When a mysterious visitor comes to Absalom Station selling items belonging to a lost Starfinder, the Starfinder Society takes note. The PCs are dispatched to discover out how the recent arrival found these items, leading them on a series of quests beyond the Pact Worlds and into the stars.
DREAMS stood still as shots began to get fired, soon letting out a sighing noise, with a shrug. Seems his ramble got no where but confusion... though that was just as OK with him. He took a few glances around.
Computer. Heater. Screens. Radars to detect. Weapons. Armor Cores. Body Heat.
DREAMS closed his bible with a satsifying 'fwump', "Perfect."
With a crouched spin, moving past his Vesk ally, DREAMS stepped in view of Hatchbreaker, quickly getting up to his full height. He held a hand up before thrusting the palm directly in the direction of the enemy Vesk's face, the metallic plates opening up to reveal some kind of booster inside, "Let's see if your face can beat, pure built up heat."
From the booster, a cone of pure thermal heat shot out toward the Vesks's head.
I rolled this shit in Discord with MWD. I rolled a 15 for damage on Overheat to the Vesk.
Noticing the priest's casting his spell Jalesh immediately disengages the Vesk turns around and leaps on the gang leader trying his best to wrestle her gun away from her.
Bullrush the gang leader, not sure what the roll to disarm would be.
Quig has had the wind knocked out of him, but he manages to stagger to his feet back in the guard room. Thinking something must be broken he breathes in a healing serum, although it isn't effective more than just reassuring him that he's not in any danger of dying in the next moments.
DREAMS manipulates the reality around him, gathering thermal energy from his surroundings until he is ready. Moving to face Hatchbuster he extends his palm and unleashes the destructive power of pure heat right at his head. The Vesk attempts to scream in pain but the heat sears his throat as he tries, and then he drops limply to the ground, completely knocked out and dying where he lays.
Seeing the big bruiser go down, Jalesh rushes the big boss and tries to knock her pistol out of her hands. He swings too wide and she dodges aside. Her shot back is too hurried and misses him as well.
Quig: Stand up. Used Healing Serum, but that only restores Hit Points, not Stamina Points. So kind of a waste.
DREAMS: Casts 'Overheat' for 15 damage. The Vesk ate crap on the Reflex save, so full damage.
- Hatchbuster at -23 damage. Only had 22 HP, so he's at -1. DOWN!
Jalesh: Moves forward, attempting the Disarm combat maneuver vs Ferani.
- Combat Maneuvers: Declare what you're doing (Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Trip, etc.). Make a melee attack against the target, the DC being their KAC (kinetic AC) + 8. In this case to be open, Ferani has a KAC of 12, so the Combat Maneuver DC is 20.
- I think Jalesh's character sheet has an error in the programming. It says his Combat Knife melee is +5 even though his melee bonus is +3. Weird. Anyways, need to roll a 17 to succeed. Rolled a 3, Miss.
Ferani: Move Action: Guarded Step away from Jalesh (the 5' step of Starfinder). Standard: Shoot Jalesh - 2+6 = 8, Miss.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Jalesh bum rushes the gang boss against the wall, while Quig and DREAMS back him up with their guns. Ferani Nadaz recognizes she's been beaten, and drops her gun in surrender. "This is the most aggressive proselytizing I've ever seen, even in the vids." Her voice exudes rage, but not enough to lose her sense of humor. "If you're here to take over the Downside Kings, it isn't as simple as killing the leader and now they'll follow you, dumbass. And if you're here for a Hit, then make it quick. And make it less gruesome than what you did Vrokilayo." The smell of burnt reptilian flesh has spread throughout the room. For all the bad she has likely done, at least she is brave enough to face what she sees as certain death with a steady eye.
Moving on with the actual plot. You have her dead to rights anyways.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Jalesh pulls his handcuffs from the back of his belt and cuffs the gang leader and gently shoves her back onto her chair. "You might want to sit down for this one. Honey." He puts a little extra venom into the phrase making sure to get the cynicism across. Without hesitation Jalesh takes the gun from the floor and takes a seat on the corner of the table.
Ferani spits some bloody spittle on the floor in contempt. "Honey yourself, ass. And I hope the table breaks underneath you and you crack your skull open on the floor."
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Quig disarms everyone of the thugs, and moves the gear to a safe distance, after that he locks the door and shoves a chair under the handle to make sure things are private in here. Once that's out of the way, he leaves the chatter to the others, while he scoops up some of the credits from the game, and anything else interesting (not necessarily valuable).
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Seeing the situation dying down, DREAMS patted his hands together, as if dusting them off, before kneeling down and shooting the Vesk who he seared in the face, not even looking at him as he did so. After which, he walked to the desk, hopped onto it and knelt down again, resting his wrists on his knees. He spun his pistol and aimed it right at Ferani's forehead, right away cocking the gun so it was ready to fire before a moment would even get to notice, "My dear lady, you are not in a position to complain, so unless you want to paint the wall, you need to explain. A dwarven man lost his life, a shot to the chest, in the middle of a large strife. Now the connections seem to come to you and your men. An assumption is that you had sent men down to shoot him, is that how its been? Now I am not a man who plays with others fates, but if we do not get an answer, your god awaits."
Between the rough handling and the ice-cold execution of her bodyguard, Ferani is forced into surly compliance. She brags about her association with one of the largest mining and salvage Corps operating on Absalom Station - Astral Extractions. They won't look kindly on someone killing their hirelings, and will be looking to take out troublesome bugs such as yourselves.
When pushed she admits that she ordered the killing of Duravor Kreel, the attache to the Counselor that was slain in the gang war crossfire, to send a message to the Hardscrabblers and the Starfinders to stay in their lane. The rival Level 21 Crew were their counterparts, hirelings by the Hardscrabble Collective to be their plausibly deniable asset. If the Starfinder Kreel hadn't gotten involved, they wouldn't have had to kill him, but the fool dwarf had some sort of relative in the Level 21 Crew, she isn't sure who, and had personally invested in some venture by the Hardscrabble Collective. They couldn't afford for the Starfinders to take a side, so the dwarf had to go.
As you rifle through her stuff you find a datapad tucked away under her desk. Giving up the password, you find messages directly from a representative of Astral Projections ordering the hit through her, both for Duravor's interference, and to keep the other gang and the Starfinders from getting too curious about some ship called the Acreon and a Drift Rock it had towed behind.
Remembering back to your intelligence gathering efforts, you recognize the name of the Acreon as a ship mysteriously left unmanned in space, towing behind it a piece of Drift Rock. It has been towed back to the Station, and quarantined in space. You had heard the Hardscrabble Collective and Astral Projections were fighting in the courts over who legally owned the find. It appears they both used dirty means to try to one-up the other, but Astral Projections evidently was willing to get its hands more dirty to achieve their desires.
Here's all the Loot you get (that's worth you bothering to pick up and take with you). The Credits are per person, so feel free to call Dibs on whatever, and add your Money into your Sheets.
Holoskin
Autotarget Rifle (+50 rounds of ammo)
Azimuth Artillery Laser (+20 rounds of ammo)
Assault Hammer (melee weapon)
2 Incendiary Grenades I
1 Frag Grenade I
1 Shock Grenade I
2 Mk 1 'Serums of Healing'
Armor Upgrade (Quick-Release Sheath)
700 Credits each PC
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Jalesh gives Ferani a knowing smirk, "see that wasn't that hard, now was it?" Jalesh gives the priest a clap on the shoulder, "Good job priest, now what should we do with her?" Jalesh is enjoying playing mind games with the gang leader.
