physical science, round 3: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

Two rounds down, four to go, and only three or four successes spread over two or three NPCs.

We need to up our social game.

It's only after Tioran has engaged in conversation with someone else that Ears realizes the diplomat had gotten bored and smoothly dumped him. Oh, well.

He drifts over to Jekcedo to see how his shirren friend is making out, and notices the datapad in Camily's hand. "Is that a DP-3400? Did you get the quantum memory upgrade?..."

COmputers: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32

Ears watches the others pick partners for conversation. He decides to stay with Tioran. "No apologies needed ambassador. From your perspective it only makes sense to take an opportunity to observe us in out natural habit, as it were. And you were an excellent tour guide, so we were none the poorer for your stratagem.
It seems everyone here is connected with various digs. Are you a scientist also? I'm not an expert, but I do dabble in forensic xenobiology from time to time...."

Life science: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29

Ear's left ear swivels to hear Momo's conversation. While not as mission-oriented as Jek's, her question brings a bit of interest to the history. Nothing like theory-mongering to stir the intellectual.

Ears listens politely to the history and sociology, but his heart isn't really in it. I wonder if they have a high energy physics department?

He does prick his ears up at Jek's question about DHal.
Nice pickup on a possible Dhal-Jelev connection.

At the museum he politely examines the exhibits. The ysoki pities the recruits lack of a good fur coat.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

"Magic, eh?" Ears wants to investigate magically himself, but it's just not polite to cast spells at your hosts.

"A draft is unfortunate, but it seems likely the Gideron Authority will continue to make provocations against the Republic until the Republic can show sufficient strength to deter them."

diplomacy: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Halfway through the trip, after trying to schmooze diplomats and dignitaries, Ears can be heard in the ship's cafeteria complaining about their stupidity and lack of humor. He's dressed in his armor.

*** Planetside ***

"Thank you, Tioran. I would enjoy seeing your seat of higher learning and soaking in your culture. May I have a few moments to find my tweeds?"

(Radazam) As for the Director, he’s the director of Heartfire, the terraforming company that made Kizmatta habitable for Marixah colonization. The process took decades—they had to invent most of the weather-control technology themselves. But as big as the operation’s gotten, it’s still family owned, and by all reports most of the family helps out with the business. We reached out to him when we learned that the coordinates were on land controlled by the company. Turns out it’s his family’s personal property. He’s willing to negotiate for exploration rights, but he wants to clear it with local authorities first. The Marixah Republic is very proud of its cultural heritage, and letting outsiders just walk in and carry it off probably wouldn’t go over well. So he’s hosting a party for some bureaucrats who can push the right papers—it’s up to you to impress them so he can get permission to open up the area without getting into hot water himself.

...

"Radaszam, you mentioned " walking in and carrying off Marixah's cultural heritage." I thought our mission was to trace Rasheen's movements. Is the acquisition of artifacts a secondary objective? If not, we can easily explain that."

RPG sign-in updated.

Ears straightens up a little and looks over at Omzig again. He nods and dips back into the infosphere.

What did the Gideron Authority do about the Swarm in 291 ? Did they send any help?

Rolled 29 to do computer research instead if possible. I'll drop a culture roll in here too.

Culture: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Ears look up from his computer; nods to the two skittermanders. His eyes narrow at the sight of Omzig's clothing. Then he ducks back into his computer.

Ears is neatly dressed for the briefing in a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, and apparently on his best behavior. He nods respectfully to the other team members. "Marixah Republic and the Gideron Authority? I've heard rumors from other agents about the difficulties of running missions on their borders.
.
Where's the Heartfire reception and what's the likely Drift transit time to get there? How much time is available before we depart?"

When Jek hands out T-shirts, Ears' composure breaks down. "This is great, Jek! Thanks. I'll wear it on the mission."

Computers to research stuff: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29

Ears takes his pay and returns to his lab where he conducts serious research, apparently focus on how high things will go when they are blown up.

Profession, professor: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Sorry, forgot about the day job.

just after ship combat

Ears pirouettes on his chair. "Great work, team! Way to send those boney deaders packing!"

That was one of the best ship combats ever. Good team coordination. Good rolls. . Borq was able to keep the corpse-ship where we wanted it. Qimok and company were accurate. I've had so many ship combats turn into terrible boring slogs because everyone, but especially the gunners, were on a cold streak with the dice.

With Radaszam

Ears chews on something throughout the debreifing with the venture captain.
He has a concise report file ready that posts to Radaszam's account. "I'm happy that you're happy. If Historia wants some help analyzing that info, have her call me. "

He turns to the other team members, swallows whatever he is chewing, straightens up. His voice softens, "Should an opportunity arise in the future, I'd be happy to fly with any of you again."

Did they fire on us? What's our forward shield look like now?

Qimok's down to 2 RP after five broadsides, so it didn't seem worth doing with one of our two big guns out. Thrym would actually be our best gunner, at +12 (Q is only +9, being 6th level and not solely focused on Dex).

Makes sense. Borq's doing a great job. I'm pretty sure they'll stay in our front arc, so we can plan on two shots a round. [disclaimer]Past performance can guarantee future returns. [/discliamer]

Since the limited fire weapon is out, we have two weapons to use at most, so don't need both Thrym and Jek to help Qimok. We do, however, need to keep our forward arc towards them to use our highest-damage weapon, or to have more than one weapon available.

Qimok didn't broadside last round. If he can't broadside anymore, the best plan this round might be to have Jek use his best of two roll as secondary gunner while Thrym uses the chief mate's ability to improve targeting for Qimok. After that it looks like Thrym is our best secondary gunner.

Ears grins because the shields absorb the whole of the enemy attack, but rebalancing the shields again would leave half the shields vulnerable. That's asking too much, even for a pilot as skilled as Borq.

" That's great Thrym! Can you do something to help Qimok shoot straight now?"
Per his request a round or two back.

Ears will Switch back to engineering. Divert power to shields, and speed, since Thrym nailed his check.

Enginering, divert, v DC 19, shields, speed: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (9) + 15 = 24 That's 10 shield points back to the front shield.

Jek can move to one of the guns this turn, Jek is only +5 with guns but for one attack can roll twice and take the best.

Good plan.

"Nice shooting!"

Ears punches a button to change his console's functions away from general power generation and distribution to focus on the shields. He bleeds as much power as he can from the right shield, and throws it onto the forward one.

"Borq, keep them out of our right arc! I'm pulling power off that shield!"

Science Officer, rebalance shields v DC 19: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35

We've got about 75 shield points, so I've got to leave 8 on the right shield. That will let me put 17 on the forward.