Search Posts
While I know it will pinch the city financially (and I live not far from it), I do support this. I am glad that Paizo has made a decision early enough so that hopefully people wouldn't have already paid for flights and such. Looking forward to Gen Con Online. I can't wait to see what happens this year!
@Meia- Done. It should be the one that has Tasch in the name. And trust me, I have 2 characters that don't do day jobs...because they are either soldiers, or solarions.... With that done, I am going to leave this active for a week..then close it. Thanks all for playing. I enjoyed it (even with the hiatus we had because of cons....)
@Oz -- Your chronicle has been updated. And yeah, I like this boon. It has a good feel about it. @Helios -- Yours is also modified, and it was something I accidentally left when filling in your sheet. Spider has played this scenario before, so I gave him an Endless Potential replay so he could get credit for it. It is a GM boon any GM got for running at Paizocon or Gencon this year. All in all, I really wish the Talbot fight could be more modified. Having ran this now 4 times...and played twice...Only twice in that was Talbot brought in alive. Only once (this one) was Talbot not moving on the cart, and only once (one time I played it and had an awesome envoy/diplomat in the party--who I think rolled a 19 or 20 on the die) did the GM allow the PC's to talk down the miners (even with Talbot blustering behind them) so that they weren't in the combat. Yes...scenarios need to be ran as close as possible. But with awesome role-playing, a little luck (dice), and a great plan I feel they can be modified at least a little. But it can't be 'just because I don't want to do X' reasoning. With Spider rolling a 20 on the bluff, and had a 20 on disguise (and with some opposed rolls) the bluff had to work at least somewhat.
Here is the Chronicle sheets...sorry for the delay. It is in my dropbox (not my normal way to send them, but oh well). If something is wrong, I can attempt another way. Tell me if something is wrong, I can fix them if so. Been a fun pbp. End fight went completely different than any other one I have seen. Hope to be at another table with each of you (virtually, pbp or IRL!).
You all do a complete search of the area, and find only was already mentioned. You take Tabot's body out of the mines, and give Philt a call. Coming to the location that Philt sends you, you see Philt and his bodyguards there. Philt looks at the very dead body of Talbot. "That will....suffice. We at least know that he is now in a higher court of law than the mortal courts we could have put him in. Thank you for returning him." Looking a bit west towards the town of Tasch, Philt remarks, "You know, this town seemed to have a very strong sense of loyalty to Talbot--misplaced obviously--but the town has merits. If only people would spend some initial credits and time something good could come out of this place. I think the bean counters were looking at building a shipping hub somewhere on Akiton, probably at Maro. I could possibly point them here...likely better prices, lower criminal organizations" "Anyway...enough musing. Thank you Starfinders, and I hope whatever Talbot took from your society is going to be returned to the Lorespire Complex never to see the light of day."
You all get back on the--shuttle...shudder--and make the 2 day trip back to Absalom Station. When you return to Arvins office, you are immediately let in. He debriefs you and is glad to see that the charlatan's stone is back. "Go ahead to Seeker's Respite and have a round of drinks on me. Just remember, not to drink too much, and get some rest. I am certain that we will have more assignments for you soon."
Oz's stealth was messed up by saying sorry to Spider. Which meant that Talbot heard him coming, able to sway away from the blast. Spider however, is able to use Oz's mistake and bluff that he was more hurt than he really was...allowing his shot to connect for damage. Meia however, maneuvering her doshko into high guard, and brings her blade down, cleaving into Talbots shoulder...and dropping him.
You all can go through Talbot's equipment and besides the static arc pistol, survival knife and freebooter armor he has a mk1 ring of resistance and some credsticks. In a hidden pocket inside of his armor you find a simple 'rock' about the size of a turkey egg. While unremarkable in look, any detecting of magic has it glow with a very strong aura. This has to be the 'charlatan's stone' you are were looking for. Doing a quick look into the office Talbot came out of, besides some extra clothing and some nutrient food packs, you find a lump tech. Easily Helios can determine it it is a brown force field...looks cobbled together...maybe Talbot was tinkering to get it working? So...what next?
Twang is able to sneakily get around the miner and attack him...and dropping him. Talbot seeing that his 'allies' are down, attempts to maneuver to the best of his ability. He nimbly dodges through the grease [oo]c(at 1/2 speed, no need for a roll, his acrobatics is higher than Twangs[/ooc]), and then does a slight tumble through the down miners spot.
Getting next to Twang, he slices across her chest.
Helios aims at the miner, but with Twang dropping him, changes his aim at Talbot--who made himself a nice target. The laser blast hits Talbot in the side. Round 3 (Bold can act)
Meia swings at the miner, but is unable to connect. The last miner grits his teeth and swings out with his wrench at Meia.
Round 3 (Bold can act)
Twang shoots one miner in the leg, as it tries to see where the yell came from. Talbot sees the 'shobhad' attempting to shoot him--and the 'shobhad' was with the other traitor--so he swings his knife to hit them as the 'shobhad' moves back.
Spider is able to retreat and shoot Talbot, winging his right arm slightly. Helios leans forward and three bright glowing embers fly at the two miners. The first one strikes the one that Twang shot in the leg, making him drop! The other two slam into the other miner--who until this point was not hurt--and rocks him back a little, the pain obvious on the miners face. ROUND 2 (Bold can act) Meia (2 Damage)
Round 3
Oz's shot seems to have connected on Talbot. His eyes go momentarily wide as he registers who really is the enemy, and one is standing right next to him! He swings his knife at Spider.
Talbot's trick seemed to have worked, as Spider seemed distracted by Talbot's footwork, the knife cutting across one of Spiders shoulder joints. ROUND 2 (Bold can act)
Twang (0 Damage)
Round 3
Meia moves up, and takes a swing at one of the miners in the grease. Maybe because of the grease--and the miner just slightly shifting and bracing himself so not to fall--the swing goes over the miners head. Spider turns, looks at the 'traitor', and shoots....and hits...the 'traitor' that both Talbot and Spider shot goes down! The blue miner, seeing that Meia came charging in, quickly pulling the trigger, firing his autopistol at her.
The purple miner, seeing that there is nowhere for him to move that won't likely make him fall on his bum, pulls out his wrench, and attempts to hit Meia with it.
The Yellow miner falls to the ground, bleeding out. ROUND 2 (Bold can act)
Oz (0 Damage)
Twang comes around and shoots the miner in the chest. Since he was already on alert, it seemed that he was ready for it.
GM:
Though grease coats the Akiton ground, neither miner falls. They must have slip resistant steel toe boots..... ROUND 1 (Bold can act) Twang (0 Damage) -Acted
ROUND 2
I have already reported the game completed, so that people can have their characters available for The Gameday online. With the way the dice have been going, Talbot will likely not be a problem for your group. I only have seen this fight go south once, and it was with a all level 1 group (and them getting nothing higher than a '8' on a d20 for multiple rounds). Let's finish this! Chronicle sheets will have to wait until Talbot is down and you return him to Philt.....
GM:
Talbot looks around, seeing that Oz seems to have shot at one of the miners and gives him a quick appraise. GM:
Talbot--who had his pistol out whirls at the miner--obviously is listening to what Oz is saying. Seeing the shock in the miners face, Talbot assumes that to be shock in being found out, does a quick two-step to get Spider out of his line of sight. Before the miner even has the ability to stammer out something, Talbot shoots.
ROUND 1 (Bold can act) Oz (0 Damage)
Spiders and Oz's bluff seems to have solidified, and they trail Talbot, as two miners move forward ahead of Talbot. The last miner looks twice at Oz and hangs behind the rest of the group, not certain on a couple of things.
GM:
ROUND 1 Twang (0 Damage) Oz (0 Damage) Talbot (0 damage) Spider (0 Damage) Meia (0 Damage) Helios-4 (0 Damage) Miner blue (0 Damage) Miner purple (0 Damage) Miner yellow (0 Damage)
GM:
One of the miners rushes to the door, knocking hurriedly. "Boss, one of the shohbad adolescents and another of the townsfolk came to say that the group that was looking for you in Tasch will be here any minute. What should we do? The door opens and a shifty eyed man looks out....
GM:
In a gravely but slightly frantic voice, the man barks at Spider, "You! Maarbadvae wasn't able to stop them? What happened?" To the miners, "Doubt that the laser trap might stop a few...but likely not, it is mostly there for the warning. We could go ambush them at the intersections, get a crossfire set up from the 3 tunnels and the maintenance repair bay....let me get the cart, I can put it in the center of the spurs and hide in there. " Back to Spider and Oz, Talbot says, "Think you two can help us ambush them? I figure with four ways leading out of the loading area to here at the pillar, we can set up a crossfire to take them down....agreed?"
I never tell a player no...I just up the DC's ;-) Realistically, the scenarios are written linearly (sorry SFS)....the GM has to be willing however to allow for creative use of skills, ideas and plans. You have already shown you can attempt to be an adolescent shobhad...and that Bluff skill was impressive.....so let us just see how this plays out....
As Oz and Spider peek around the corner, they see 3 miners working. Two are near the mine cart, attempting to do some light repairs. The third is working on a pick handle. Besides the mine cart, you also see a door on the east wall, which probably leads to an office. As the two stealthily move forward Helios accidentally kicks a few small stones which *ting, ting*on the rails. All three of the miners look up and down towards the end of the junction. What do you do?
GM:
ROUND 0 (Until Miners act,you all can do whatever you want for a full round, Miners are flat footed)
GM:
As you all move towards the split to the North West and South West, you all see a pillar of the native red Akitonian stone. As you get right past it, both Oz and Spider sees that if Meia or Spider move any farther, a concealed laser turret would open fire.
So...to finish this. You can quickly look north and see that it runs a good 100 feet, but dead ends in a mining rig that doesn't look like it has been used for over 100 years. Most of it's mechanical guts are laid around it, looking as if somebody recently was at least trying to assess if the machine is repairable. Heading to the South West.... [ooc]Putting you near the edge of the South West corridor...if you want to stealth go ahead, and move yourself to where the Red square is located (or next to it), if you don't want to stealth (or roll REALLY bad) put yourself around where the green square is located.
A passageway from the west leads into this rectangular chamber with rough-hewn walls. A metal mine-cart track runs parallel to the passage and enters the room before ending abruptly. A mine cart in an obvious state of disrepair lies adjacent to the tracks. Tools cover a table against the east wall, while a pair of metal lockers stands in the southwest corner. The lockers are all unlocked and contain mining uniforms and binders full of Material Safety Data Sheets, on safety with explosives, but no explosives.
Helios and Meia keep an eye on both the ground and the tracks. The tracks are most heaviest from where you all are coming from and going further west. There are a few going south then east, though that is a minor amount in comparison to the tracks going west. Moving carefully and looking around, you can see that the eastern area dead ends into what appears to be some kind of repair bay for mine carts. Otherwise that area looks pretty empty. The western tracks go a little farther in, then spit off to a north west and a south west branch. Almost all the tracks Meia sees are going west. Will need to go farther in to see if they go north or south.
Good game all. Had lots of fun. It is always interesting to see how people 'vote' when these moral issues happen. This one (so far) I have seen go 4/5 to release the info and tell the story to the public (one way or another). The 1 time I ran it and it went the other way....I had one player so vehemently against the other 5 players they had me put on their chronicle sheet that they WOULD not do that and would blog about it...their profession was blogger. They also had a REALLY good day job roll...so I just had to say that their 'opinion' piece did well with the conspiracy theorists.... These are the type of scenarios I really hope SFS can continue to develop. Shifty did an awesome job with both the General and Adrovor....who I am so hoping we can see again later...and hopefully fully limbed. Thanks all, see you hopefully in another pbp (or in Skitterpocolypse....)
As everybody moves into the passageway, they can look and see how far the mine tracks run. To the north they run about 60’ and end in what appears to be a dig site for more thasteron. To the south, it ends about 70 feet south again, at a dig site, though there appears to be another two sets of tracks merging on the north/south spur, one running back east and one further west.
GM:
Inside the cabinet is a basic medkit, and an engineer specialty toolkit. Also you find an old set coveralls that has the name “Jones” on the breast pocket. The coveralls are so dry rotted that they fall apart almost as soon as you touch them. However inside one is a cred stick with some credits on it. As Spider looks on how the mine tracks run, he sees that it runs to the north about 60’ and end in what appears to be a dig site for more thasteron. To the south, it ends about 70 feet south again, at a dig site, though some of the rails head back to the east and west.
You all get slightly buzzed from the ‘free’ alcohol, and then head out to the mine. On the way out of town, you notice several town folk who glare at you, but do not attack. After a good 10 minute fast walk to get the alcohol metabolizing through your system, some of you call for a quick break.
After another 10 minute walk, most of you are no longer feeling the alcohol. And you all do see an opening into a mine A sloping ramp descends to the west, made of hard-packed red dirt that shows signs of heavy vehicle traffic. The ramp opens into a large square chamber with rough walls. A metal track runs along the ground from a passage in the west wall and then turns north, ascending a five-foot ramp and then running along the north wall until the track terminates. A pair of metal lockers stand in the southeast corner, and a heap of ore is piled to the southwest. A string of overhead lights provides dim light. Looking around: DC 12 ENGINEERING:
The metal track is meant for automated mine carts. Minecarts would enter this chamber and roll along the ramp. Once stopped, the carts are then uncoupled to tip over and pour their cargo into the bed of a vehicle that would back up to the tracks. Looking around: DC 14 SURVIVAL:
These tracks are relatively recent, matching the timeline of when Talbot arrived on Akiton. This mine was vacant for quite some time before that. A pair of metal lockers stand in the southeast corner, and a heap of ore is piled to the southwest.
Looking at ore: DC 15 PHYSICAL SCIENCE:
The ore is unrefined thasteron. The lockers are locked and can be opened with cunning or brute force.
Opening the cabinets: DC 14 ENGINEERING/DC 15 STRENGTH:
Inside the cabinet you find a basic medkit and an engineering specialty kit.
Twang goes behind the bar, and makes drinks for everybody. Amazingly while the previous ‘bartender’ made horrible mixed drinks she did have the required ingredients, but apparently failed out of bartender school. But she did learn to put all her credits in a lock-box. You all take your drinks and head out unless you want to do anything else.
Spider lines up the sights on his rifle, judging the lead time as the ysoki flees. Waiting for just the moment to fire…..and pulls the trigger. The ysoki goes down, with a small laser hole in the center of his back. The ysoki in the street falls, never to rise again. Meia does her best to fight through the overwhelming fatigue that goes through her. While not able to shake the fatigue, she somehow still brings the doshko around and connects with the shobhad. The hit was a staggering hit, though Maarbadvae does her best to send some pain back at Meia. Twang can’t get a good shot at the prone ysoki this time, instead shooting a wooden lockbox next to the ysoki. ROUND 3 (Bold can act!)
Maarbadvae's feet are large enough that little of the grease actually gets under her, and she continues to stand. The ysoki standing behind her had already ran off, stage left and was unaffected by the grease spell.
Seeing that they are flanked, Twang, runs behind the nearest beam for cover and shoots the red ysoki…somehow finding that broken slat in the bottom part of the bar that gives just a peek of ysoki body.
Oz rolls behind a table, temporarily obscuring himself. When he comes up, he shoots his sonic suppressor into the shobhads leg.
The ysoki ambusher takes a small sear of pain as the electric shock hits him. Not being deterred he hops to his feet, seeing that Helios is the closest that doesn’t have cover to him, he fires.
As soon as the blast is off, the ysoki goes prone again, not even noticing that the shot hits Helios in the shoulder.
As much as the shobhad doesn’t like hand-to-hand, she stays where she is, takes one of her hands off the rifle, and attempts to touch the soldier.
ROUND 2 (Bold can act!) Oz (8 Damage)
The backlash from Maarbadvae’s share pain washes over Meia, who is un-phased by it.
Twang does her best to stay hidden behind the two chairs. Using the chairs to block Maarbadvae’s line of sight to Twang, she takes aim and fires.
Even though Maarbadvae saw her rise up a little--and therefore the trick attack didn't work--Twang is still able to land a shot of electiricty into the shobhad. The ysoki outside the bar, seeing that apparently there are more of these people outside the bar, runs off to the west.
ROUND 2 (Bold can act!)
Oz somehow resists most of the mental assault, getting only a light nose bleed. Meia drops her rifle, and pulls out her doshko and swings it at the large shobhad, connecting with only a slight graze on the shobhads shoulder. She growls a little, and some supernatural force seems to reach out to Meia
Spider looks around and sees that the ysoki is still out in the open, prime shot as the ysoki is focusing in on what is happening inside, and not watching his 6. The Diasporan rifle snaps out a small beam of light and strikes the ysoki in the back, causing him to stumble and almost fall from the pain. As they adjust to the pain, they look around, their eyes wide as they try to figure what just happened. ROUND 1 (Bold can act!)
Again, Sorry all for delays. Going back full time to work...dealing with all the craziness that incurs with being handed new labs to figure out while trying to get said teaching labs 'COVID' proofed (as well as you can) is taking a lot of my mental power. Hopefully if we all can post 1 or 2 times a day we can get this fight over, and then get to where Talbot is...hopeing less than 2 weeks for close.
ROUND 1 (Bold can act!)
Maarbadvae (the Shobhad)comes in, wearing light armor, holding a battle staff in two of her hands, and in the other two a hunting rifle. She pushes in past the ysoki, quickly looks around and then glares at Oz, who is closest to her. As she stares at Oz, she says a word, and Oz’s brain feels like it is melting.
GM (Initiative):
Order is based off of names (if applicable) or race.
Helios-4 Maarbadvae Meia Oz Spider Twang Ysoki Blue Ysoki Red ROUND 1 (Bold can act!)
|
