After we had shut down the artifact, and the vortex of souls had evaporated, Embidi would have done some of the small dances and said some of the proper words for the departed. "They sacrificed everything, and bought their people thousands of years of life. How grand," he would have said, with awe in his voice.
Back on the Master of Stars, Embidi would have opined that the real problem was electricity. "Yep, too much electricity, and not enough magic in that technomagical relic. If it has been entirely magic and crystal based, I reckon it'd still be up and running! It's only a shame we hanakans had no idea this star system existed when those Sarcesians built the River Between."
Thanks for running, GM Zoomba, and thanks for the table, everyone! This was fun! I hope we see more holographic pirates in future scenarios!
During the final moments of battle, Embidi was preparing to cower and beg for his life - but, when it becomes clear that the fighting is over, he'll pop right back. "Haha, yes! I knew we'd be able to talk our way out of this one!" he exclaims with a certain amount of glee.
If needed, he'd also auto-assist using Mysticism to help with shutdown.
[dice=Attack v Embidi KAC]1d20+17 for [dice=Slashing]2d6+12+2
Ooof, ow. I think my SP digits got flipped, though - Embidi has 42 SP, not 24. I think I had it in my banner, wrong! :) So should be at 19 / 42 SP left (2 dmg from earlier grenade, 21 from the sarcesian guardian now?
Oh and thanks for the Wound Prevention, Thraega!
It seems like we're trying to resolve this peacefully, so Embidi try and play defensively, rather than try and buff allies' spellcasting. He'll move 20 ft west (hoping the Guardian misses any AoOs XD) and then uses his hanakan magic to cast Wisp Ally - casting into the Guardian's square, and providing Covering Fire (so, on the Guardian's next attack, the target gets +2 AC.)
Normally there'd be some big beefy soldier or solarian to step up and draw attention. I am beginning to suspect that, lacking that, moving Embidi forwards was a mistake :D
We always knew this would come down to one high-stakes Diplomacy roll! XD Also - dang, that Sarcesian art is awesome!
Embidi (Move action) moves forwards and draws his longarm, but (Swift action) makes a great show of obviously switching grip to keep it pointing down at his side, rather than raised in a threatening stance. Then, he'll say. "Please - listen - we mean you no harm. It has been thousands of years since your heroic sacrifice to create the River Between, but this device is failing. If we don't shut it down carefully, it will explode - violently, and cause even greater strife to the Sarcesians of the Diaspora!" Diplomacy, will hold off on Expertise to see result:1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32 Oh yeah - that 17 is pretty good; gonna add Expertise, rather than use Slick Customer to re-roll. Expertise:1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 So 32 + 4 = 36 total.
"Oh, wow, yeah. This complicates things. Destroying the engine to save a fraction of the River's substrate, and sending a number of souls off to the other, bigger, River of Souls, sure. But if that prevents the souls from moving on..." Embidi trails off, leaving that unpleasantness hanging.
"Healing magic..? Fascinating! Amy, I believe that's your purview? I can sing your curative magic to excellent effect, if I may!"
Hopefully it's not necessary, but Spell Speaker can let me Amplify any mystic cure spells: The spell is especially potent. On the turn that they cast the spell, the spellcaster can reroll any of the dice rolled to determine the spell’s effect (such as damage dice) whose result is a 1 and take the second result. Any such die that rolls its maximum value (such as 4 on a d4) treats its result as though it were 1 higher.
"So, by process of elimination, Life must be represented by either the crystal wand, or the green gemstone. Hmm. Well, among my people, it would probably be the crystal wand, but a good Starfinder doesn't project their own cultural assumptions. Still, though, that's my guess. Thoughts?"
[b]"It seems we're on the right track, at least,"[/n] Embidi says, putting a claw against his mouth to think.
First Mysticism:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27 Second Mysticism:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16
He'd share what he deduces about light and wings with the rest of the team (the first spoiler) but further insights are beyond him (the second spoiler.)
Embidi thinks out loud: "Hmm, so, the inscriptions read 'Light, Loss, Life,' yes? Three words, three pairs of statues, and three objects in the West room? Maybe we need to adorn the statues with appropriate objects? A set of wings on the wingless statues, a dagger on the middle downcast statues to signify loss, and the crown on the final pair, which look like they might have one had something upon their brows?"
He'll go check out the East alcove, to see if it too has three items in it, but he's wary of ancient countermeasures, so he'll go slowly and check for traps, via Perception and Detect Magic.
Perception:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11 "Ah yes, looks perfectly safe! Hah, you can always trust the guileless trust of ancient Sarcesians, I guess!"
Embidi's ruby red aeon stone is a comm unit & tier 3 computer; it's probably got smart phone camera capabilities. He'd snap a few shots, and take some video panoramas.
Replying to Amy: "Oh yeah?! And how are you going to make a strong magnetic field? That's right - using electronics! That's how they get you, Mercury. That's why we hanakans swore off using electricity centuries ago. It is our Great Nemesis," Embidi says, spitting off to the side in a small ritual.
At the flooded tunnel, he'd try and scamper along the crevasse.
Acrobatics:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19
"Oooohhh we're really in it now, Team," Embidi says with a little exhale. "Nothing good ever comes from working with electricity. Devils, demons, qlippoths, and who knows what other even worse things are all made of electricity," he mutters as the group progresses through into the core.
Mysticism:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14 Perception:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28
Embidi nots at Amy's safety mantra. "Wise words, if ever I've heard them." He'll also button up his armour and environmental seals, but he'll hold off on his newly-craft rad-out until someone's radiation badge says it's time.
Ready to go.
"Five hours? Beautiful - I can work with that!" Embidi gets to work crafting himself a rad-out serum with UPBs.
It's a lvl 3 magic item, and I have 6 ranks in Mysticism, so I can craft it in the usual time: 4 hrs. Just for interest's sake, the radiation buffer is a lvl 1 item - so if anyone had 6 ranks in Engineering (which is >= 5 ranks above the item lvl) you could craft it in half the time. If anyone was bored during this interlude ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
"I don't like the sound of walking into a technomagical dynamo that's been spewing out who-knows-what-kind of esoteric higher-dimensional radiation for thousands of years. Anyone have a spare hardened sci-shield suit lying around? Hells, even a radiation buffer, or a rad-out would be nice," Embidi asks, without really expecting the pirates to have a well-stocked anti-rad larder.
Don't suppose we have 4 hrs and a crafting bay to make our own serums, do we?
Ooof, that's darker than I was expecting for this scenario!
Embidi is fine to share our prognosis, as long as everyone else is. Assuming none of us think otherwise, he'd try and let them down gently.
"The work you've done studying this up until now is, well, truly phenomenal, but my colleagues and I are very confident - we just lack the know-how and understanding required to fix this technomagical relic. It's not a question of "if" the River will die, but rather, "when," and to a lesser extent, "how much collateral damage." It seems clear at this point that we should pivot from fixing it, and instead focus our efforts on damage control. How can we minimize the catastrophe to come?"
Embidi would then be quiet, to let someone else outline our plan.
Embidi looks troubled. "So, just to make sure I understand the science here - there's no way to fix this thing? Like, repairing the River just isn't on the table?" Embidi sits down on his haunches. "...wow. So, controlled demolition is our best case scenario, then?" This is both a player and in-character question - want to make sure I understand :)
Everyone seems to be doing great work on the actual problem solving, so Embidi will start workshopping some holographic moustache business names. "Gletch is right. What about 'Hardlight Haberdashers?' Folks go nuts for a little alliteration in the Pact Worlds!"
If needed, Embidi, or his Ally Hireling, could auto-assist on all the couplets of checks, if a +2 would make a difference anywhere.
Embidi wants to believe, so he'll go along and try and engage captain Okwana in smalltalk. But, like the others, he's wary of our newfound friend, and will keep an eye open for deceptions and trickery.
Sense Motive with Expertise:1d20 + 10 + 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 10 + (5) + 1 = 32
"Okay, what I think we're all circling the drain here on is - we all want the same thing. Believe it or not, Captain, but we're here to solve the River destabilising as well. I am Embidi, and these are my adventurer colleagues. I'm afraid that Thraega and Kalhoun here are right, though - no one's solving anything until you can prove the scientists you kidnapped are safe." Diplomacy:1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19 Not applying Expertise in order to reroll that via Slick Customer. Diplomacy, Take 2:1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19
"Yeah, what do you mean, 'keeping to yourselves?' That's a funny way to describe kidnapping scientists and diverting and destabilising The River Between!"
Embidi feels good after talking to Gletch's magics (as he usually does) but wants to end this before the entire pirate base is on them.
"Time to bring 'em down, team! I'm drawing a bead; focus on that target!" Inspiring Combo to Improved Get 'Em! and Shoot at Green! Improved Get 'Em! = +2 morale to hit Green. Attack vs Green:1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 9 + 2 = 30 1st P dmg:3d4 + 6 ⇒ (3, 3, 2) + 6 = 14
Ok, this is some PbP Nonsense™, but, I'm going to assume one of the spellcasters will be casting a spell before the end of Embidi's turn on round two. Is it okay to say that I can spend my Standard Action to do my Spell Speaker schtick on one of the allied spellcasters, but the exact specifics (which ally, which effect, do I need to spend 1 RP because it's a lvl 3 spell, etc) can be sorted out as needed?
If this were an in person game, at this point I'd be asking "who wants their next spell buffed," to sort it out then, but, obviously, PbP changes that a bit. Ref vs Red's Grenade:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13
Assuming I can spend my Standard to Spell Speak, Embidi moves to get out of grenade-clumpiness with the rest of the team, drawing his longarm as he goes; then he'll begin performing the mystical movements and jittery dance-steps, and making little raptoral yips and clicks he needs to call out and coax his allies' magic...
@Thraega, Amy, Gletch - someone can get boosted magic!
...it's possible I just finished binge-watching season 6 of The Expanse, so I am taking that off-hand "inners" comment and running with it, Zoomba :D
Embidi takes a moment to clear his throat and get his affectations in order, and then puts on his best Space Pirate-ese voice.
"Oye bosmang, milowda ta ge erefo wa fight, but da lúsamang abandoned da kapawu! Xitim im's ours, haha! Are returning xom."
Translation:
Hey boss, we got into a fight, but the losers abandoned their ship! Now it's ours; returning to base.
"Pashang, no Inyas in this ship!"
Embidi will do a little magical jig to help entice the spirits of Gletch's magic to last a bit longer (so its duration is +50%.) "Do you think the way we trounced their ships will make them anymore likely to want to talk?" he'll ask, absent-mindedly, as he makes ready to land and, presumably, fight more space pirates.
"Those angles and projections sure look pretty, but I'm gonna need a more intuitive plan..." Embidi trusts his orbiting magical aeon stone computer to handle Gletch's calculations, and then lines up a nice Broadside against the lead ship's Aft.
Taking one of our Drake's improved ICM +3s for the particle beam first shot, to offset the Broadside penalty. Also we never really clarified which gun we replaced with the Heavy Solar Cannon, so I'm going to assume it's in the Fore, instead of a coilgun? Particle Beam Broadside with ICM:1d20 + 9 - 2 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 9 - 2 + 3 = 17 Heavy Solar Cannon Broadside:1d20 + 9 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 9 - 2 = 20 Particle Beam dmg:8d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 2, 2, 5, 2, 3, 4) = 22 Solar Cannon dmg:3d8 ⇒ (5, 3, 7) = 15
Green failed to evade, and so is the easier target; but it's also behind an asteroid, and therefore can't be hit by direct-fire weapons. I'll let Kalhoun, who's a better gunner, take the heavy plasma torpedoes and have a go at Blue, isntead?
Embidi sets the safeties on the forewards particle beam off, and lines up at Blue.
"And you should have kept the River where it belongs!" Particle Beam vs Blue AC:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26 P. Beam dmg:8d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 6, 2, 1, 2, 5, 1) = 25 Our finest weapons mean I get to reroll any 1s, but must keep the second result. finest weapon dmg rerolls:2d6 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6 So, 29 dmg, total.
Based on the "preferred roles" chart, it looks like no one's a preferred gunner; Embidi can do so passably, so he'll make with the shoot-shoot, and Thraega or whoever can Captain :)
Embidi slips into the gunner's station, and boots up the TacComp. "Ah, been a while since I've actually pulled the literal trigger myself! Let's see if we've still got it," he says as he toggles weapons control to manual and begins lining up the forwards particle beam.
FWIW the Heavy Solar Cannon isn't that great on a Tier 6 Drake, so probably not worth buffing it over, say, the particle beam or missiles. /shrug
Embidi is barely a spellcaster, but he's at his best helping other magic users get the most magical bang for their occult buck! He'd rattle his feathers, make some mystical motions, and try to help Thraega draw a mystical veil around our brightly coloured Drake.
Mysticism:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32
Also @Thraega it looks like you rolled a 1d2, instead of a 1d20, for your check!
Embidi would shoot everyong a look like, "are you gonna tell her? You? No?" before puffing out his lips a bit.
"Oh, Amy. Grab yourself a mug of a comforting beverage at a soothing temperature for your species, and meet me in the mess hall." He'd try and let her down as gently as possible.
I'm assuming we can surmise 7-05 takes place after 7-03, so - I'm guessing it's roughly happening around the same time as A Cosmic Birthday? So, the whole "Aucturn situation" has happened, but concrete news is probably still very shaky and developing.
"Ah, yes, we at the Starfinder Society are doing all we can do make sure we're a net force for good in the system! We don't always get it right, but by gum we're trying! Be careful out on the rim - I've heard it was some real chonky business there, on Aucturn, right at the end. Good hunting."
Boons!
Personal: Iztheptar Research
Faction: Acquisitives
Promotional: t-shirt re-roll
Ally: Master Hireling (Tech Support)
Social: Known Quality
Starship: Defender of the Fleet (we have three of these, looks like, so we can get all of the benefits)
Slotless: Planar Preparations (x1/session, treat Resist of 1 ID'd Outsider as 5 less)
Envar's Gift (Swift action: fascinate non-allies for 1 round)
Year of the Scoured Stars (+2 Dex)
Flower of Celebration (Festive Dazzling Flares x 1 / day)
Knowing that we're headed to a big ol' River, Embidi buys a couple spell chips of lvl 2 Swim. Also, he slots his existing spell gem of Gyre, left over from a past mission to an ocean panet, into his ruby sphere magical computer aeon stone.
Can anyone cast Life Bubble? If so, he'll defer to our other casters; if not, he'd buy a spell chip of that to cast on us, too.
Oh - lastly - for the other *checks notes* three spellcaster in the party, Embidi can do great things to your spells! He needs to spend a Standard Action, though, so if you want your spells buffed, just call out :) The list of buffs he can apply to your spells is here.
Assuming Embidi's the captain, Embidi is happy to take the call and do the talky-talking. "Well met; light of the Inheritor upon you, as well! We're en route to help the good people of the Diaspora with some trouble with hydrological systems we've heard about. And you?" Embidi would give them the truth, but kind of dance around the whole "we're going to attack a pirate base" component of the truth.
"There's a certain Drake I saw in the hangars here, on the ride in - cherry red coat of paint, with bright orange flame decals along the sides. She's a beaut, sure and true. I've been in that one before - finest engines, finest computers, and finest weaponry in the Starfinder fleet! Let's see if we can't nab that one."
"So - get in, punch the pirates, rescue the scientists, save the River, and bosh, back by dinner? Sounds lovely! Let's do this," Embidi says with oversized confidence.
I'm usually all about the Drake, but something about this mission tells me the superior speed and handling of the Pegasus may be better. Or, we could split the difference, and take the Drake, but use that Defender of the Fleet boon to upgrade from Medium 8 to Medium 10 Thrusters?
"Hmm, Quira, that does sound familiar..." Embidi is a dabbler in spellcraft and magics, and has maybe heard of the disenchanter before.
Culture on Quira:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Embidi would be absolutely tickled to see Kalhoun walk in. "Long tail for counterbalance, stout clawed forearms, proud carnivorous muzzle - ah, it's so good to be working with another sapient of respectable morphology! It's rare to see another Starfinder with such an excellent body plan."
Replying to Gletch: "Well, claws crossed, I suppose! It's always good to have a Plan B for if talks sour, though. They always seem to."
Embidi enters the room, and makes a beeline for Fitch's kids, reminded of his own many grandkids back on Ssets’Akana, in the Ash’Akan System out in The Vast. "Hey, Kiha! How's tricks? Tell Reepu and Zivv I say hi!"
Embidi looks like a three-to-four foot dall carnivorous raptor dinosaurinid. He's covered in small charms, fetishes, bone carvings, and with many feathers attached to his clothes and armour, to accentuate his own natural plumage (which is looking a bit sparse, and the colouring a bit drab, in places - telltale signs of dinosaur age.) Anyone familiar with magic or tech can tell he's wearing all analog gear: nothing digital or electrically powered, from his Azlanti analog longarm, to his treated defrex hide armour. There's a small cloud of aeon stones orbiting his head, however.
He chuckles at the kids' antics during the briefing, and puts on his best "doting grandfather" performance to try and settle things. He'll listen intently during the briefing.
He's interested in hearing the answer to Gletch's question, on what we know about these Riveters. "I don't suppose we're lucky enough to have a chance at talking them down, or there being a diplomatic solution to this, eh Fitch?"
As an envoy, Embidi is a great captain, but also a passable Magic Officer or Gunner. Happy to switch-hit between whatever's needed.
Unless we hear otherwise during the briefing, the usual vote is "Drake with Finest Weapons." Sounds like this mission is about flying in and about a space-bound river, though - so maybe the speed and handling of a Pegasus would be better? TBD after the briefing :)
No special starships on this PC, but, I do have Defender of the Fleet from 1-99:
Defender of the Fleet:
Defender of the Fleet: During the return to the Scoured Stars, you partook in at least one starship combat mission to assist the evacuation of the stranded Starfinders. As a result, your name has spread throughout the engineers and dockmasters of the Starfinder fleet. Whenever you slot this boon, you can pick one of the following options:
Finest Computers: You can improve the computers onboard your starship by one step: from a mononode to a duonode, or from a duonode to a trinode. Alternatively, you can upgrade the computer’s bonus by 1 while this boon is slotted (to a maximum of +8).
Finest Engines: You can increase the speed of your thrusters by one step. For example, T6 thrusters become T8 thrusters. You cannot use this boon to upgrade beyond the fastest thrusters commonly available for your size of starship (so you
cannot upgrade past T14, S12, M12, L10, H10, G8 or C8 thrusters.)
Finest Weapons: Each of the weapons on your starship is the best available in the Starfinder fleet. When you roll damage, you can reroll any damage dice with a result of 1 on the die; you must keep the second result.
Hullo everyone! Kishmo here. Was thinking of bringing my lvl 6 space-dinosaurspell speaker space-bard! He plays best with spellcasters in the party, since he can buff allied spells. We appear to have a lvl 6 witchwarper, mystic, and technomancer, so - great use-case for the ol' spell speaker!
Embidi will also add his two cents, in his capacity as a fortune teller. He's got ranks in Profession (fortune teller) and everything! "Momo, Skip's right. I've seen enough futures for my clan's hatchlings to tell you that these things are not set in stone. Call it Fate, Destiny, or the machinations of cold uncaring entropy, or strange mercurial Gods - any way, it still takes your hopes, dreams, and abilities into account. Your future is what you make of it. If you like, I can do a reading for you, now."
I did a simple 1 card tarot pull, which is surprisingly apt for Momo. In-game, Embidi would crush some bones into a soup to make a simple bone broth, drink it, and then read the bone chunks at the bottom, in the Hanakan equivalent of bone & tea leaf reading.
Momo's fortune:
The Ten of Wands indicate that you have been working extremely hard in order to turn something into fruition. At the end of that journey however, you find yourself being overburdened and too heavy with the responsibility that you created for yourself.
Thanks for the game, everyone! Great group, like Jones228 said. Thanks for running, Qstor!
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