Up next in 10
It's time to take to the stars in search of interplanetary adventure as Tavern Watch plays Starfinder's newly-released second edition. This system blends the crunchy, high player choice character building of Pathfinder with a wholly original science fantasy setting, and there's really nothing like it. If you've ever wanted your space wizard to cast doom scroll (and yes, it does exactly what you think it does), this is the show for you.
In this case, our crew of completely licensed and insured adventurers has immediately found the trouble, and is on the way to stop it -- by passing through the maintenance tunnels of the station, carefully ignoring the confectionary building restaurant that's on fire. We'll find one that's not on fire next time, I promise. Our tunnel-delving crew includes:
- Liz as Zee, a Skittermander Witchwarper, which means she's about three feet tall, has six arms, is covered in fur, and is just the most adorable reality-warper ever.
- Joe as K'sol, a Shirren Mystic, making him a psychic bug-man from the stars.
- Phil as Sobok, a Vesk Soldier, who is seven feet of scaly lizardman with a two-handed chainsword.
This is the second in our three-part actual play series of Starfinder -- look for new episodes every Monday, and listen to episode 1 if you missed it!
This game was played using the second edition of Paizo's Starfinder, which expands their Pathfinder game into space. The core books are all released at this point (and they're starting to release their more compact "pocket editions" of the core books), so if you like the game you hear on this podcast, you can check it out for yourself!
Music from this episode is "Start a Trek," by Edgar Henderson; you can check out more of his music on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-126456914
Subscribe to Tavern Watch in your podcast player of choice to keep up with our latest actual plays:
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:14
Hallelujah.
0:22
Heat.
0:36
Heat.
0:58
Hi everybody and welcome back to Blizzard Watch plays. Uh we're doing Starfinder 2E. Um, right about now,
1:04
Harmony Station, which is the station that the players have gotten themselves into, has got a little problem in that
1:10
evil statues have released things from beyond into the computer systems. And
1:16
now these things from beyond are attempting to kill or corrupt everything
1:22
they find into pure order. And as a result, station not in good shape. Um,
1:31
everybody introduce your characters real brief and then we'll get on with everything. I'm going to point first to Liz.
1:36
Hello. I am Elizabeth Harper. I am playing Z, a skittermander witch warper.
1:43
She's little six armed puffball covered in lavender fur and she doesn't like
1:50
what's going on at all. Okay. Uh, next up is Joe's character.
1:55
Hi, I'm playing K Saul. Uh, I am a giant mantis person known as a Shearan. And
2:01
uh, I use my mind powers to be mystical. Yep. And finally, Phil and your quite
2:08
large character. Yep. Uh, I'm Phil. I am playing Sobach, a giant Vosque soldier. He is a a
2:16
heavily armor scaled lizard man with a giant chain sword. Yeah, he's kind of like the lizard 40k
2:23
guy. So, yay. Um, as as of last time we were here. As I
2:29
said, everything has gone to heck. It's it's quite bad. Right about now, um the friendly android, you know, who
2:36
consignment person who was going to meet them to to buy all their stuff that they brought from another adventure is now
2:44
letting them through into the station and providing security codes to uh Z so
2:50
that Z can get past further doors. because whilst she's friendly and helpful, Arvana did not sign up for this
2:56
beep and she is not going to go any further. Um, she's like, I I'm going to
3:02
stay here cuz I don't I don't want to die. I just I I don't I don't want to die. Yeah, that's that's fair. Stay safe.
3:08
Stay safe. I don't know how to fight anything. I just buy and sell things.
3:14
I I I I'm going to go hide. And she, you know, after having handed over the security codes, she runs off to do
3:21
exactly that. Um, the dwarf it station administration, Pron, is apparently
3:27
still contacting security and says in your heads or at least she can talk to all of you or just just to you, Cassal.
3:37
Cassal, sorry, say that again. My my Can can she talk to everyone or just
3:43
you? Uh, she's part of the network, so everyone. Okay. She says, "Well, good news and bad news. Good news is the station's power
3:49
core hasn't been set to explode yet. Bad news, everything else. Uh I've contacted
3:55
the security forces. They're already fully aware of the situation and not necessarily in much of a position to do
4:01
much more. Uh casualties are horrific. Uh things are bad. I I can I can clear
4:08
all the automat the all the automatic security. I can temporarily clear it,
4:14
but the things are in the network and they're reactivating stuff as I go. So,
4:20
best of luck to you. Uh, I've made sure that Arvana's clearances will get you
4:26
full access as much as I can, but things are in flux. I'm going to try and reach
4:33
my station security chief, and then if I can't reach him, I'm going to leave here
4:38
and try to find you. Um, and now I got to get back to it because
4:44
quite frankly it's very difficult. And so that's the last you hear from her before she's, you know, you can tell
4:50
she's still out there, but she's obviously trying to get through the network. And she's doing so on the less
4:56
than ideal setup that was in the, you know, cargo bay and not like her usual
5:02
console, which is where she'd much rather be. Uh, but yeah, you're now through the checkpoint and into Harmony
5:07
Station. It's got a giant um I'm not going to call it a prominad because
5:12
that's a different TV that's a TV show, but basically a big walkway with shops
5:18
and restaurants and so forth. Currently a lot of explosions and fires and screaming going on uh as you step
5:26
through into the place. Oh, and you're there you are on the
5:32
boulevard as it were. What do you do now? Well, we got to find our way down. Are
5:37
we going to to the computer, right? Like we have to find the central computer. Yeah. Yeah. I think we liked the option that
5:43
didn't slowly kill everyone on board. You know, sometimes you can, you know,
5:48
you Yeah, maybe just the computer core. All right. Um
5:55
gonna say we're going to do this like an investigation type deal. Uh, everybody
6:01
tell me what you think you can contribute to to make finding the computer core easier and uh I will
6:07
probably let you do it and then we'll have see how many different roles we get and what what people come up with.
6:16
I'll start with Cassell. Yeah, I'm looking. Sorry. Give I'm like
6:21
seeing what I actually have that I could possibly
6:30
Yeah, unfortunately I'm not like a short of scan environment with to know
6:36
where the hazards are and give us like you know essentially safe pathways. That's about the best that I could
6:42
really offer. Okay, I'm going to say then that using that you can give a plus two to the role
6:49
um to actually find where the computer voice is because if someone's like we can go this way, you could be like no we
6:55
can't. That's not a good idea. That's No, that's bad. So, you can get a plus
7:02
two to whoever is gonna be rolling. Uh, both of you, both uh Z and Sabic, what
7:08
do you guys think you want to do here? So, I have two things I could possibly
7:15
do. I could use hypercognition or I could use locate. But locate is typically looking for a specific object.
7:23
And I don't know if the a computer core counts as a specific object. Um,
7:29
hypercognition is you rapidly catalog and collate information relevant to your current situation. You can instantly use
7:35
up to six recall knowledge actions as part of casting the spell for those blah
7:41
blah blah. So I feel like hypercognition is is a
7:46
bigger button than you need for this. I would say I'm going to allow you to use locate rather than add anything to the
7:52
role. I'm going to say that your his ability to determine what's dangerous and what isn't helps you winnow it down
7:58
to the point where you can locate specifically the actual computer core,
8:04
not the interface device, the actual physical object which is the computer
8:09
core you can find. So I will say locate is within 500 ft. So it may not even go far enough to
8:18
that's fair to find the computer core. Well, you'll know that it's not within 500 ft.
8:24
Yeah. Uh, well, I don't have anything to do with those spell slots either way.
8:32
Anything you got? Uh, a couple options. Um, I'm not really
8:39
So, we're kind of in this uh kind of a you said not a prominade type area where
8:44
things are kind of essentially imagine you just walk into a very big mall. Because this is the part, this is the part with restaurants and
8:51
shops and all the stuff that people do when they come to the station
8:56
and it isn't that this uh so you know like imagine you just walked into like
9:02
the Mall of America or something this enormous you know come and spend money
9:08
area. Okay. Um, so then if we're in what is
9:14
essentially the Mall of America, what I want to do is essentially get us into the back hallways. Um, Sabok does have a
9:22
uh a history in space piracy. Um, is there any way I could kind of use stealth or thievery to help us find like
9:29
a quick route into like the back? Like not this open area either, which is the
9:34
other thing I don't like is being this open area where robots could be coming out of the wall. Gotcha. after a few seconds of thinking.
9:41
Um, space piracy is all is often about surprising efficiency,
9:47
like you you're trying to get things done as fast as possible before say a whole bunch of, you know, dreadnots show
9:55
up saying stop pirating. uh you walk as as they're discussing stuff like, you
10:00
know, trying to find the central computer and tapping into their knowledge of the area, you just walk
10:05
over to the information booth and push a button and the big map comes up showing
10:11
the the area and you're like, "Okay, the utility tunnels are here, here, and here." Uh, and when you do that, uh,
10:21
immediately Casala is like, "Well, we're not going to that one because that one is completely swarming with with killer
10:26
robot things." And that one over there, I have no idea what's happening there, but I feel very strongly that we
10:34
shouldn't go there. So, that leaves the one to on the right of the map, which is about 200 feet to your left
10:42
because the map is from the other direction. Oh, okay. All right. Uh,
10:50
I guess I'll let's just get going. I'm going to take the lead. Yeah, it's kind of where I throw the meat
10:56
shield out front. As you guys are walking through, you do see like um you go by a you
11:02
confectionary the confectionary construction area and it's this big a restaurant that's all
11:09
about building sweet foods to eat. You don't get why, but it's on fire and
11:15
there's a 17 armed thing that might have been humanoid once that's been blown in
11:21
half. Uh, and several dead security agents. Uh, so you don't think that they're
11:28
currently open? Um, sorry, Z, but it does not look like you
11:33
can go in there and get anything to eat right now. Um, sorry. We'll find one that's not on fire sometime. I promise.
11:39
Come back later. Yeah. Yeah, maybe. And on the on the other hand though, uh
11:44
can I check these security guards for any kind of like key cards or credentials they might have on them just in case that dwarf uh can't get us uh
11:50
through fast enough? Um yeah. Okay. Uh that's I guess that's just a straight up uh perception.
11:58
Okay. Uh 20 30 20
12:03
um going through they they do all have security clearance devices. They're not
12:08
cards. They're like wrist things. Um, you know, you've seen them before. They're they're not It's like a It can
12:15
sc It's basically like an Apple Watch in space. Uh, it's got, you know, it's got that thing where you can, you know, just
12:21
hold it up and it'll open things. Um, but it's not any different than the code stuff Arvana gave you.
12:28
It's just on a wristband instead of uh she gave you a basically a pad to use
12:34
instead her pad. She's literally just a hair. Um, so you it doesn't do anything you don't already have, but now two
12:40
people have one instead of just one. Yeah, I kind of like having a backup. I'm going to uh clip it on my belt since
12:46
I probably can't wear it on my wrist. You can wear it on your wrist because it's resizes. There are there are Bosque, you know, there there are vest
12:52
security agents here. Oh, I love space. Not currently alive, but you know, at least not these ones of these these ones
12:59
you found aren't alive. All right. Could be a living one somewhere else. You hope. Uh but right now, yeah, it's
13:06
just you guys. As you're going by, um you see more of those metal tendrils have come out of
13:11
the ground. Specifically, when you look off in the direction that, uh Cassaul said, this is a bad idea. You see those
13:18
metal tendrils things have come up out of the ground and are currently wrapping themselves around trees
13:23
um and kind of injecting themselves into the trees and turning the trees into like metal.
13:29
So, yeah, that's happening over that way. Um, Casal, you can like you're not
13:36
specifically hearing telepathic screaming, but you're aware that people are screaming mentally. You just you
13:41
you're not hearing it because you're not trying to. Mhm. It's it's like standing near a campfire,
13:48
but not close enough to actually feel the heat, but you're still aware there's a campfire over there. It's like that.
13:56
Okay. This is uh a little discerning because I'm assuming you still got that sense. You still got that sense
14:03
sense environment or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. That's what the kind of information you're getting like. Yeah. Definitely bad over here.
14:09
All right. Um well, we're glad we're not going that way. Uh we should probably double time.
14:16
Okay. You make it to the door to the uh the maintenance tunnels, for lack of a better word. Uh click through. It does
14:24
take like 20 seconds to get through and in that time you guys feel incredibly exposed, but nothing seems to be coming out after you. Um, Cassal, you get the
14:32
sense that it's aware of its limitation. It's aware of the vulnerability caused
14:39
by the reactor core, but doesn't necessarily seem to think you going to the computer core is a
14:45
problem. But yeah, based on where the resistance is and where it isn't.
14:50
Yeah. And I'll mention that the question is, is it because it's not actually a problem or
14:56
it just doesn't or it just doesn't understand? Yeah. you you you that you can't tell, but it does definitely seem to know.
15:02
It's got lots of stuff it's putting up between you and the reactor core. All right, let's just keep going to the
15:09
uh keep going to the computer unless I I'm mentally relaying that to you guys. I'm not saying out out loud. Um but I am
15:14
mentally relaying it to you and you know that you can chime in if you want. After
15:20
about 20 minutes of clambering down tunnels that quite frankly uh Sabak
15:25
isn't thrilled with because he feels very constrained. The place is like it's exactly tall enough for him to get down
15:31
it but not like he's scraping his his scales are scraping against the top. It
15:36
it's not pleasant. And the width is also not good. Um it he it's it's like going
15:42
through a doorway that you have to kind of pull yourself in to get through but constantly like because it's just a hallway like that. not pleasant, but but
15:50
passable. He's not you're not actually constrained by it, but it's not comfy.
15:55
Um, meanwhile, of course, for Z, it's great. Z's like, "Yay, lots of room." And, uh, I believe Tasala,
16:02
it's a jungle gym. Yeah. Casal is just like, "Yeah, it's fine." And meanwhile, scrape, scrape,
16:08
scrape, scrape. Have you Have you considered being a different size? Have you thought about
16:15
that? Maybe like the third time after he's squeezed through a door or a tunnel
16:20
or something. Yeah. And uh I think I like it this way.
16:27
I just try not to go through maintenance tunnels very often. Scrape. Scrape. As you're scraping through the the third
16:33
door that you've been through, you come out into what is a collection of pipes
16:39
and tubes and not sure what exactly, but there's catwalks even. And there's there
16:45
looks to be containers of fluid beneath the catwalks. You don't know why there are containers of fluids. Um, this
16:52
definitely doesn't feel like a place you'd want to spend a lot of time hanging out in, but you don't know what
16:57
it's for. However, um, when you step through into that, uh, it doesn't
17:02
require much effort to see cameras all turning.
17:08
And as you see them turn, you realize, wait a minute, those cameras shouldn't be able to turn.
17:19
Uh, I'm gonna I'm gonna swap to my other weapon here real quick. Uh, and I'm going to just
17:26
try to shoot at a a camera. My other weapon, by the way, is a roto laser. Uh,
17:33
so it's a Fallout 4 weapon. Yeah, it's Yeah, it's essentially like a two like a a two-handed single person
17:40
Gatling gun, but it fires lasers out of four barrels. Don't trust that camera.
17:47
Okay, go ahead. I'm going to say that up front that there's not an attack roll to be made. It's a camera.
17:55
You successfully blow up a camera. The other two cameras definitely seemed interested in that.
18:02
However, um like if a camera could like open its eye really wide, that's what
18:07
the camera did. Um, in a couple seconds all three cameras are gone. Cuz I'm
18:12
assuming you were going to do that. Oh, yeah. If they're going to if they're going to continue to act unnatural, they're all
18:18
gone. Yeah. Uh, however, you don't need special psychic powers to realize that
18:23
you probably should make your way through this room as quickly as possible. Yep. Boogie boogie boogie.
18:30
Which you do. And you basically this this room has two exits. One is to your
18:37
left uh along the catwalk and one is straight ahead of you. Um there's a big
18:43
you're basically walking on a big cylindrical
18:48
not cylindrical a round area that leads to that. Those are the two options. Um neither of these this
18:57
this section the maintenance tunnels are not particularly well mapped on the information you got from Arvana. You're
19:03
not sure which one leads to where you want to go.
19:09
So, does my locate spell ping on anything at this point? 500 ft.
19:15
500 ft. Nothing within 500 ft is what you're Can we psychically ask our dwarf friend? Maybe she knows uh where we're supposed
19:22
to which direction would be better. You can You can try to contact her. Yeah. What was her name again, sir?
19:27
Pier. Sure. Hey, Pier. Uh we're in
19:32
um I'm just going to kind of try to describe the room we're in. Uh we go uh we we we got two ways to go.
19:41
Uh any any tips on when we get this closer to the computer? Also, sorry about your cameras.
19:48
Uh you get a flash of one second and you hear noises like like I guess you
19:53
wouldn't really hear the noises, but she's thinking about the noises really like how unpleasant they are. Um, then
20:00
she's like, "All right, all right. We just uh me and two of my security guys, we just cut our way through a group. You
20:06
sound like you're in the uh cleansing solutions area. You want to go straight. Um, and then
20:14
when you get straight from there, you you should be able to start. There should be doors on the right side. You
20:21
should go by several of them. One the fourth one, I think. And keep in mind, I'm station administrator. I'm not the
20:28
maintenance crew. Did we? But I'm pretty sure one of the ones on the right will start to descend down.
20:34
You want to go down uh from from the perspective of where you are. The core,
20:39
the computer core is almost exactly central of the first of the main
20:45
prominade area. And I'm using the word prominade because screw it. It's a good word. We saw we saw a map though, right? like
20:52
before like Yeah, the map was of the stores and and places and it gave you it gave you the
20:58
idea of where the maintenance tunnels entrance. But we don't have a maintenance map. Okay. No, the maintenance this is one of those
21:04
situations where the maintenance people have a map of it, but they don't share it because they're the maintenance people and they don't like everybody
21:10
else. It's one of those weird people fight for power type things.
21:16
Right about now, Pier is thinking of firing the entire maintenance department and hiring new people. so she'll
21:22
actually know what it looks like. Uh but right now that's the best she can give you is you need to start moving
21:28
downward. Okay. All right. So So just confirming straight ahead across the giant great
21:33
thing fourthish door on the right. Look for the one that goes down. Okay. All right. We got to move.
21:38
Yep. Uh I'm going to toss up my quantum field which is just a 20 foot area around me
21:45
that sort of fimmers with rune. It doesn't do a lot else for the moment.
21:50
Neat. It's shiny and it has like one moderate use.
21:56
I'm just gonna look down at you and go. You ever thought about getting a gun? Uh, you know, sometimes sometimes it
22:03
does seem like maybe that would be a good idea, but it's that most of them are way less sparkly than this. You
22:11
know, I'm going to pat my roto laser. This thing sparkles plenty. Let's get a move on.
22:17
Lead the way forward. Okay. Uh you do make your way through the room. Um the smell is pretty nasty,
22:23
but nothing seems to happen. Uh however, as you're heading down the uh hallway
22:30
with the doors, um the third door on the right slides open and one of those
22:37
eyeball things comes popping out. It's literally walks it like passes through that field. So if that field does
22:43
anything to it, that's what happens. So no. So yeah, there's now a floating eyeball thing within 20 feet of all
22:50
three of you. And it's like, so we can do this with initiative or we can do it without initiative because I
22:56
feel like the three of you together could probably kill it without it doing much. Any
23:02
like un Yeah, that's true. Is there any like debris or just
23:08
unattended items around the floor? Um, not out here in the hallway, but in the
23:16
room past it. Uh, there's a lot of dead people. Oh, I Nope. Nope. I Nope. Uh, so
23:24
not the kind of debris you're looking for. Not no not that would be
23:29
n very unpleasant. I would like to introduce eyeball laser to eyeball machine to robo to roto
23:35
laser. Okay. Uh, I'm say go ahead. Okay. Uh,
23:42
29. Oh, yeah. Critical hit. All righty. Where you going there, die? Uh 10. Uh,
23:51
fire damage. Just 10, not 20. Uh, nope. That was a 1d8 times two. And
23:58
I rolled a five. Okay. Well, it definitely got burned, but it is not down yet. Uh, both, um,
24:03
Casal and Z have actions before we'll actually have to start doing initiative stuff. So, go ahead, Cassal. Uh, entropy
24:11
strike. I'm going to shoot a decain beam of uh, entropy at it. Okay.
24:17
Uh, that is a 19 on the die. Becomes a 30. That's a critical hit.
24:22
Uh, so that's going to be 5d8* 2. Uh, 42 points of entropy damage.
24:28
Uh, it becomes extremely orderly and falls down because entropy is ultimate
24:35
order and ultimate chaos. the thing. It's almost approving of its death, but
24:40
it dies. It's like, "Yes, I look at everybody else. I can do that two more times. Let's make them count."
24:46
Behind it in the room, um, you see a whole lot of dead people, as I mentioned previously. Various, you know, there's,
24:54
you know, there's a Sharon. Definitely, there's a several humans. Uh, I think
24:59
that one right there, that's one of those antenna people. I don't know who that is. But also in the room, um, and
25:06
this is the thing that all three of you immediately tweaked to is there are open computers. Okay. Well, bodies be bodies. Computers
25:14
be computing. I'm going to go touch a computer unless somebody stops me. I'll keep an eye on the bodies.
25:20
I That's probably a good idea. Um, I hadn't been worried about that until you said something. So, um, um, also going
25:28
to computers. Okay. Uh, what are you doing to the computers, Cassal? Cuz uh, I'm trying to get access. So, I need
25:35
to get in and see one, where we are. Two, uh, if this is the right location, and three, if I can start untangling these
25:41
things from the system. So, I actually am decent at computers. Um, I'm am trained to them. So, uh, I mean, do I
25:48
need to hack, program, disable? What am I doing here? We'll say for for purposes of this,
25:54
you're not disabling or hacking, but you are attempting to access specific information. So, I'm going to let you
26:00
use the hack skill to do that. All right. I uh I make a comment about All right. I saw it in a movie once.
26:05
It's time to hack the Gibson. Uh that is a natural 20. Uh becomes a 31. Okay. Um they what you won't
26:13
smell color. Yeah. U you are interfaced. R Julia is yelling. um you don't like you you're
26:22
not in the computer core and this computer does not it does not have any kind of like higher level access to the computer core that would allow you to do
26:28
anything specific. It does however let you it let you download a map of the maintenance tunnels um which is because
26:35
this is the maintenance computer area and and thus you now have exact map of where the tunnels go and more
26:41
importantly uh which ones will lead you to the actual physical computer core. I have been mildly useful. I have
26:47
obtained this and I present the map. Um, with the codes that um, Z is carrying around, you also can turn on or
26:54
off the security in the maintenance areas. You can activate the cameras or
27:00
deactivate the cameras and you can activate or deactivate the automated defenses, which are essentially the gun
27:07
that um, Sobach is carrying around, but not as powerful, but mounted to a to a
27:12
turret like thing that can pop up out of walls and stuff. Could I access the cameras and just do a survey around us?
27:19
Do a survey of the cameras and see, okay, are there more eyeball things? What am I looking? What is around us?
27:27
Get the lay of the land. Sure. Uh, I'm going to say similar kind of role. You have computer skills and
27:33
great. Yes, I am an expert in computers. Okay.
27:39
I did not. I rolled very badly though. So that is a 15.
27:44
Uh 15. Well, actually like it allows you to call up um the first computer call up. You see somebody having their torso
27:50
ripped open by tentacles and and and bits being jammed in there and as they scream their screen
27:57
turns into like a it goes from I have I have two of my hands on the keyboard
28:03
and two of them covering my face. Yeah. All three of you see and hear this. Not just her, but she's covering
28:09
her eyes so she's fine. But you guys both see it. I like peek around my hands and I just
28:15
probably see mutilated corpses. Well, no, they're actually they're they're these ones aren't actually dead
28:21
yet. They're kind of getting metallized, so you know. Oh, I don't Oh, this is bad.
28:27
Oh, now I want to take a closer look at the ones around us. Are they like they look dead, but are they are they are
28:32
they metalifying? No, they're just they're straight up dead. Uh it looks like if somebody successfully resists to a certain point,
28:39
they just die. So, good news, Z. These are just dead people. I'm not really a fan of dead people. I
28:47
don't Yeah, they're going to stay that way. So, shoots you a thumbs up.
28:53
I mean, you know, the sight of blood. I'm not really good with that. It's um
28:59
actually probably part of why I use magic instead of your sense uh your sense of the area
29:05
thing is basically telling you you do not want to be in this area too much longer. I relay that.
29:10
You didn't really need it to tell you that. The fact that you saw what you just saw informs you that you don't want to be here just in case.
29:16
All right. You got that map? Yeah. Well, at this point, you have the I gave you the map. So, like now you can
29:22
Oh, good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As you head down, uh you find the
29:28
the proper downward sloping tunnel. You take it. Um roll for Okay. Uh, as you
29:35
get down to a cross area and realize, okay, we need to go as you're saying, "We need to go this way and pointing to
29:42
your left again." Uh, you hear and see the turret things that you just found out exist. Pop out of three walls and
29:50
begin firing. Uh, hang on. Oh, we should disabled those. Uh, combat hack.
29:57
Okay. What is combat hack? Computers check to hack an adjacent creature, hazard, or item with the tech
30:03
trait. the DC is equal to the creature item or hazards fortitude DC or the
30:08
fortitude DC of the creature attending the object. In this case, it's one thing because
30:14
they are essentially possessed by techno ghosts. So, I'm going to say DC 17.
30:21
Okay, so success, the target becomes glitching for one round. Critical
30:26
success glitching for two rounds. Okay. Uh do you beat a 17? Like how high
30:32
above that? I rolled a natural 20 plus 13. Okay. Critical success for two rounds
30:38
glitching. Uh glitching means what? Just it can't do anything or does something
30:44
combination of debilitating effects and moments of seizing up. Uh you have blah
30:51
blah blah. Why does this not give me the information I want? Um uh it's probably at the very end of the
30:57
book. There's a conditions appendix that has every condition in the game. Uh
31:02
glitching uh it all right glitch glitching condition
31:08
always includes a value etc. If you have the glitching condition you must attempt a flat check at the beginning of each of
31:14
your turns. DC is five plus your condition value. Uh on a success it's
31:19
allowed to act normally. On a failure it takes a penalty to all checks and DCs equal to its glitch.
31:25
Okay. Going to say for this run it just isn't doing anything. Um, you guys have two rounds to get away from these things
31:31
before they do something. So, I'm gonna say that's not hard for you to do. You just run down the You can just run down the way you were supposed to go.
31:38
You when doing this, you saw me like skitter skitter skitter over to like a
31:46
panel I saw on the wall and like tap tap tap tap tap and the the things just kind
31:52
of sparked and Okay, I don't think we have long. I don't think we have long, but maybe keep going. Let's book it. We
31:59
probably should have shut those down back in the other room in retrospect. Say jogging down the hallway.
32:04
Yes, in retrospect. I even told you you could, but Yeah. Yeah.
32:10
All right. You guys jog down the hall. By the time that they get their their bearings and begin to be able to fire
32:15
again, you are around a corner and you are now pretty sure because among other things locate tells you you are within
32:23
500 ft of the I point to I should be able to tell the direction that it is in and if there is
32:29
a hallway or anything leading in that direction, that's where I'm going to point us. Yep. Which I mean it's descending like
32:37
you you're on a descending hallway and it is descending from there. That is where it is essentially. You you go to a
32:44
certain point, there's like a like a staircase type thing. You go down that and then it goes out to a door and then
32:51
you are on a regular hallway and then it will do that again and you will be at this computer. So yes, I I inform Sobach of this
32:58
because I have been hiding behind him when possible. You can always just climb up him and just ride on his should.
33:03
I was like you could just hide you pretty much hide behind me at all times. I'm probably I'm almost cover.
33:09
You probably are. That's I have a move that turns me into it basically. So yeah. Okay. Uh yeah. So
33:14
if you're just directing me down this down this I'm Yeah, I'm just heading straight there. I want to get there and stop this as soon as possible because
33:20
these things are freaky. Okay. Uh you guys reach the computer core. Uh the first thing that happens when you get in is that you are struck
33:28
by how big this room is. uh it's hundreds of feet across and essentially
33:34
at the center of it is the what you believe is the computer core. It's a huge spherical device that um in no way,
33:43
shape or form seems ominous or or imposing in its giganticness. And the
33:49
main access to it is literally a small console directly in front of it. Like
33:56
you you literally have to run all the way to it to get to the console. And this room itself is full of what appear
34:03
to be power maintenance devices and cooling devices that keep the flow of
34:09
energy stable and keep that thing from overheating. And it's not designed for people to be hanging out in it. It's
34:14
like being inside somebody's server. But yeah, that's where you are right now. Uh I guess it's time to life seal.
34:21
I want to I want to look for any potential hazards in this room. Do I see any other cameras staring in? Do I see
34:28
any other turrets or anything that we might not have seen? Yes, there are dozens of cameras in
34:35
here. There's turrets everywhere. Um, Cassaul mentioned life seal.
34:40
Well, you said that this is a non-hospitable environment. So, the question I was questioning, yeah,
34:46
if this is something that we need to do or if this is something like an environment that like if it's
34:52
if it's just uncomfortable, that's one thing. Is it? No, the room is super cooled like to the point where it will be
34:57
detrimental to us. Yes. Okay. You would be taking environmental damage, but I takes I take it you can
35:03
prevent that. Uh so I can do this. It will take I can
35:08
do it to two people. It will take both of my level three spell slots. I have uh a basic environmental
35:16
protection on my armor which protects the user against the effects of space as
35:21
well as thick and thin atmosphere. So, you theoretically should be fine. You'll probably be okay because while it
35:28
is a super cold environment, it's not it's not arctic. It's just cold. Um
35:34
Okay. I might be okay then, too. The runes that I etched onto my armor, I
35:39
arbitrarily picked resistance five to cold. Oh, you're fine. Then you should you if
35:45
I were you, Cassaul, I'd just protect myself. Then I will cast it on myself. I now have a space.
35:50
Right. As you guys enter into the room, um, you hear banging sounds from from a
35:57
distance and like explosions and stuff is happening above and to the left. Uh,
36:04
you think that there that's probably where somebody was trying or is trying to get to the reactor.
36:09
Okay. So, my thoughts are I need to get to a console and I need to start clawing
36:15
back control of things like getting the turrets and cameras away from this thing's control and into our control.
36:20
Okay. Um, so I would like to try a combat hack again on the on the turrets in here.
36:28
Okay. I'm gonna say you can get 10. Okay. Out of there. So many of them.
36:33
There's more than 10. More than 10. Okay. Essentially, if you do really well on this, you can basically create a globe
36:41
of I control these that will follow you guys down. You'll have it'll take you three rounds of of movement to get down
36:48
there because it's it's like several hundred feet away. Um in that time you
36:53
can if you can do it right, you can prevent any of the turrets from firing on you as you're Well, I rolled a 25.
37:00
Okay. Um Cassell, you you wanted to claw back control. Well, if we're trying to get to the
37:06
core, right, we're we're trying to that's the whole goal is to take control back, right? To start expuning these things. So, if we have a couple hundred
37:12
feet, I can't do that until I get there. Okay. Um, and so I assume that your role is just going to be to shoot things if
37:18
they fire you. Yep, that's the plan. All right. Um, first round. Okay. First
37:23
round, you your 25 just barely lets you do it. Um, the things are like
37:29
basically you've managed to interfere with their targeting. Okay. I had to stop talking. Hacking. I got a hacking toolkit in my
37:36
hand and I'm just typing away a little bit frantically. We're making a check every round for three rounds. And
37:42
at the end of three rounds, you get to the console. So that's first round. Second round, go ahead and make your check.
37:47
Try that hack in the Gibson thing. It worked for Cassole. Uh, that is not as good. That's a 19.
37:53
Okay. Um, everybody is getting targeted by at least one. I'm assuming a 10 isn't going to hit anybody. However,
38:00
10 in Pathfinder is very hard to do. I rolled a one. That'll do.
38:05
Okay. Uh, 20 on the second one for Sabic. does not hit me.
38:11
And third for uh Z is a 37 to hit you.
38:16
Yes, I think that hits me. How is it more than 10 above you? I my AC is 21.
38:23
I am not a fighter. 2d8. You've get six * 2. So 12 points of
38:29
damage to uh Z. Unless one of you two does one of those weird things you can both do. Spot healing immediately. 10 hit points
38:36
are right back to you. There you go. Okay. Let's say I can't without attacking something.
38:41
I'm like that. Yeah. You get your fur singed and you're like, "Ah, you're okay."
38:47
Yeah, my fur is definitely singed. It's going to take so long for this to grow back out. But thank you that that Yeah,
38:54
that helps. The other two basically lasers bounce around. Don't don't hit you. In fact, the one that was trying to shoot Kazal
39:00
just like you literally just walked under it. I was like, "What was that?" That's like
39:06
you you had to scratch the negative to do that lady. That's you deliberately made that. I'm sorry. I shall know no fear. I trust in the
39:12
force. I shall know no fear. I trust in the what? Wait, what? God, we are that we are we are those two
39:19
guys, aren't we? We really are. Uh can as we're going down the ramp this time, can I can I So, there's some that
39:28
that Z just can't hack, right? They're out of range. There's ones that are Yeah, but they're so far away that if she can't hack them, they can't shoot
39:34
you. They're going to shoot us. Okay. Shoot you because they're too far awayly
39:40
shooting some of the others so that I could use you have to go through me. Yeah, you can you can make an attack. Go ahead.
39:46
Uh, actually, I'm going to I'm the roto fire. The roto laser lets me use auto fire. So, actually, these things need to
39:52
make a 22 uh reflex safe.
39:58
Okay, I'm going to assume that there are three in range of you. What's your range? Uh, what is the range on the roto laser?
40:03
Uh, it is a 30 ft, but I think that changes
40:09
if I'm using auto fire. Okay. Um, auto fire is a 15T cone.
40:16
Okay. None of them are going to be in range of you doing that. Uh, I'll just shoot one. Okay. The one that you shoot, you shoot
40:24
it, it takes some damage. 22 and it'll take uh seven damage.
40:30
Okay. You you don't blow that one up, but it definitely didn't like getting shot. I mean, it's a camera. It's a
40:35
camera and a gun. It's it's, you know, it's a drone. Really? Yep. But uh you get your third round. Go
40:40
ahead and make your hacking attempt. Okay. Got four points from my thing. 17 on the dice plus uh that's the 30.
40:47
Yeah. The none of them none of them can do anything to you this round. Uh and good. You are now um 20 ft away from the
40:55
console. Uh, I think I just got to make a break for it, right? Uh, yeah. I mean, you have to get the 30 You
41:02
30 ft and you got a 20 ft to get to the console. Yeah. So, I'm going to take you and actually get there. I would say let the computer people pass
41:08
me and I'm just going to swing around and provide cover back the way we came. Okay. Um, I am going to start You're good with
41:15
computers, too, right? Uh, Z. Yeah. Uh, plus 13.
41:20
Okay. I am going to start deactivating things.
41:26
um if you want us if you want to work on then bringing them back under our control. So basically I'm going to start
41:32
like shutting stuff out so that they can't progress further and then this way
41:37
you and I I think can go back and forth and and you know kind of eliminate their their access and try to claw it back.
41:43
Give it a go. All right, I'm going to roll for mine which disabled device. Uh 17 on the die
41:50
and I have a plus 11. Okay, so 28 28. All right. Um, now Z, go ahead and make
41:56
your roll cuz you're trying to do while he's trying to shut things down, you're trying to seize control at the same time.
42:01
Uh, an even 20. Okay. This round, what you're able to do is
42:07
shut off all the you'll be able to shut off the camera. You're literally basically um that's not that's what what uh Casal
42:13
manages to do. He manages to this round he has turned off the camera access. Um your ability to claw it back is
42:19
limited by the fact that it is shut off. Um, but you are able to essentially lock
42:26
down access so that the whatever is happening here doesn't seem to be able to get to it. Um, you're you're basically like saying,
42:32
"Okay, this button allows me to blow the explosive bolts that cut physical connections between these cameras." Uh,
42:38
you do that and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Uh, you hear them the the the cables basically popping and falling
42:45
because they've just been blown up. So now there's no there's no cable anymore to connect the cameras to anything. So,
42:50
they're basically off. It's fine. Everything's fine. As this is happening, um, Sabic, you
42:58
hear a and
43:03
flooring and ceiling and everything around you shoots cables out um, on a
43:09
central point and rips what looks to be a a vesque body up out of the flooring.
43:16
And you realize it's not really a veque. It's like a vest made out of wiring and
43:21
cabling and broken camera bits and and those gun platforms. It's making a vest
43:29
out of all that to kill you. Think you guys made it mad. Now, next round. Uh we're going to roll
43:35
initiative now, guys. Well, maybe if it's mad at us, it won't hurt anyone else.
43:41
Uh I mean, as good an option as any. That's a good So, uh, who's got like high the highest
43:48
initiative? Like who who's what are you guys at? I rolled a 15. Okay. Oh, there it is. My one natural 20 for
43:54
the session. So, 28 total. And I have a straight 20. I rolled a two and have a plus 13.
44:02
Right. So, like my dice are very hot or very cold today.
44:07
Yeah. I've been rotating through them just to Well, Sabic, you actually managed to beat uh the Harbinger, which is what
44:15
this thing is called. Yes. Um you like you hear through your head as you're seeing this, Pier is like, "Oh,
44:23
that that used to be Chief Security Talk. Clearly isn't anymore." And uh he
44:29
pulls forth like all the different drone cameras, like all the different um
44:34
sorry, the the automated turrets that he's got. He's currently got four in his body. All four of them swing forward and
44:42
he's aiming directly at Sabic. Um 37, 34,
44:47
15 and 21. Uh only the 37 and the 34 hit, but
44:52
they're both crits. Okay. 14 * 2 is 28 from the first one and 21,
45:00
not 21, 20 for the second one. Okay. Uh I'll take 48 total. I'll take 10 of that away with
45:06
my reaction. Okay. 38 total. All right. Uh then
45:11
blood. That's a two That's a two action thing to do. Uh
45:18
it tries to Yeah. Okay. It's going to try to do that. Um uh make a fortitude
45:23
save for me, please. Difficulty 20. Fortitude. Uh 24.
45:29
Okay. After they hit you with all those laser attacks, it holds an arm out and
45:34
you feel the air around you tightening and you manage to like step back in time
45:40
just before it makes a gesture and you're positive that had you not gotten out of the way in time, it would have
45:46
hauled you bodily off the ground with raw force. And as it as it does this, you actually even see on your scales the
45:52
impact trails of where it was trying to do. Okay, enough of that. That's its go. So, yeah. Um, actually,
46:01
you should have gotten to go before, didn't you? Did you not go? I don't know. I said 28, but then you went. I messed up. I messed up. That's my bad.
46:08
All right. Uh, for this round, we'll we'll fix it for the next ones. But right now, you can go cuz you should have moved.
46:13
Uh, is it is it within melee range of me or do I need to move to get it?
46:18
If you wanted to get into melee range with you, it have you'd have to move uh 25 ft. Uh, okay, that's convenient. I can do
46:24
that. So, well, move uh boost and attack.
46:30
Okay. Uh 13 + 14 does a 27 hit. A 27 hits, but it is not a crit. It's
46:36
just with it. Just a regular all hit. All right. Uh it'll take uh 19 points of slashing
46:42
damage. Okay. Uh it takes that damage. It's not it's not immune to it or even doesn't
46:48
even have resistance. Um, but it it definitely doesn't seem like that was a
46:53
lot of damage to it. It it's inards just kind of like pulse and you see wiring and metal and plastic all just kind of
47:00
growing back together. Okay, but that was uh So MCO uh Z, you're up.
47:06
Okay, this is great. Um, so I I knocked a
47:14
bunch of security cameras off the walls earlier. Mhm. Um,
47:19
technically they're still on the walls, but you knocked the cabling between them off the So, were they just like lightly attached
47:25
to the walls? The Well, the cabling isn't. The cabling is currently on the ground. Um, but the
47:32
the cameras themselves are still attached to the walls exactly as they were before. They're not any more or any
47:37
less connected. What you did was blow up the cabling connections because that's the way it's basically a way to make absolutely sure nothing can use these
47:44
cameras or the canons are attached. Is there any debris of any kind on the ground? Any broken computer
47:50
equipment? Any shrapnel? Any Yeah, the the hard points that you blew up were
47:58
are all over the floor. Like there's It literally exploded and stuff got knocked loose and fell. So
48:04
yeah, it's it's just not the cameras. the cameras and the laser cannons that they're attached to are still in
48:10
So I have something called telekinic projectile in which I can pick up something of that nature and hurl it at
48:16
a target. Okay. Yeah. That so yes, I want to do something and grab
48:22
some debris and just hurl it at this thing. Okay. Um as you do that, a sabic sized
48:29
chunk of cabling floats up into the air and then gets hurled forward, you know, at the thing. So go ahead and make your
48:36
attack roll. Uh, that is a not awesome. Um, oh, that's better. I I cannot read
48:43
today. That's a 27. 27 hits. Uh, yes. I was like, oh, that's a six.
48:49
No, that was a 16. Uh, for that's 67.
48:54
That's 15 points of I think bludgeon. Yes. Yeah. Well, bludgeoning, piercing,
49:01
or slashing as appropriate for the object you hurled. So, I think that's up to you.
49:07
I would say budgeoning because it's a big chunk of of plastic wrapped cable. Yeah. Uh yeah, it smashes right into him. He
49:12
doesn't have any resistance. Again, though, he just seems to take it or it seems it's this giant Vosque
49:17
shaped metal and plastic thing. It doesn't feel like it's having too much difficulty with the damage.
49:24
Okay, this is a very large thing. Uh so
49:29
I will use the raise a shield action and that's my turn.
49:34
Okay. Um, Cassal, you're up. Are you continuing to work on the computers or are you doing attack or what are you
49:40
doing? I think we need to I'm going to have to trust my companions. I'm going to keep working on the computer. Uh, try to keep
49:46
shutting things down and taking more control over it. At the very least, if I can get the turrets back online, I can use them to start firing on this thing.
49:52
Okay. Is that what you're trying to do? Sure. We'll hack. All righty. 19 on the die. 30.
49:58
All right. It fails. uh the thing that is trying to comput fails to prevent
50:03
you. Uh you now have control over six can't six turrets within range of it.
50:08
Uh pew pew pew. Okay. Uh make I'm going to just say just make the one attack roll rather than
50:15
having to make six of them. Uh I don't know what the pluses are, but it's a 14 on the die. Okay. All right. Okay. Um three of them
50:22
don't do anything. Like they they fire, but it doesn't seem that they hit they hit it. Um three of them do fire. So
50:29
roll 2d8 three times just or roll 2d8 and multiply it by three cuz that's what
50:35
the damage that you from the three that do. Uh you sure about that? Cuz I just rolled double eights. So if we're doing
50:42
that then 16 * 3. So what is that? 16 32 48. Yep. I've solved your laser puzzle master.
50:52
And it's like I was trying to kill the wrong one. Okay. Uh,
50:57
my antennas twitch a little bit. Sabic, you are up. Okay. Uh,
51:02
you have I'm going to mention to everyone now, and I said it before, you have two hero points per person.
51:08
Oh, wait. Do I get a third? You guys may have forgotten that you have them. No. Do I get I get a third action, don't I?
51:13
I You You said you were hacking and you shooting. Um, hacking was an action.
51:18
Shooting that many turrets at it is two actions. Okay, that's fine. Okay. I mean, hero points, you turn a
51:24
failed roll into a non-failed roll. Yeah. Or you can turn a dying into not dying.
51:30
Yeah. Well, I'm not I'm not dying yet. That now you sound like me. Uh, all
51:36
right. First action is just going to be a melee swing. Uh, plus 14. Uh, 14 + 11
51:44
25. 25 does not hit. Does not hit. That's not 11 + how much? 11 + 14.
51:50
That would be Yeah, 25. No, 25 does not hit him. Okay. Uh, second action is going to be a
51:57
uh area going to be an area fire with my melee weapon. Um, because I have the primary target
52:02
class feature, I also get to make a melee strike against him as a free action with the same weapon before doing the area fire.
52:08
Okay. So, since attack the free action, uh, no, that was my first action will be
52:14
strike second two. Second and third action will be area fire but with a free attack before that.
52:20
Yeah, but with a free attack in the middle. Uh, so the free attack is just at a plus 9. Uh, 18 plus 9 27.
52:27
Exactly. Hit. Okay, good to know. Uh, he'll take 14 damage.
52:32
Okay. And then he has to save against the area fire, which will be a 22 DC reflex save.
52:39
He rolled the 21. Okay. So, on a failure, he takes 10 more melee damage.
52:45
Okay. 10 slicing damage. Excuse me. He uh takes that. Um, it's sizable
52:50
enough that he's now looking battered, but not down. Uh, that is three actions for me. So,
52:58
all right. He is considering he's looking at you. He knows he hit you really hard last time.
53:04
Um, so he's he's wants to go try to kill Casal, but he doesn't want to try to
53:10
leave you un undone. So, he's going to go for you. First attack is he brings up
53:15
his hand and like just kind of sticks it into himself and pulls out a long length
53:23
of cabling and then it crackles as he's feeding seems to be feeding electricity
53:28
through it. Does like a whip like you whip crack goes his whippy tail thing. Whip and then he tries to bring the
53:34
thing down on you first. You actually need to give me a reflex save on this first one.
53:40
Reflex save. Okay. Uh 26. Okay, you succeed. Uh it tried to wrap
53:46
you in the cabling but didn't succeed cuz you saved successfully and he just
53:52
tries to hit you with it. 40. Yeah, that'll hit and crit. Okay, let's take 20 points of regular
53:59
old hitting damage and two points of electrical damage. Okay.
54:05
Uh are you still up? Still up. All right. Third attack. He tries to like one of those scorpion tail type
54:12
things pops out of his shoulder and goes for you. Gross. I I also I'm gonna like use my reaction
54:19
here to to knock 10 points from this or from the previous one. Doesn't matter. Just whatever one he whatever like
54:25
say the previous one because I don't want to. Yeah. Okay. Um 27 to hit.
54:31
Yep. Doesn't crit this time though. Okay. The doesn't matter because there's no damage. You need to make a fort save.
54:37
Oh right. these guys. 25. Okay. Uh you save. So you do not get uh
54:44
you the nanite things are pretty obviously he's attempting to inject them into you. This round they don't get injected.
54:50
I'm going to parry it with my blade. I'm about tired of these dang these ding dang nanites.
54:56
Can you do that? No, not really. Okay. It's just flavor. It's just flavor for him missing. For flavor. Okay. He didn't miss. He
55:03
just You he successfully save. Yeah. Yeah. You saved the flavor. But uh yeah, that was his
55:09
go. Sabic is already gone. So Z, you're up. I'm gonna repeat repeat the thing. I'm
55:15
going to grab some more shards of technology that are smashed in the room and hurl it at this guy.
55:21
How many actions? Two. All right, go ahead. Uh that's 25. All right. Uh that hits. No, it doesn't.
55:28
It doesn't hit. Uh 20. You need a 27 to hit. Okay, then. Uh that's I'm going to use
55:34
the raise a shield action. And that is all I got. Okay. Uh, Cassal is your go.
55:41
Uh, I need to keep shutting this thing out of systems, right? I figure if I can do that, I can weaken it as it has less
55:47
control. So, uh, I guess I'm just going to hack the Gibson again. Um,
55:54
16 on the die becomes a 27. Okay. Uh, what in particular are you trying to do right now? So right now, so
56:03
the goal is to piece by piece start shutting this thing out of access to
56:09
vital systems. Uh whether whatever it's trying to take over, I'm essentially
56:15
uh like cutting it off, removing its access from it, and then working my way back. So I'll see if I can like
56:21
frustrated. So like if it's trying to draw power from the core, I'm going to start messing with its power draw. Um
56:27
hey, you all right. uh you you make a decision, decide to try and do that. Um
56:33
it occurs to you as you do it that you're not entirely sure exactly what it this power draw you're you're cutting
56:39
off does, but you do successfully do it. And that's when you realize because you
56:44
hear like a that you've just shut down the the
56:49
computer core like it's no longer drawing power and a computer core without power. it immediately flicks over to battery because, you know, no
56:56
one's going to build a big system like this without redundancies. But when that happens, the thing that's been trying to
57:02
kill Savic this whole time, it goes limp. And that's where we're going to break.
57:31
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