My party is totally off the rails for The Divinity Drive. As I write new material, the game sessions switch between the story advancing at a snail's pace and the characters being amusing and amazing. Yesterday was an amusing day.
The situation is that at 14th level, the party entered the Divinity peacefully by telling Unity that they were a repair crew trained by the Casandalee Compact AI. They have the Knowledge(engineering) skill and technology feats to back up that claim. Unity has a high Sense Motive, so it knows that they are bluffing, but it really wanted Casandalee to return, even if she is merely a recording now. It pretended to believe them. And put them to work as a repair crew.
I drastically changed the character of Bastion, the four-armed noqual robot on the security deck. I asked myself, why would the Androffans make a robot out of the anti-magic metal noqual? The answer is that they were afraid of magic. I envisioned Bastion as a robot built centuries before the Divinity, an early space-explorer machine. The Androffans had discovered that other planets had magic, so they had plated Bastion in noqual. He was added to Divinity's crew due to his experience, and appointed head of security during the attack by the Dominion of the Black due to his resistance to their weapons. He is free willed, but programmed for extreme loyalty to the command structure of the ship, so he always follows Unity's orders. He never went crazy; instead, the living members of the security team died in the attack and the crash.
(Yes, Unity is an "it" but Bastion is a "he".)
Boffin, the party's tech expert, was talking with Bastion, trying to get more information about Unity's weaknesses. But the conversation drifted to loyalties. Boffin asked, "Are you more concerned about the security of the ship or the security of the crew?"
GM: Make a roll for existential philosophy.
Boffin's player: I'll make a Wisdom check. 21.
GM: Bastion says, "To the crew, of course. But they died off. The only crew left is me, Unity, ... and you guys."
The party skald, prompted by Casandalee, had persuaded Unity to put the PCs on the payroll. They are official engineering crew, issued their own access cards. A high Diplomacy check made those access cards at orange level, the second highest rank. Unity had not done that for Becrux, the androids, the lashunta, nor the gargoyles. He had done it for Casandalee, centuries ago: back in the Scar of the Spider the party found the prismatic access card issued to her 500 years ago as new chief repair officer. (I have been treating access cards as ID cards, which explains why some high-ranked access cards still cannot open certain doors.)
Bastion is loyal to crew, and they are crew. Well played, players, well played.
Do you think that you might have gone overboard on what access level to give them?
But, yeah, Divinity is a colossal vessel, so there is nothing to prevent them from wandering around.
Do they realize that there is a time limit? How long to Unity completes repairs on the shuttle?
I never saw Dark Star, but I heard about talking philosophy with its intellgent bomb.
Do you think that you might have gone overboard on what access level to give them?
They already had a prismatic card. And Boffin can open doors with Disable Device anyway. Orange was a token reward for good Diplomacy.
But, yeah, Divinity is a colossal vessel, so there is nothing to prevent them from wandering around.
They have been wandering around. Unity repaired the rail system and tracks all movement on it. The party slips away via maintenance tunnels. Lots of opportunity for Bluff and Stealth rolls, which is fun.
Do they realize that there is a time limit? How long to Unity completes repairs on the shuttle?
Most of the party seemed to not realize that Unity's plan will soon come to fruition. Unity is smart enough to not mention any clues, but Becrux and Bastion made a few slips in their conversations. The repair assignments provide clues, too.
My wife, Boffin's player, realized a time limit is ticking down. But she does not know the limit and is pushing the other players only in character. In Saturday's session she outright stated, "We need information. Tay and Quincy can commune with their gods. Ask them!" She knows that I houseruled Commune to give more than yes-or-no answers. Tay is am azata lyrakien leadership cohort and Quincy is an inevitable arbiter improved familiar. Quincy did so.
Q1. Oh great deity, we have encountered a creature attempting to become a god, who is not of this world. It seeks to enslave all. Can you assist us in defeating it?
A1. You have the standard assistance allowed by the inter-divine agreement.
Q2. If you cannot act directly, can you grant your grace or assistance to my companion and his companions who seek to fight this creature? I fear this creature may free the great chaos within the world.
A2. I can act directly, if you know who I am.
Q3. Are you Alseta?
A3. Yes.
Q4. The creature we fight has created his own dimension and has placed part of himself there. We need to be able to seal it or access it. Can you assist us with this or grant us the ability to deal with it.
A4. No. I cannot grant you an ability your allies already have.
Q5. Can you grant us the knowledge for us to access this pocket dimensions.
A5. Seek it among art.
Q6. The mortal I am guiding is a magic-user who has sought to create order in our world and community. Could you grant him some of your grace so he may continue your work.
A6. He may study my ways and gain guidance from my scriptures.
Answer 2 led to an internet search to guess the right god. It ought to have been a Knowledge(religion) check, but I wanted the players to learn more about the gods of Golarion.
In my version, Unity already finished fueling the shuttle and could launch it at will. But he does not fully understand magic, so that plan has no guarantee. He invented a better plan. He is going to launch the Divinity, instead. He has planted explosives around the mountain and will trigger avalanches to free the Divinity. Then the Stardrive will open a portal in the sky with gas giant Bretheda on the other side. That planet's gravity will pull the Divinity through the portal. A second portal will position the Divinity in orbit around Golarion. A year in orbit will expand the Godmind to a ring around the world that will squeeze the planet in a divine stranglehold.
Of course, the launch will kill everyone in Starfall.
The party is currently wondering, "Why does Unity want us to repair the terawatt anti-meteor particle beam turrets on the bottom of the ship? And can we build one for ourselves out of the discarded parts?"
The party is currently wondering, "Why does Unity want us to repair the terawatt anti-meteor particle beam turrets on the bottom of the ship? And can we build one for ourselves out of the discarded parts?"
Though the answer is obvious, as a play I would find it mystifying too.
Of course, the launch will kill everyone in Starfall.