Watch the game session in action at https://youtu.be/FXWDn5f5PQg.
Cypher and Drez found a bauble. They thought it might be important to stop and study while the other PCs continued searching the Temple Found. AKA a couple players couldn’t make it (or were a little late) and I concocted a reason for them to hang back a bit.
Wesley and Zaleria found a safe place to park the Raza. Wesley scanned the Temple Found and realized the PCs were about to stumble into a pack of eohi! He and Zaleria rushed inside just in time to find their crewmates had encountered the eohi and dispatched them. Welcome back Wesley and Zaleria! We missed you last game session.
The PCs scouted the sole door and Nuil saw a plain looking office on the other side of the door with her x-ray visor. The table in the room was scarred by hundreds of cut marks and there was a small window on the far wall. The PCs entered the room and thoroughly studied the table. Although the cuts looked ritualistic in nature they couldn’t determine their purpose.
They searched the room and found a secret door which led to a repository of datapads (like a library). In the center of the room was a ruined elevator shaft which led down deep underground. At a glance, it looked like it went deeper than the ground level outside. They only briefly surveyed the datapads and found one which detailed the flora and fauna on the Kishaleen planet.
Note: If used, the datapad provides a +5 bonus to Life Science checks to identify flora and fauna.
The rest of the datapads were out of order. They opted to continue exploration of the Temple Found and return to this area once Xavra was dealt with.
Nuil bravely climbed down the ruined elevator shaft to recon the area below. She found a long hallway which led north and turned to the west. She also heard voices from beyond the end of the hallway. She reported back to the PCs.
There was a debate about how to best get TIM-X to the bottom which continued for a bit before TIM-X walked himself to the edge of the elevator shaft, fired his grappling hook into the ceiling, and lowered himself down. The rest of the PCs followed and snuck down the hallway.
Through an open passage they found an ancient repository decorated by the kish with religious regalia. Glowing purple and blue runes covered the room and surrounded an altar (which Nuil recognized as a navigation terminal). Two large insectile humanoids and a human sat in the southwest corner of the room tied up. The PCs did not recognize the trio and had not been noticed yet.
In the northern section of the room, a kish in red tinted armor paced back and forth. He screamed at a device the PCs recognized as a kishaleen nav terminal, “Speak ancestors! Speak damn you! Tell me the secrets!” In frustration, he smashed his hands against the nav terminal. In response to his touch, the terminal responded in kishaleen which he does not completely understand. The PCs recognized him as Xavra.
Two kish hunters stood at attention near Xavra, his personal guard, and three more knelt on prayer mats in the lower section of the room.
The group debated how to approach the situation and decided Nuil should contact the three prisoners telepathically to gather some intel. Nuil contacted the human and startled him. The human quickly gathered his senses and responded, “My name is Captain Garrity. I’m here to rescue you.” Needless to say, the crew were skeptical. The PC’s arrival is the moment the captain was waiting for and he jumped to her feet and freed himself from his bonds. His gauntlets transformed into holdout blasters. The PCs recognized his attire as common for a Free Captain.
Nuil reached out with her mind to the agitated kish in red armor but could not penetrate his mental defenses. The warrior walked over to a terminal on the wall and activated a force field.
Roll for initiative! The battle begins at 32:03 in the video.
GM Note: The rest of this session consists of the battle with Xavra and his hunters. If you are not interested in the play by play, you can skip down to “THE BATTLE ENDS” below.
Xavra walked up to the force field and began to monologue, “I don’t see you! But I know you’re there. Bring yourself out. Reveal yourself to the Devourer. Let him judge you to see if you are worthy.”
The PCs were shocked to learn the kish hunter had been corrupted by the cultists. They stepped out (for dramatic effect) and saw he had recently carved the symbol of the Devourer into his own forehead.
Ryder taunted Xavra, “How you must have fallen to be a worshipper of the Devourer. You’ve betrayed your people. Hoyfeq and Tyzael have united and are now against you. Give up or perish. Dun! Dun! Dun!”
Wesley was done with the banter. He ordered TIM-X to lay down cover fire and opened fire on the closest kish hunter who had been kneeling on the prayer mats. His blast struck the kish across the chest and drew blood.
Switch charged across the room to the second of the kish hunters and slashed him across his back with his bone blade. Ryder followed Switch’s lead and fired at the same target. The blast spun the hunter around and knocked him flat-footed. The envoy then barked out encouragement for his allies to attack the same target as Wesley.
The first hunter drew an ornate kish blade from his and ran at Wesley. Wesley raised his arm and caught the attack across his arm. The blow stunned the young Starfinder.
Although Wesley was in danger, Nuil determined he had things well in hand. She summoned a trio of magic missiles and sent them hurtling into the hunter which Switch was engaged with.
One of Xavra’s personal guards disappeared from view and activated a force field which covered the entrance to the entire chamber. Nuil sprung out of the way just as the field came to life. The PCs found themselves trapped in the larger chamber with the three hunters. Xavra, his guard, and any chance of escape were out of the PC’s reach now.
Additionally, a square-shaped circuit board drifted out of hidden slots in the wall. Energy flared around them and they turned to face the PCs. Nuil recognized them as constructs known as a guardian disk. One of them flew at Nuil and slashed through her side. As it cut through her, electricity leapt from the disk and shocked her. This left her dazzled.
The hunter engaged with Switch tried to back away but Switch struck him down. The android turned to the next hunter and taunted, “You’re next!”
The second of Xavra’s personal guard raised his battle bow and fired at Switch. The PCs were surprised when the arrow flew through the force field unhindered but the ranged attack missed Switch.
Captain Garrity turned to his Kroo (the large insectile humanoid who were tired up with him) and freed them from their bonds so they could join the battle.
Zaleria summoned her solar cutlass and moved to the other side of the guardian disk to flank it with Nuil and slashed through the construct. Solar energy began to gather around her and she became photon attuned.
The third praying hunter withdrew to cover and drew his battle bow. He intended to fire on Zaleria but rolled a critical fumble. He tripped on a small object on the floor and the bow snapped back across his arm, causing damage to himself.
A second guardian disk emerged from the wall and closed on Wesley. It slashed at him but the agile mechanic dodged the attack.
From the upper levels, Cypher had finished his investigation and ventured down to rejoin the crew. The sounds of blaster fire drew him through the Temple Found until he reached the force field which cut him off from the battle. He began looking around to find a way through the barrier.
Xavra continued to try to influence the crew from behind the safety of the force field. “Really, there is no cause for this. You’ve taken your price in blood already. Throw down your weapons and let me open your eyes to the wonder, the might of the one who destroys all, the Devourer. You could join me. You could join the cultists. They told me where they’re going. I could share all of this with you. Become the children of the Star Eater.”
Nuil quipped, “I guess we need him alive so we know where they’re going.”
Wesley maneuvered TIM-X to fire its jump jets and Wesley grabbed the drone as it was flying by. Wesley tried to slap a sticky bomb on the hunter’s face but instead dropped it at his feet. He flipped the hunter off as TIM-X momentum carried them both away. The sticky bomb exploded. The guardian disk slashed through the glue as it exploded but the hunter was not so fortunate. The compound covered him and he was stuck firm where he stood.
Switch charged the hunter who had harmed himself with his bow and slashed through the hunter’s center. The android smiled, “I said you were next.”
Ryder closed on Switch’s new target but could not find the perfect position so he took cover behind Switch. He fired his laser pistol at the wounded hunter but missed. He still yelled for his teammates to “Get em!”
The hunter trapped by the sticky grenade busied him with freeing himself.
Nuil cast jolting surge on the guardian disk trapped between herself and Zaleria. Electricity surged through the construct and it began to short circuit.
Xavra’s personal guard fired at Captain Garrity but the arrow went wide.
The guardian disk sliced twice at Nuil but missed.
Cypher found a somewhat hidden terminal and quickly hacked in. The system was a fairly simple tier 2 computer with two modules. The first controlled the force field and the second was a common environmental control module. He quickly dropped the barrier, activated his haste module and ran up to hide behind Switch. He had spotted a second terminal across the room which might open the second force field protecting Xavra but he could not reach there quick enough to avoid fire from Xavra’s personal guard.
With the ysoki out of sight, Xavra guard targeted Zaleria and peppered her with arrows which penetrated her armor. This surprised everything as archaic weapons normally did not fare well against modern armor.
Much to the crew’s surprise, Captain Garrity ordered one of his Kroo to grab Wesley. Wesley’s performance wasn’t quite convincing enough so the Free Captain told the Kroo to make him bleed. The Kroo obeyed and squeezed Wesley enough to bruise. Captain Garrity pricked his own finger and drew the symbol of the Devourer on his own forehead.
The pirate walked to the middle of the room and declared, “Xavra, mine eyes have seen the glory! Welcome me into your cult and we can let the Devourer destroy this universe together.”
Xavra was fooled by the charade, “I’m glad to see one of you have listened to wisdom and turned to the ways of the Devourer. But first, we must subdue the rest of these threats. Help dispatch and then we will talk brother.”
Garrity pressed his advantage, “The messages from the Devourer are fast diminishing. You’ll need them translating soon if you intend to breed.”
Xavra considered Garrity’s words and nodded. He ordered his guard to drop the force field. Garrity nods to Zaleria. She had seen him pull this kind of trick before.
She chuckled and was moderately distracted as she advanced on the first guardian disk. It took a swipe at her and missed. She returned the favor and smashed the construct hard. It exploded into sparkles.
The hunter which battled Switch dropped his battle bow and drew his kish blade. He swung the blade violently. Switch parried the first attack and the hunter’s second swung too low (critical fumble) and he cut through his own foot, removing his toes. The hunter howled in agony. The goddess had forsaken him!
The remaining guardian disk flew at Zaleria and slashed through the air but the solarian parried the attacks with her solar cutlass.
Xavra’s guard obeyed his orders and dropped the force field. As soon as it dropped, Zaleria suddenly felt the presence of another solarian who was attuned. Xavra stepped out, raised his arms, and used his mastery of gravitons to dilate time. This provided him with a second turn each round.
Wesley drew his laser pistol and fired on the hunter he had trapped with the sticky grenade previously. He acted like the shot was accidental and it caught the hunter in the left leg (critical hit). The hit caught him on fire and hobbled him. He ordered TIM-X to play along and the drone started acting like it was grappled as well and fired at the hunter but missed.
Switch tired of the imbecilic hunter he was facing and he swung his blade parallel across the hunter’s shoulders. His foe’s head came free from its body and the hunter fell dead to the floor. The android turned and stepped up to Xavra.
Ryder did not want to be that close to Xavra so he retreated to where Nuil and Zaleria were fighting the guardian disk. He fired back at the leader of the hunters but he missed.
Nuil retreated up the wall and summoned her nano microbot swarm. She surrounded Xavra with the swarm.
One of Xavra’s guards moved down to clear his line of sight around the swarm and fired at Zaleria. The arrow hit, broke through her armor, and pierced her side.
Xavra, now fully graviton attuned turned gravity against Cypher and Switch. He lifted the pair into the air and slammed them down. Both managed to catch themselves and resisted the effects of the attack.
Cypher did not want to risk that kind of attack again and rushed across the room to the far side. He still turned and projected holograms around Xavra to further distract him (trick attack) and fired. His shot missed.
GM’s Note: The dice were not kind to Bill this session. Other than making some good checks to hack he missed with almost every attack. Bill thinks he misses most of the time but statistically he hits as much as he misses. That is, until this session which was a fluke. I’ve been watching closely as we played and the next two game sessions went back to normal (with him actually hitting more often than not during our last session). Sorry Bill! These things happen.
Xavra’s second guard wanted to attack Nuil but could not get a shot on her. So he turned to Zaleria and hit her with another arrow. Poor Kymber. I was turning Zaleria into a pin cushion this session.
Captain Garrity, who still had the kish fooled, moved to get behind them and took shelter near the nav computer.
Zaleria, now fully photon attuned, she moved up until she was the same distance between Xavra and Xavra’s guard. She exploded with solar energy and engulfed the area in flames. Xavra could not avoid the attack and took the brunt of it but his guard managed to avoid some of it.
The guardian disk used the distraction to attack Ryder but missed.
Xavra drew his kish axe and unleashed a flashing strikes attack against Switch. The android barely managed to parry the attacks.
Wesley shoved his way free from the Kroo. He leveled his rifle at the hunter but the hunter slashed him before he could fire. His shot flew wide but he suffered the penalty of firing in close range.
Switch launched a pair of attacks of his own against Xavra. Xavra easily parried the attacks but smiled nonetheless, “Yes, yes. You will be a worthy opponent.” Switch could not tell if Xavra was messing with him or not.
Ryder had grown tired of the guardian disk and blasted it. He caught the disk just right (critical hit) and the guardian disk exploded into purple sparkles. He then rushed across the room to engage Xavra’s guard who was firing at Nui.
The hunter tried to stab Wesley but the mechanic was still be flailed around by the Kroo and he could not connect.
Xavra’s second guard rushed all the way to the bottom of the room to where he could see Nuil. Fortunately, this left him with no time to attack before other acted.
Xavra ignored the rest of the crew and continued his assault on Switch. He missed with his first attack but connected with the second, gravely wounding Switch.
Nuil split up her swarm and began to move them so they would cover multiple enemy targets. She fired at the guard who now threatened her but missed.
Cypher turned his attention on the guard who was targeting Nuil. He hit and began taunting the guard to draw his ire.
The second guard continued to follow Xavra’s orders and rushed away from Ryder drawing an attack but the envoy missed. When he closed some of the distance between himself and Nuil he raised his bow and fired. It missed and went careening down the hallway.
Captain Garrity, aiming to misbehave, ordered the Kroo to attack the kish. The first Kroo draws a pirate-looking tactical dueling sword and attacked the hunter threatening Wesley. The other Kroo advanced on the hunter which was firing on Nuil and swung at him. Unfortunately, neither Kroo particularly excelled at swordplay and both missed with their attacks.
Garrity pulled the pin on his grenade and tossed it. He tossed the pin, not the grenade. He suddenly realized his mistake and began juggling the live grenade back and forth.
Zaleria retreated up to the nav computer and looked around. She saw the stick figures and runes. She began working on the nav computer, trying to figure out how to access it.
Xavra pressed the attack on Switch and penetrated the androids defenses again. Blue goo began to ooze from Switch’s newly opened wounds.
Wesley maneuvered TIM-X to fire his grapple gun at the hunter which harried him but the grapple hook missed. Wesley tried to open fire on the hunter but forgot to back up. The hunter swung on the mechanic but Wesley dodged this time. Wesley quickly took a guarded step back from the hunter.
Switch launched a vicious full attack at Xavra but only connected with one of the attacks and slashed across Xavra’s upper left arm.
The tides had turned and the battle was not going well for the crew.
Ryder encouraged Switch (and restored Stamina points in the process). He then ordered the crew to “get” Xavra.
The first hunter being attacked by the Kroo turned on the huge insect and slashed through it and caused it grievous damage.
The first of Xavra’s guard was tempted to attack Cypher but fired at Nuil instead and missed.
Xavra continued to pummel Switch, draining the life from him with each subsequent hit.
Nuil sent the swarms back to Xavra to keep him covered if he only tried to take a guarded step away from Switch. She fired at the guard targeting her and hit him.
Cypher taunted the guard who ignored him and used his trick attack but missed with his pistol.
The second guard turned on the second Kroo and slashed through his carapace.
Garrity finally dropped the juggled grenade and it went off. The blast hit Zaleria, the nav computer, and himself but did minimal damage. He finally aimed one of his holdout blasters and fired but missed.
Zaleria brushed off the shrapnel from the grenade explosion and poked her head around the corner. She shot at Xavra but could not hit him.
Xavra contemplated moving to get away from Nuil’s nanobot swarm but he decided not to risk it. He swung at Switch twice again but only connected on the second one. Finally, I worked my way through Switch’s mountain of stamina and started to get into his hit points. 🙂
Wesley blasted the hunter and did good damage but his foe still stood. These kish had proven they were tougher than anything else the crew had faced on Istamak.
Switch finally began to feel the pain and reconsidered his strategy. Instead of throwing multiple attacks at Xavra he focused his skill and energy on one more accurate blow. He quickly studied Xavra’s defenses and swung hard when he saw an opening and tore into Xavra’s side.
Wesley’s hunter (because at this point, it really was Wesley’ hunter to deal with) struck one of the Kroo and killed it. He backed away from TIM-X. The other Kroo began to whimper.
The first guard pondered who to attack between Nuil and Cypher. Cypher said, “Hey dumbass, over here.” The taunt was too much and he threw himself at the ysoki. He missed and Cypher quipped, “My grandmother shoots better than that.” The hunter threw down his bow in frustration and drew his kish blade.
Xavra bellowed at Garrity, “The deception has become obvious!”
Garrity agreed, “Took you long enough…”
Xavra tried to move away from Switch but the android quickly attacked him and caught his leg. Not allowed to move, Xavra unleashed a supernova where he stood. Only Switch was caught in the blast and it drove him to his knees.
Switch groaned, “Man, a healing grenade would be really great right now.”
Nuil heard the grumbling request and pulled a healing grenade from her belt. She tossed it so only Switch was in the blast radius and he received some healing.
Cypher positioned himself between the guard and Nuil. Then he decided to fire on Xavra with a trick attack but missed with the attack.
The second guard attacked the sole remaining Kroo but missed the big bug man.
Garrity fired up his second holdout blaster and fired with both at Xavra but missed. The Kroo attacked the guard in retaliation but missed.
By now Zaleria was fully attuned again and went supernova. Xavra tried to avoid the attack but caught the brunt of it again. He wavered a bit but managed to stay on his feet.
Xavra quickly cleared his head and attacked Switch with a fury. He could not hope to reach the ranged combatants as long as Switch kept him locked in place. He missed with the first attack but cut into Switch’s clavicle with the second one (critical hit). Switch dropped unconscious. Emboldened by the victory against the android, Xavra moved to face the other solarian, Zaleria.
The guard cornered by the Kroo and TIM-X swung on the combat drone and cleaved a chunk of machinery from him.
The other guard, still feeling insulted by Cypher, attacked the ysoki but missed.
Xavra launched flashing strikes at Zaleria and tore into her.
Nuil contemplated her options but decided hitting Xavra was the best option. He shot Xavra in the back and yelled, “See! If I can do it, you can do it!” The crew was inspired!
Cypher missed… again.
The last kish hunter cuts down the Kroo.
Garrity fired with his holdout blaster but missed. Things were quickly going downhill fast!
Xavra went supernova! Garrity evaded part of the blast but Zaleria caught it full on. She dropped unconscious.
Wesley goes all “SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!” and sprayed bullets all over but didn’t hit anything. TIM-X used a much more precise approach and slammed the hunter with his swoop hammer. The hunter went down.
Switch regained consciousness and threw himself at Xavra but missed.
Ryder recognized the direness of the situation and walked to within range of Xavra, pulled a pin on a grenade, and let it go off in his hand. Garrity ducked for cover. Ryder took the full blast. Xavra cringed and caught shrapnel but managed to hang on.
The first guard slashed Cypher.
Xavra stumbled towards Garrity. Switch swung on the kish but missed. Xavra threw flashing strikes at Garrity and struck him down.
Nuil wanted a sure thing. She dropped the nanobot swarm. She screamed, “I’m done! I’m just done!” She conjured a trio of magic missiles which slammed into Xavra. The missiles tear right through him and kill him.
The remaining kish are demoralized and drop their weapons. The battle is over and the crew has won.
THE BATTLE ENDS
Xavra has been defeated. The PCs have reclaimed the Temple Found. Tune in next time to see more!
End of session.
