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Okay, a lot going on. Here's a new map: The pale yellow line is the smoke grenade. The goldenrod line is Esh's robots. The smoke grenade provides concealment to those inside it, and presumable to those outside from those firing in. So that's 20% miss chance both ways on those. The Microbots specifically call out the creatures firing out, so no 20% miss chance on them, from your perspective, unless they're also in the cloud.
Thanks guys. I've been blessed with some really dedicated players over the years on these forums. It's you guys that keep it going as much as me.
At this point, some reinforcements arrive. A hovercar of Vul Faldihr Defense Forces appears at the Azlanti flank and starts hammering into them with mounted multiwave lasers. Unfortunately, their aim is a bit off; they only manage to take out two of the troops this round. But more from them later. Top of Round 4 Updated map is coming.
Of the troops in the smoke grenade radius, only 4 make the Fort Save (their helmets gave them a bonus; I guess most of them didn't have them secured, from their D20 rolls). The rest spend the round coughing and trying to get smoke out of their lungs. Fortunately, those 4 know who to target (i.e. they're not aiming at the illusionary "Dwarves"). :
Bullets wing the wall right above Tamrat's head, startling the Captain more than a bit. Two fire at Sharlavaka:
And one fires at Thalin:
Tamrat's shot finishes off a highly injured troop. For Thalin, I'm going to give a +1 bonus for higher ground for a total of 17, but that's unfortunately still a miss (barely). Six-Pack should also get the same bonus. At this point, the Azlanti still standing open fire yet again. From the side street, two fire at Thalin on the roof (with cover): Amazing! one hits!
In the front row (those not distracted by the smoke grenade), two focus on the (illusionary) Dwarves firing from above, while one fires on Sharlavaka, now several feet above and behind them.
Shalavaka's attack heavily damages another, though it still struggles on. Esh's bolt takes out an astounding 7 of the troops he'd already injured, injuring two more critically. Joyride's shot is a miss, but Six-Pack's smoke grenade strikes right where he wanted it, causing confusion as the Azlanti struggle over their injured and dead comrades. Tamrat and Thalin still to act.
The mage then stepped forward, and unleashed it all at once through his enemies. Almost all of the opponents in question are caught completely off guard by the attack. One falls to the ground, dead. The rest of that entire row of the Azlanti now have smoking entry marks in their armor, and are visibly shaken by the damage they've just received. Unbelievably, they seem prepared to soldier on.
Uh, is anything Esh doing making any difference? I created the hologram to give the azlanti dummy targets, and just shot a line of lightibg though a dozen-ish... Some of them have been shooting at your illusions; sorry I didn't make that clear. I did, in fact, miss the very effective line of arcane energy. I apologize. I will post its effects shortly and try to be more attentive.
Top of Round 3 Whole party may act. New map is coming, but essentially, the dwarves will have moved past you, and the Azlanti will have advanced.
Thalin's trick attack was a miss, BTW. Tamrat's shot is a success, but the trooper fights on. Speaking of which: Two fire at Thalin, though being on the roof he has cover; they need to hit KAC 27, which is gonna be rough.
Two more of the ones in front fire at Sharlavaka:
- A hit
And one finishes off the Dwarf to the left of Sharlavaka. They also march forward, prepared to enter melee with the Vesk if necessary. Dwarves take some potshots, but fail. In fact, one fails to badly it hits Sharlavaka from behind, but glances off his armor without damage.
Message acknowledged, Joyride. Still no word from your handler Morgrym. Afraid he might have been in a safehouse that was hit with grenades during initial incursion. Six Pack's attack hits but with limited effect.
Thalin hits as well, doing some damage. The Dwarves continue to push inward, attempting to get out of the way of the invaders, or occasionally turning to counter-attack. Top of Round 2
Most of the Azlanti continue to open fire on the fleeing miners and other civilians. Several others manage to take out a Defense Force hovercraft, which crashes off-map and destroys a building. One of the troops fires his rifle at Sharlavaka.
Three of them managed to perceive Sixpack, but only one is in a position to bother with him.
Sharlavaka hits one with a solid attack. They survive the hit, however. Thalin is capable of reaching the top of the building in one move action. So...
Esh cast flight LAST ROUND, technically he can still act if he wants. Sharlavaka flew up and attacked. Thalin climbed the wall (technically I think he can still attack as well. Tamrat use a special ability.
Yes, sorry. There are several more behind them. He can easily target them NEXT round, if you want to be safe about it.
Initiative, Round 1 Tamrat:
Azlanti: Bystanders:
You've made it to the outer city, and from here you can see the battle raging in the air. Defensive hovercars are pelting downward into the streets a few blocks ahead, presumably at Azlanti invaders. The invaders are firing back, occasionally taking out hover. The PCs are moving toward Map South, to rendezvous with the Exsilium in an open area. Mostly Dwarven bystanders are moving toward Map North (toward the Old City and the safety of the caverns). Azlanti troops are hot on their tails.
Pushing your way toward the light at the end of the vast cavern that makes up The Old City, you get a bit tangled up again a couple blocks to exit. Meanwhile...
Only recommendation I would make is a few different types of damage, to be more ready for varying situations.
Your goal is to make it to the ship, but you are uncertain whether you will have to do some combat first or not. It is likely there will be at least some combat required to get to the ship.
As Sharlavaka moves ahead dexterously, Tamrat calls out in a friendly but authoritative voice, and the common miners, with some grumbling, move aside as best they can to allow you passage. Of course, in a couple blocks you'll be hemmed in again, but any time saved may be crucial.
When you step into the street, you encounter the most orderly chaos you've ever seen. Mostly miners, these people are used to emergency evacuations, and tend to do so with much grumbling but in straight marches. The foreigners (re:non-Dwarves) are a little less effective at getting with the program, some running the wrong direction or trying to find friends or relatives in the mass of moving life. Then, there are the Gardathir (like yourself), and off-duty members of the Defensive Force. This group is mixed in among the others, moving with purpose, but not necessarily in the same direction as the majority. While most people are moving further into the caves, you're moving OUT; that's going to slow your progress as you navigate through the masses.
Joyride's computer scan nets him some useful information; there are a large number of human signatures in the spaceport area, too many to be accounted for by Zothune's small human population. It's a good bet they're Azlanti. Defensive forces and vehicles are on the scene. Esh's skyward scan hits some interference with the defensive forcefield around Vul Falduhr, but he is able to tell that there are the beginnings of a space battle happening past the 1st defensive platform. The platform itself seems functional. Due to the interference, it's impossible to tell if the outer platform is functional as well, but since there are ships past the outer perimeter, it's likely either heavily engaged or non-functional.
Vul Faldihr is, as a reminder, a city that was originally built by the first miners on Zothune. The Old City, where you are, is built into caverns in the side of a mountain. The rest of the city, including the spaceport, sprawls out from there. Both Esh and Joyride are able to connect to the Exsilium's computers without issue.
As they do, people are getting up from their tables, moving toward emergency shelters or, in the case of many, to either their Defense Force or Gardathir outposts. Curiously, Morgrym has not yet contacted you.
Rise the Gardathir! You've gathered at The Forge, the miner's bar in Vul Faldihr's inner city where it all began. This is the seedy bar where the original team met up after their first Gardathir mission: theft of ore for the cause. It's been over two years since it began, and members of the team have left, to be replaced by others. In the month or so since your last mission, a pall has hung over the city. Everyone knows war is coming; Gardathir as well as official Zothune Security Forces have done their best to prepare for that day, which could be any day. As you down your drinks, watching the local news in a bar crowded with Dwarven shift miners, the alarm claxons finally sound. You have little information, but one thing is clear: The Azlanti are here.
Exsilium link updated to Tier 7
That may be it; the battery station. Either way, it's close enough for me if it's close enough for you guys. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something major. And since it fits in the math, I'll leave you with the trinary computer for 3 +2 bonuses. We'll call that good and I'll post the more readable non-math version later. I'm planning on posting the intro post Thursday.
Used the calculator linked above, I got very close, but not exactly, where Thalin's calculations were. Can anyone tell me what I've missed? If not, we'll call it close enough and I'll post a new summary PDF based on this. Hopefully we can start playing again late this week.
Knowing the direction the next adventure is going, Thalin's modifications seem quite sound. If everyone else is okay with them, can someone take on the task of making an updated ship sheet so I can link it for easy access? Once that's done, I'll be ready to get started.
Not sure what customization you're asking for here. Can you elucidate a bit? Do you mean like cosmetic stuff, or swapping out previous upgrades for different ones, or creating entirely different upgrades?
Anyone start work on updating the ship yet? It will factor into the next adventure.
Yuck! good luck. no worries, I haven't had a chance to work on anything for the game yet anyway, so you're pretty much in the clear here.
I had just assumed you'd gift it to Gardathir for some extra cash; the weapon as I played it was a mount weapon. It would be cumbersome to wield in hand. If you really want to repair it, you can get your more skilled crew fix it with a couple checks, no additional cost needed.
I'll try to get the next adventure together in the next week or so. In the meantime, someone (or everyone?) will need to up the ship to the next Tier. I'll let you decide that among yourselves.
Okay, I agree that 18 grenades is a bit much on a drone. 8 seems more reasonable. Not sure what RAW would say to that, but I'm okay with it if you are. If someone else wants to pipe up on RAW, I'll hear it, but my take is this works.
I'm not sure I understand the question. As far as the robots, you can probably get about 500 cr for the lot plus some spare parts. Alternately, you might be able to get one of them into glitchy working condition for use in general labor.
I had intended to include Azlanti gear in the 5000, but looking at the values, I low-balled it. Add the following (there may be more of this among the treasure, but it's part of the 5000 already): Azlanti strikeforce armor x 2:
Azlanti Assault Rifles x 2:
Motion Detector Badge x 5:
Azlanti curved blade x 6:
PLUS
I have no problem letting you switch themes. If you'd like to take up the chair, I can keep Otis and Irina around; they're kind of a set.
Upon completing the adventure, please level up. I'm going to have Isis wander into the sunset. Does anyone want to take over the pilot seat? If not, I'll make an NPC.
The theory you've collectively pieced together is reasonable. The facility had been in use several decades, but had recently begun to delve further both outward and downward, likely hitting the area where the creatures lived or were hibernating. Having contacted Zothune using your encrypted channel, you get communication back to return to base. It is unlikely the planet will make a good forwarding base for the Azlanti, as the creatures will attack them as well. Zothune will send a clean up crew to gather the fuel rods and decommission the reactor. You can salvage roughly 10000 credits worth of general gear, of which the Gardathir will take 1/2, leaving you 5000 total, plus your payment (1000 each).
Checking the sensors, Joyride notes several life forms moving in the vicinity of the facility, below the surface. Thalin is able to confirm the life signs match those of the creatures. Seemingly, having found some food here, more are moving in for further dining.
The reactor chamber has elevated levels of ambient radiation, but as it was shut down safely, they're within tolerable levels. Someone give me a Life Science check and a Computers check.
The trip through the rest of the facility is surprisingly uneventful. This area houses the living area, including dining facilities (complete with bar, because Dwarves), sleeping area, and medical facilities. Most are heavily damaged, either by Azlanti weaponfire or burrowing creatures. It would appear the creatures had set upon the facility first, taking out communication equipment in an unlucky initial attack. The Dwarves went into lockdown procedures to try to deal with the problem, to the extent that they had safely powered down the reactor. Then, a couple days later, the unwitting Azlanti assaulted the remains of the facility. It appears from Azlanti comm recordings (which Isis and Joyride have no trouble hacking and translating) that their goal was to use the facility to build a large portal generator and use this as a forward base to attack Zothune.
Area 23 being the reactor. Keep in mind, it's an old-style fission reactor. You want to bring it on line nice and easy like.
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